Teacher’s Guide - Exam Techniques

© 2010 - Learning Curve Education

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Teacher’s Guide - Exam Techniques

© 2010 - Learning Curve Education

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Teacher’s Guide - Exam Techniques

© 2010 - Learning Curve Education

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Possible Additional Activity

This activity is more appropriate for older students, particularly for examinations based upon essay-type answers.

Students should consider each of the following categories of instruction and their explanations. Teachers should note that there is a short film on the CD ROM that presents key terms and instructions commonly found in essay-type exams.

Focusing on the following list of key terms used in exams, students should try to provide an illustration of what to do in response to each. Students might, for example, try to suggest an essay question containing that key term and illustrate ways of answering the question.

I am someone who prepares thoroughly for exams 1 2 3 4

I am someone who is confident about sitting exams 1 2 3 4

I am someone who gets anxious and stressed about exams 1 2 3 4

I can sometimes get physically unwell before or during exams

1 2 3 4

The way my friends feel about an exam also affects the way I feel

1 2 3 4

At the start of an exam I take time to plan out my answers 1 2 3 4

If I have a choice of questions, I will select the one that I think I can write most about

1 2 3 4

I will select the question or topic I think I know most about, even if I know I can’t answer all parts of the question

1 2 3 4

I always begin with the question that I feel most confident in answering

1 2 3 4

When it comes to answering questions, I tend to just write down everything I know about the topic or subject

1 2 3 4

I often find myself finishing an exam way earlier than other people

1 2 3 4

I often find myself running out of time at the end of an exam 1 2 3 4

I plan the time I am going to spend on each question before I begin answering

1 2 3 4

I always take care to read and follow the instructions for each question

1 2 3 4

1. Totally like me

2. Quite a lot like me

3. A bit like me

4. Nothing like me

Teacher’s Guide - Exam Techniques

© 2010 - Learning Curve Education

5

I understand the different terms about how to answer a question, eg, describe, contrast, explain, illustrate, justify, evaluate

1 2 3 4

For essay questions, I always make a plan before I start to write my answer

1 2 3 4

I know some different ways of developing my answer in order to get more marks

1 2 3 4

If my mind goes blank in an exam I tend to panic 1 2 3 4

Teacher’s Guide - Exam Techniques

© 2010 - Learning Curve Education

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Analyse Analyse tells you to break something down into its parts and show how the parts relate to each other to make the whole.

Compare Compare tells you to show how two or more things are BOTH similar and different.

Contrast Contrast tells you to show how two or more things are different.

Define Define tells you to explain the meaning of something in a brief, specific manner.

Describe Describe tells you to present a picture of something in words, including its important characteristics and qualities.

Illustrate Illustrate tells you to use examples to describe or explain something.

Evaluate Evaluate tells you to make a judgment of the value, or worth, or effectiveness of something.

Explain Explain tells you to provide facts or reasons to make something clear and understandable.

Justify Justify tells you to provide facts and reasons to support an argument or a point of view.

List List tells you to present information about something as a series of brief numbered points.

Outline Outline tells you to present the most important information about something in an organised manner.

Summarise Summarise tells you to present the main points about something in a brief form.

Trace Trace tells you to present the order in which something occurred.