Stage 6: Rehearsing answering exam questions
Just like assignment questions, exam questions should be read carefully, because you need to demonstrate in your answer that
you have understood the question. Examiners frequently complain that students lose vital marks through failing to read and
interpret the questions properly.
Play the examiner
Activity 8
-
Take a particular question from a past or specimen exam paper and imagine that you are the examiner who set it. Note down
which particular part of the course you set the question to test, and how you would distribute the marks. Also, note the potential
pitfalls in answering the question, and what you would be looking for in an exceptional answer.
Now read the discussion
The examiner is looking for relevant and concise answers, which show that you have grasped the main concepts and can both
explain and use them in your own words.
Analysing and answering essay-based exam questions
For the following activity, you can use questions from a specimen paper, past papers or even questions you have devised for
yourself.
Activity 9
Exam questions for essay-based courses often contain 'process words'. These require you to organise what you know about a
topic in a particular way. The mark you obtain for your answer will, to a large degree, reflect your success in interpreting
the instruction contained within the question's process words.
-
Using Table 1, check out your understanding of a selection of 'process words'. These are frequently found in essay-based exam
questions. Note down what you think each word means. The meaning of the first process word is filled in as an example.
Table 1
Process word
|
Meaning
|
Account for |
Explain, clarify, give reasons for |
Analyse |
|
Assess |
|
Compare |
|
Contrast |
|
Compare and contrast |
|
Criticise |
|
Define |
|
Describe |
|
Discuss |
|
Distinguish / Differentiate between |
|
Evaluate |
|
Examine the argument that |
|
Explain |
|
How far / To what extent |
|
Illustrate |
|
Justify |
|
Outline |
|
State |
|
Summarise |
|
What arguments can be made for and against this view? |
|
Now read the discussion
When you have completed the table, have a look at Table 2 in the next section on 'Process words'. This shows a completed
version of the table. You can use it to compare with your answers.
|