ATAR Notes: Forum
VCE Stuff => Victorian Education Discussion => Topic started by: Greatness on April 30, 2011, 02:43:36 pm
-
Ive heard teachers and other VNers use this term but i never really knew what it meant ???
So yeah, What does 'exam technique' actually mean?
-
Nothing too special, things like skip hard questions instead of sitting there for 10minutes, eliminate 'silly' mistakes, read the question properly, answer the question instead of writing everything you know about a key word etc
-
Don't stop writing until the examiner people say pens down
-
It's just a bullshit marketing term that WILL suck your parents in.
My 'technique' is to sit down and do the exam and not worry about doing some bullshit technique.
-
I agree with schnappy, I think its just a marketing term. If you think logically, the only real technique applicable for EVERY VCAA exam, is to just focus on the task and have your best go at it.
-
Nothing too special, things like skip hard questions instead of sitting there for 10minutes, eliminate 'silly' mistakes, read the question properly, answer the question instead of writing everything you know about a key word etc
Don't stop writing until the examiner people say pens down
Generally just things such as this, your methodology when approaching/completing your end of your exam.
-
Get enough sleep.
That's preparation.
Knowing how many points of information to give to the questions is something that falls under exam technique.
Knowing how to deal with the layout of the exam is exam technique, I'd even say dealing with 3 essays for english falls under this.
Knowing the specific terms needed for definitions - those key words... that's probably exam technique as well.
Structuring your questions clearly to what is asked is also exam technique.
It really has to do with all those things you need to do well that aren't to do with how much of the course you know, and how healthy you are. The best way to prepare for it is usually just doing the exams, and looking at examiner reports. However, with a new study design it sometimes may be helpful to actually talk to examiners etc.
But yeah, IMO it definitely is a thing, and it definitely is important. At least for theory subjects.
-
Ways to maximise marks in minimum time.. like dont waste time on confusing 1mark multiple choices, if you're struggling with time do all the questions you know first and the harder ones later, how to use reading time efficiently, highlighting key terms, knowing key words in definitions, and having exposure to heaps of practice exams before the real one, so everything feels familiar
-
Oh is that all... lol. Pretty much common sense stuff and things you would do to revise :/
-
A lot of it really is common sense, but no one applies it. I've known smart people with shocking exam technique who don't maximise the marks they could have got with the knowledge they have. It's important to take your trials seriously due to this so that you can work on your exam technique. Most important tip I can give is to answer all the 'instant' questions first (those which you don't have to think for and spend all the time just writing or doing working out), and leave the complex or long questions (especially 4+ mark questions) until the end. Reason for this is that you relieve the time pressure which can put you off in your thought processes or in your wording of the answer. This way you can gauge how much time you have left to burn on those longer or more complex questions. This is especially important for long answer questions where it's not clear exactly how much you need to write to get all the marks, since it means you just continue crapping on with the time you have remaining. There's a few other things I did as well but they're a bit harder to explain and not that important.
-
A well-respected former member advised about knowing how to use heuristics (wiki it), for qs posing a problem.