Exam Technique

Neil Robbie IFCELS/LTU

nr2

Trouble shooting

• What are your main fears?• Do task one on the handout.• What ideas do you have to prepare for

exams?• Do task two on the handout.• What are the differences between writing a

timed essay and writing an essay for course work?

• Do task three on the handout.

Dos part one-before the exam• Start your revision in time! Eg 4 weeks in advance at a minimum.• Make sure you are able to cover enough topics to be able to answer

(3?) questions.• Prepare summaries of topics which you can adapt to a number of

different questions. Use postcards. Review repeatedly e.g. on the bus.

• Practise timed writing from past papers. Use an egg-timer or stop watch to make sure you do not go over time.

• For humanities: memorise pithy quotes which you can use in many different situations (depending on your subject area).

• For social sciences: memorise useful statistical data.• Consider using digital recorder or tape to help remember key facts. • Write up a revision timetable (even if you don’t keep it, at least it will

make you aware of how much you still have to do!)• Make sure you can spell the names of key thinkers correctly.

Dos-part two- before the exam

• Go to bed reasonably early

• Make sure you know where your exam is

• Arrive 10 minutes or so before exam

• Don’t eat too much before exam

• Make sure your pen etc is working

• Bring a spare pen

Dos part three-in the exam• Choose questions that you actuallv know something about.• Analyse the question focusing on key words.• Who are the key thinkers related to the question? Include them.• Plan the content and organisation before starting to write. • Refer to your plan to remind yourself of the staging of your answer. • Decide on the examples/ evidence you plan to include. • Mentally plan each paragraph before you write it. • Have a clear introduction and conclusion.• Have a clear thesis statement in the introduction. Know where your

essay is going.• Ensure that you are making logical connections between ideas. • Be explicit about how things are related. Give clear definitions. • Make your points relevant- say what you are going to say, say why

you are saying it and then say it. • Make sure that names and specific terms are correctly spelled.

Don’ts part one

• Leave your revision to too late in the day.• Drink too much alcohol the night before.• Stay up till 4.00 am revising the night before. • Spend too much time on one question leaving

not enough for the next two.• Answer a question just because you like the look

of it-you have to know something about it!• Digress from the tasks/ arguments required by

the question. • Forget to write a conclusion.

Don’ts cont.

• Make unsupported assertions (eg: ‘smoking kills’). Instead provide some kind of backup to such assertions (eg: ‘Smoking kills. A recent WHO study (2001) has shown that, on average, smokers are more likely to die from lung cancer or heart disease than non-smokers’.)

FAQs

• Should I reference? Yes where possible.

• Does it matter if I don’t have a year for the reference? Not so much.

• Do I have to write a bibliography? No.

• Can I write numbers as numbers? Yes.

• Can the introduction be quite short? Yes.

• Does spelling matter? Yes (depending on the marker…)

Marker’s comments• This gets pretty repetitive towards the end • Manages to avoid contact with the question altogether. • Wanders around -gets the point here and there but then veers off it. • Not clear what the point is. The essay has no structure or organisation. No

relevant literature is cited nor is the question addressed. • Has very slight acquaintance with the subject, but completely fails to

address the question or develop an argument . • Too general. No readings are mentioned. • Doesn't really examine the views of the different schools of thought on this,

but has some ideas. • Specific names should have been mentioned. Very simplistic • Repetitive, fractured answer. -Largely missed the point. • This makes some good points about [...] but really does not attempt to

answer the question. • Not being able to copy Verba's name correctly doesn't inspire confidence.

Mark scheme (may vary between departments)

• 70+ distinction-shows originality of argument and mastery of evidential support. May involve risk taking.

• 65-69+ merit-strong well-supported argument.• 50-64+ pass-enough information to support an

argument which however is lacking in coherence in places.

• 49 and below-fail-argument exists but lacking in coherence and evidence.

Exam questions

• Look at the exam questions which come up.

• What are the key words?• What must you include in your answer?• What are the possible angles to approach

your answer from?• Where is it possible to include counter

arguments?• Make a short plan for three questions.

Exam questions

• How do ethical and practical considerations influence both the quality of data gathered, and the design of poverty and alleviation projects?

Analytical Methods and Techniques in Development Undergrad.

May/June 2004• What are the strengths and weaknesses of

participatory techniques for generating accurate socio-economic profiles of ‘grassroots communities’ in developing countries?

Critical theory and the study of religions Undergrad. May/June

2004

• ‘The fundamental discursive structuring of Western subjectivity operates on a paternal/patriarchal model that is incapable of representing the feminine as anything other than the negative counterpart of the masculine’ [O’Grady]. Evaluate the alternative formulations of female subjectivity offered by at least TWO of the following theorists: Helen Cixous, Luce Irigeray, Julia Kristeva.

History BA May/June 2005 Undergrad.

• Why was British India partitioned in 1947?

• Was the CCP essentially a peasant party either before or after 1949?

• ‘Africans and Asians increased their production for the market in order to improve their material circumstances’. Discuss.

Theory and Method in the study of religions

May/June 2003 Postgraduate Exams

• Discuss and assess the challenges of and new prospects posited by the ‘postmodern condition’ to the Study of Religions.

Example question

Has ethnic diversity been an obstacle to the development of nationalism in the modern Middle East?

Example question

Critically assess the contribution of the ‘new institutional economics’ to the study of political economy.

Theory and Method in the study of religions. May/June2003 Postgrad.

• Assess Marsha A Hewitt’s statement within the framework of feminist studies of religion: ‘A feminist critical theory of religion must seek ways of preserving the utopian hope of an absolute justice that is uncompromising in its sustained indictment of those forces that drive into further misery and oppression not only women but all humanity and nonhuman nature.’

Making a plan-type A

• Introduction

• Counter argument

• Refutation

• Main argument

• Main argument

• Conclusion

Making a plan-type B

• Introduction

• Main argument

• Main argument

• Qualification

• Counter argument

• Refutation

• Conclusion

Making a plan-type C

• Introduction

• Counter argument-refutation-main argument

• Counter argument-refutation-main argument

• Conclusion

‘Democracy in Ancient Greece was by and large an illusion.’ Discuss.

• It might be argued that the city state of Athens was the first to introduce democracy into the world. It is certainly true that there were representative elections. It is true that these elections were fairly administered. However, on closer analysis, if we compare the forms of democracy today and those in ancient Greece, we can see that the Athenian variety was premised on gross inequality. Women, slaves and metics were all disenfranchised. Of 250,000 inhabitants, only 30,000 were citizens. In other words the democracy was founded on the kind of inequalities that must make us question any idealisation of the Athenian polis.

Your voice

• What is ‘your voice’?

• Why is it necessary?

• How do you express it?

ANSWER THE QUESTION!!!!

• Go straight in.

• Don’t spend too long on elaborate introductions.

• Your argument should run consistently through the whole essay.