TAKING EXAMINATIONS:

The successful taking of written examination is again, about preparation.  You can relieve stress if you follow a consistent revision programme (see Examination Revision), but there are also simple 'housekeeping' practices that will help you with examinations.  These include:

Well in advance of the examination

• Find out how many examinations you have to tackle this semester, where they are to be held (make sure you visit the exam room before the day of the exam so that you know how to get there), and when (date and time).
  
  
• Find out how they will be assessed (what type of exams are they?)
  
  
• Find out where you can get past examination papers (Check on LISA: www.lisa@lsbu.ac.uk, but you may need to check with your lecturer in case the titles of the examination papers have changed in the past, or the syllabus has changed).

During the run-up to the examination

• Drink and eat sensibly - you will be burning a lot of nervous energy.
  
  
• Take exercise.
  
  
• Organise any required child-care etc., and start this, if possible, on the day before the examinations.
  
  
• Practice past examination papers (see Examination Revision )

The day before (click here for note on 'cramming')

• Again eat sensibly.
  
  
• Prepare what you need for the examination – pens, pencils, ruler, drink, note of the examination room number, identity card, jumper, bus/train pass.

On the day

• Try to eat something – bread or cereal are better than nothing.
  
  
• Leave in good time – if you are someone who always oversleeps, get someone reliable to call you.
  
  
• Try to check any course notice board in case of last minute room changes.

In the exam

• Relax, you cannot change anything at this late stage – what will be will be!
  
  
• Check that you have the correct examination paper.
  
  
• Read the examination instructions carefully; make sure you understand them – Check if any questions are compulsory; if the examination is divided into sections; check how many questions you need to answer from each section.
  
  
• Allocate your time to each answer (you should have already done this as part of your revision plan, but be sure – for example if each question is worth 20% of the total examination marks, then it should get 20% of the time; in a three-hour examination this works out at 35 minutes per question, but don't be fooled.  You will not get this long since a few minutes will always 'disappear'.
  
  Typically you may need:
  
  
  • 5 minutes to read all the questions.
    
    
  • 5 minutes to carefully go through your choices.
    
    
  • 10 minutes at the start of each question to underline the key points and layout an answer plan or note the required equations.
    
    
  • 5 minutes at the end of the question to check it.
    
    
  • 5 minutes at the end of the exam to check everything is labelled and included with the examination.
    
    That only leaves about 18 minutes to actually write down the answer. – Not a problem is you are prepared for it, but a real shock if you keep working on 3 hours divided by 5 questions.
    
    
• Read each question carefully – What is expected from each?
  
  
• Do you feel able to answer the question – Check if it sounds like one you have practised before but be careful of slight changes - it might not be the answer you were thinking of.
  
  
• Tick the questions you can attempt.
  
  
• Work out the questions you can answer best and the order you are going to answer them

As you answer each question

• Before you start to answer, mark or underline the key words in the question
  
  (Click here for glossary of common examination terms)
  
  
• For essay type questions, spend up to 5 minutes mapping out your answer. – You will get better marks in the answer is structured. – And if your mind just goes blank, fall back on the basic questions you can ask yourself – Who? What? When? How? – It will come back when you start to think in these terms.
  
  
• For essay type questions, as you answer the question check back every now and again to make sure you have not drifted off the question – Now you can see the reason we highlighted or underlined the key words.
  
  
• If it is a calculation type problem, spend a few minutes noting down the key formulas you will need.  It will save worrying about them during the question when you get to that part.
  
  
• For a calculation type question show all your working, just in case you make a simple mathematical error. You may still get marks on the correct method of analysis, especially if you add a phrase of sentence at each step of the calculation, to demonstrate that you know how to solve the answer.
  
  
• Allow 5 minutes to check through your answer at the end.  If you find something is missing, don't panic.  Add a series of brief footnotes or additional paragraphs.
  
  
• Make sure you start the required number of questions. – Remember examination questions are usually 'ramped' that means they start off easy and get progressively harder as you work through the parts of a question.  So you are much more likely to pick-up marks quickly by starting a new question, than by going over your pre-set time limits in order to complete the last part of a question.  For example, the last section of an examination question may be marked as 10 marks, in which the very last part of that section may be worth say 4 marks if you complete it correctly. A new question may have a definition (4 marks) and a simple explanation (6 marks). Even if you rush your answer and only get half-marks for these, it is still 5 marks - 1 mark more than you would have achieved by finishing the previous question, and it may be more.

At the end of the examination

• Make sure your name and candidate number etc., is on every piece of paper you will hand-in. – Double check to make sure nothing is missing.