Preparing for Examinations

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Preparing for Examinations
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Learning Outcomes

• Have a better understanding of examinations as a
  form of assessment
• Understand the methods of reducing examinations
  stress and anxiety
• Know how to anticipate exam questions
• Understand the importance of effective
  examination strategies
• Be keenly aware of the most common mistakes
  students make during exams

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Lecture Outline

• Why do exams?
• Study Plan
• Revision Strategy
• Effective exam taking techniques
• The exam

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Why do exams?

• The main purpose is for lecturers to check that
  you have understood the work covered on the
  course and that the work you demonstrate is
  entirely your own.

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Some advantages of exams

• Not required to give very long detailed answers
  to questions asked - compared with coursework -
  therefore your research is likely to be less
  in-depth
• Dont have to write out references and
  bibliographies in full at the end
• Examiners generally more sympathetic about
  handwriting, grammatical errors, spellings and
  forgotten detail

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But!

• Not all examiners are sympathetic.
• Remember - no word processor so practice your
  writing, for long periods of time, with a pen
• Tip write first draft assignments in long hand -
  important practice and helps to avoid cramp

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Study Plan for the Exam Wise

• Overview
• Overview all materials
• Evaluate and prioritise remaining study tasks -
  how much time needed for each?
• How much weight given to each in exam?
• How to apportion time among unfinished reading?

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Study Plan

• Schedule
• Draft rough calendar of weeks and days remaining
  before each exam
• Realistically apportion your remaining tasks into
  the time available

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Study Plan

• Prioritise
• Avoid the escape syndrome of fretting and
  talking more about studying than actually
  studying
• Make a realistic appraisal of priorities
• what must be done?
• how much time to do it?
• when will it be done?

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Study Plan

• Arrange
• Rework notes and text into one whole
• Need to be aware of the forest before
  concentrating on the trees
• Arrange major points chronologically or topically
• Construct overall diagrams, charts or outlines

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Study Plan

• Read
• Be firm hold yourself to the time you have set
  (even if you must skim key sentences only)
• Better to get a little information than none at
  all

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Study Plan

• Recite
• Dont waste time passively reading
• Insteadreview the table of contents or chapter
  subheadings and try to recall important points
• Recite them, write them, say them, hear them,
  think them
• Spend more time actively reciting and less time
  re-reading

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Study Plan

• Self Test
• Looking over module materials is easy,
  comfortable, temporarily reassuring and
• is usually a waste of your time
• Sight recognition is never enough for good exam
  performance - find a variety of ways to test
  yourself as you review
• Reciting is one of the most powerful ways to
  learn and remember

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Study Plan

• Practice
• Anticipate exam questions and practice answering
  under typical exam time limits
• Refer to earlier exams to get an idea of the kind
  of questions that will be asked
• Put yourself in the lecturers shoes - what would
  you ask?

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Revision Strategy

• Reading notes from beginning to end is
  inefficient and boring, so consult the following
  for guidance
• revision list may be provided by the lecturer
  and is a good place to start
• module outline will help to identify major
  topics - choose those that interest you
• past exam papers what was asked in the past and
  how? But..may not be the same..
• Lecturer ask what to anticipate. Worst they can
  say is no...

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Effective exam-taking techniques

• Essay type exams
• Read all questions - warm-up with easier
  questions
• Make notes in margin about ideas for later
  questions as they occur to you
• Stay within the limits defined by key terms in
  the question i.e. compare, list, criticise, etc.

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Effective exam-taking techniques

• Plan your answer before writing - outline in the
  margin first
• Good essay answers are clearly readable - make
  transition to new points clearly use technical
  vocabulary
• Always schedule time for rereading and editing -
  initial anxiety can lead to omissions
• Leave space at end to add material

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What do exams measure?

• Do not measure
• how intelligent you are
• how hard-working or virtuous you are
• how well youll do in later life
• Primarily measure
• how much you have practised doing exams

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Preparing for exams - NOW

• Get copy of past exam papers for last 2-3 years
• Survey source materials for each paper
• Borrow materials now
• Review your study methods for exams

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Deciding on revision topics

• Practice at least one insurance question
• Rearrange folders into exam topics (not teaching
  topics) and add a questions sheet
• Pick topics you like have done and understand
• Dont pick dead certs you dont like, cant do
  or new topics from scratch

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Facing revision realities

• Your key problems are
• 1. OVERLOAD - you already know too much to
  conceivably reproduce in available time in a well
  organised way
• 2. ADAPTATION - you must be able to use, apply,
  modify and extend your knowledge actively in the
  exam room

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Four key responses

• Revision is time for tackling questions, doing
  problems and practising answers
• Passing exams is a specific skill
• Youve got to make your responses automatic (by
  repetition)
• Focus always on questions and problems, never on
  general reading

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Practice answers

• Timed answers
• essential to establish time limits and spot
  problems needing attention
• good practice to do at least one per exam and
  debug closely
• will sometimes look worse than it is so dont
  become pessimistic

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The exam

• Read the paper carefully
• check your questions are on the paper
• Manage your time
• most common pitfall for students - beware!
• Read each selected question carefully
• identify the instruction words and separate out
  the implicit parts of the question

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The exam

• Plan your answer
• Dont jump straight in - may miss something
• Remember to monitor progress at intervals
• Check your time and check it regularly
• Above all, DONT PANIC
• Most people pass exams. Take a deep breath and
  remind yourself you will probably pass

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Some common sense tips

• An unhappy marker is a less generous marker - be
  exam script friendly
• use black or blue ink
• write legibly
• dont copy out whole question
• plans our answers, dont ramble/waffle
• answer the question keep to the point
• avoid prescriptive words should ought
• use analysis and argument - preferable

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What to do if you fail

• Remember, life goes on
• Keep a sense of perspective - you can always
  resit the exam
• Useful to gain lecturer feedback so you can
  improve the next time
• Analyse your own performance - to what extent was
  your technique to blame?

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Finally

• Good Luck!