Pages: <Previous  12    13    14    15    16    17    18    19    20    21    22  Next >

4: The exam itself

The exam paper

Check the instructions

Check the instructions first to make sure that they are what you expected from looking at the specimen paper. Misreading instructions can lose more marks than poor revision!

Read the whole exam paper through carefully

Students often describe feeling that everyone else starts writing confidently, straight away. Make sure you allow yourself at least 5 minutes to read calmly through the paper. It is tempting to grab at familiar questions, possibly even misreading them and turning them into the questions you want to answer. If you carefully and steadily unpack the questions, you will inevitably make a better selection.

Choose the questions and order them

During your first read through the paper, put an asterisk or star sign (*) in pencil against the questions you think you could possibly answer. Then read through your starred questions and put an additional star against the ones that you prefer. Choose the questions with the highest star rating.

Plan your time

When planning to use the time available, you should:

  • make sure that you are answering the right number of questions
  • divide your time according to the weighting of the questions
  • write down the finishing time for each question
  • try to allow for 10 minutes checking time at the end.

Stick to your plan. Evidence indicates that two half-answered questions obtain more marks than one completed question and one unanswered one. This is especially vital where you have to answer a certain number of questions from different sections of the exam paper. If your timing goes wrong, you could end up with less time than you would wish to finish the last question. If this happens, plan your answer as described below, and write out the main points in note form. This will earn you a few extra, valuable marks.

Pages: <Previous  12    13    14    15    16    17    18    19    20    21    22  Next >