Multiple choice struggles

[paigek3]

Hi guys,

I am quite awful at multiple choice, and I have been doing some practice ones and cannot get past getting 16/20. Whilst for some this may be good, and it truly is not a bad mark, in the other sections I am usually getting 15/15 for HR, 14/15 for crime and within 22-24/25 for my options, so my MC mark is always what brings me down

The reason I am getting them wrong is either I second guess myself (although, sometimes second guessing myself has led me to getting a question right  ), or the wording of the question confuses me and I end up simply thinking it is meaning something else

Any tips on how to start getting a 19/20

[fantasticbeasts3]

Hi guys,

I am quite awful at multiple choice, and I have been doing some practice ones and cannot get past getting 16/20. Whilst for some this may be good, and it truly is not a bad mark, in the other sections I am usually getting 15/15 for HR, 14/15 for crime and within 22-24/25 for my options, so my MC mark is always what brings me down

The reason I am getting them wrong is either I second guess myself (although, sometimes second guessing myself has led me to getting a question right  ), or the wording of the question confuses me and I end up simply thinking it is meaning something else

Any tips on how to start getting a 19/20

oh my goodness if this isn't me. i reckon keep practicing them, because you get used to the wording of questions (some of them are sooo dodgy...) and with time, you should get better :-)

[paigek3]

oh my goodness if this isn't me. i reckon keep practicing them, because you get used to the wording of questions (some of them are sooo dodgy...) and with time, you should get better :-)

Do you know other places for mc questions because can't really use the hsc papers past 2010 because of the syllabus updates :/

[Lumenoria]

Omg yup, I always end up being stuck between two seemingly right choices in Legal and somehow always end up circling the wrong one! Hahaha I suppose practice is key here

[Opengangs]

As I don't do Legal, I'll just help you out with multiple choice in general.

Typically in multiple choice questions, there would be answers that are close to the correct answer and those that are completely incorrect. It is in your best interest to narrow your choices down. Use highlighters to highlight key words, or use a pen to underline the key words of the question; if you're able to do so, you can begin to start making choices as to which are correct and those that are not.

Another tactic is to cross off the answers that are completely incorrect; this allows you to focus on the parts of the question where the two other answers differ. Look for trigger words to a particular topic or subtopic, as they tend to be implied within the question. If it's not immediately obvious (like 10 seconds), then skip it and put a star next to it to denote that you need to come back and think about it. It's also good to leave it, as short answers may help to distinguish your choices, which can help when picking the correct answer.

But above all, practice them -- use the online multiple choice application to test and review your progress. It's a good indicator to see what topics you're falling in, and just ensures that you're not simply rote learning your material.

Good luck with Legal Studies -- I know you'll smash it!

[zofromuxo]

Hmmm something that could work besides practice is Confidence tracking .
This is an idea, where for every MC question you do, you score how confident you are of the answer
on a scale of 1-5. 1: Not confident to 5: Confident .
This reduces the chance of you second-guess yourself and improves the rate of correction, when changing your answer.
Here is a link to an interview with the researcher and their paper on this idea

[fantasticbeasts3]

Do you know other places for mc questions because can't really use the hsc papers past 2010 because of the syllabus updates :/

i hope thsc still works... if not, try acehsc (lots of ads though)

[isaacdelatorre]

Hey there,

Multiple choice for me was the easiest section of the paper cos it was the one that didnt require endless amounts of planning and thinking and writing (hated writing essays).
But many questions do become tricky... my legal studies teacher was a huge advocate for improving multiple choice because it is so much easier to your overall score through improving multiple choice (14 to 16) than it is to improve an essay from 18 to 19.

One of the ways i tried to go about multiple choice was to go through each answer and cross out the specific part of that answer which was wrong. This is especially helpful for answers that have 2 parts to them
e.g. if question is "Michael travels by public transport to his office in the city. He has been caught travelling without a valid ticket. What type of offences have been committed? (2015 HSC Exam Q3)
(A)    Summary and public order
(B)    Summary and strict liability
(C)    White collar and public order
(D)    White collar and strict liability

For A I would cross out the part of the answer that is wrong so would cross out the public order bit.
Then I would continue to do that for each answer. Even if I thought answer B was right, I would still look at C and D and then cross out those if they are wrong.

For Legal Studies, MC only come out of Crime and HR so there is less content that is examinable. It should be noticed that a lot more of the questions are focusing on scenarios and applying the knowledge rather than defining or identifying what a legal mechanism is.

I do this a lot with my economics students right now but we do multiple choice questions out loud and they have to tell me why each answer is wrong and why the correct one is right. This is really good as it gets them to explain their reasoning and analyse their own thoughts. Definitely try this out (maybe with someone else so you're not weirdly talking to yourself)

Let me know if you need any clarification for these.
Isaac

[Lachlan Morley]

Hi there,

Thought I would just add my two cents,

I've always been pretty happy with multis in legal exams ( normally getting around 17-19) although in my trial i got 95% and the 5 marks dropped were in the multis so I know where you are coming from.

One thing I have alway told fellow class mates is the more papers you do to more questions you will see and eventually you would be able to read the first few words and know where the question is heading ( make sure you read the whole question though ! )

Another tactic I use is all multi questions that you get wrong, copy and paste them into a word document and then the days before the exam you will be able to specifcally practise the questions you are not so good at.

I have also found it usefull to once you have marked them, go over the ones you got right to reinforce in your head what you thought to be the right answer, is the right answer, this will lead to improved confidence and impoved marks.

Let me know how you go