Exam Preparation

Higher Education Language & Presentation Support

Contact us

HELPS (Higher Education Language & Presentation Support) • Location: CB01.03.08 • Telephone: 9514 9733 • Email: helps@uts.edu.au • Website: ssu.uts.edu.au/helps

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• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhnsCTaux_0

• http://www.uts.edu.au/current-students/support/helps/special-conditions-exams-students-non-english-speaking-backgrounds

• Special Conditions in exams

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Discussion

• What types of exams do you have to do?

• When do you start studying?

• How to you study for an exam?

• What are your concerns about exams?

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Exam Preparation

• Revision • What to do • When to do it

• Exam

• Planning & Reading time

• Exam Types • Essays • Short Answers • Multiple Choice

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Revision - overview

Understand the course

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Review Topics

Review Chapters

Revision – notes

Lectures, Textbook, Key Readings 1. Comprehensive 2. Summary Main themes/topics Clear Headings

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Headings

Clear Organisation

Main Points + Few Examples

Connecting topics

How are topics connected? (mind maps; flow charts)

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Revision – instructions

Know your exam instructions Structure Timing Location Material covered Question types

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Revision - tips

Begin 4 weeks before exam Plan study time – (1 hour slots max; 15 min slots while travelling? Organise notes from lectures and reading 2 Weeks before exam Read notes 3 X per day Use acronyms if it helps 1 Week before … Try sample exams Practice questions?

• But don’t prepare ‘model’ answers. Have some general conclusions around topics.

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Past Exam Papers

• Check with your tutor if there are past papers in the library.

• Practice under exam conditions • Review answers carefully • Form a study group and practice together

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Study time - discussion

• Is morning or evening better for you? Or another time? • Do you study by topic? (most difficult first?)

• Do your study notes match the topics in your subject outline?

• Have you missed lectures or handouts? (tapes? borrow?)

• Do you always study in the same, quiet, well-lit place?

• Do you set study goals for each session eg. Chapters 3 & 4; 5 equations;

concepts from lectures 1-3

• Do you use any particular methods when reading and note-taking?

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SQ3R method

• Survey Skim for main ideas. Table of contents; chapter summaries; graphs; tables etc.

• Question Look for answers to questions. Turn headings into questions

• eg. Organisational Theory – What is O. T. and where did it start?

• Read 1st no notes; 2nd reading – note main ideas in topics

• Recall Shut book and try to recall what you read. Make notes of what you remember – then check.

• Review Separate from study time. Review all notes at end of study period. Can you turn notes into key words?

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Revision - tips

The day before … Revise lightly Sleep On the day … Get up early; eat well Travel early to the exam Avoid panic talk UTS:HELPS 14

Confidence

• Ok to be nervous. If too casual – not alert; too nervous – agitated.

• During exam – pause (quiet moments then back to what you were doing); deep breaths; relax shoulders/hands/face/jaw

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Reading/Planning time

• What do you do in reading/planning time?

• Sometimes 5-10 mins given to you or spend a few minutes anyway.

The Exam - Strategies

Use Time Wisely Bring a watch Time Spent = Marks allocated Note times on exam paper

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Reading Time

• Note number of marks per question; time per question • 90 min exam 90 multiple choice questions = one question per minute • 60% essay question = 60% of exam time

• Clue Words in short answers or essay questions (underline if you can)

• Task directions eg. Answer two questions

• Start with easy questions – increases confidence; starts you thinking and triggers your memory. Hard questions will slow you down and may cause stress.

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Reading Time

• Exams are a game – you are tested for your ability to follow directions

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Clue Words

• Tell you what to do in an essay eg. analyse, compare, describe, discuss, summarise ….

• Eg. Compare the goals of liberal and socialist feminism. • Evaluate the goals of liberal and socialist feminism

• Check past exams for your discipline to see most

commonly used clue word.

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Exams are active

• Most lecturers want you to think, assess, make judgements in exams. Not simply give back information.

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The Exam – Questions

Essays Short Answers Case Studies Multiple Choice What do you need to consider for each?

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Multiple Choice UTS:HELPS 23

Multiple choice

• Usually cover what has been discussed in lectures and tutorials

• Use course framework for study • Small cards – definitions; main ideas and details.

Carry around with you for regular practice

Multiple Choice Exams

• Before exam – ask lecturer/tutor which areas will be included in the test.

• Ask if marks will be deducted for incorrect response (‘negative marking’). If so, only guess answer if you think it’s likely to be right.

• Past exam papers

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Multiple Choice

• Read questions throughly; don’t assume they have ‘tricks’

• ‘most correct’ answer – try to supply answer before you read all options

• If not negatively marked – answer every question

• Check if grammar of question and answer matches

• Be careful of:

• Negative phrasing (eg. Choose the answer which DOESN’T describe) • Subjective questions (eg. Choose the option that BEST describes) • Judgement questions (eg. Choose the MOST CORRECT answer) • Multiple answers (Choose MORE than one).

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Multiple Choice

• In most cases your original answer is correct. Only change if you find new evidence or suddenly remember otherwise

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True/False

• Be careful of:

• Absolute words eg. all, none, always, never – these usually make a statement false • Eg. students always enjoy multiple choice exams

• Qualifying words eg. most, some, usually, seldom –

more likely to make a statement true • Most students don’t enjoy multiple choice exams

• Multiple ideas or concepts within question – all parts

must be true or the statement is false.

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Multiple Choice

• Tips for Multiple Choice: (not guaranteed!) • Take your ‘best guess’ – what is most likely

• Eliminate obvious ones first

• Eliminate anything completely unfamiliar to you

• Humorous or absurd answers usually incorrect

• Eliminate those with absolute words eg. always, every, never.

• ‘all of the above’ may be good if you know more than one is correct

• Number answers – avoid extremes; favour middle range

• If two answers are similar, one is likely to be correct

• If two answers are same thing, they cancel each other out

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Essays in Exams (handout)

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Open Book Exams UTS:HELPS 30

You can take notes, texts or resource materials with you. Sometimes restrict what you take (eg. limited number of texts; only tables). A few pages of notes and a few well-chosen texts better than too much. Flow charts to show how topics are connected can be very useful Myth – you don’t need to study; they are easy; you can copy from the book; you should take as much as you can with you

Open Book Exams UTS:HELPS 31

Often used in subjects requiring direct reference to written materials eg. law statutes, statistics or acts of parliament. Don’t test your memory but do test your ability to (quickly!) find and apply information, solve problems and apply knowledge critically rather than reproduce facts Essay style or problem solving questions (depends on faculty). Referencing usually required, same with other essays. Don’t copy long sections; use few quotations – your own analysis is more important.

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2 types: Traditional sit down/limited time exams. Find out: what you can take; time; topic areas; how long answers should be; need to reference; question types. Take Home exams – answers done without help from others, usually returned the next day. Materials usually unrestricted. Find out: time and date exam is due; how much time to complete; length of answers; need to reference; question types

Open Book Exams

• Before Open Book exam: • Table of Contents and Index Pages help you locate which pages you

need to use – Post-it notes

• Brief summaries in margins of books

• List of key information (eg. definitions)

• Index Cards – key topics (theories, models, processes) and relevant page numbers of texts. One card per book.

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Reference

• Most of this material sourced from:

http://www.lc.unsw.edu.au/olib.html#3

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ssu.uts.edu.au/helps

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UTS:HELPS

HELPS

• Weekly workshops • Drop-in consultations • Writing clinics • Conversations@UTS • Intensive academic English programs • Self-help learning resources

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