Finishing exams under timed conditions

[katiesaliba]

Does anyone else struggle to finish the exam under timed conditions? 

[shivaji]

yeh the separate unit 3 and 4 exams are quite hard to finish..

what do you do first? multiple choice or short answer?

[katiesaliba]

yeh the separate unit 3 and 4 exams are quite hard to finish..

what do you do first? multiple choice or short answer?

I try and do as many multiple choice questions as possible during reading time and like memorise my answers :') so yeah, I always do multiple choice first which I should probably not do :| How about you?

[shivaji]

I try and do as many multiple choice questions as possible during reading time and like memorise my answers :') so yeah, I always do multiple choice first which I should probably not do :| How about you?

oh ok. i read short answer during reading time, then do multiple choice during writing time and go back to short answer. personally i think it's better to read through short answer so you have an idea of what is on the exam... but it's up to you i guess.

but if you find hard to finish company exams, that's not much of a problem i think because they do put a lot of extra irrelant info in practise exams

[ChrisLane]

he he,

I happened again and again also with me whenever I try to start my answering there no left even 1 second time. Hardly there is time for memorizing for particular question' answer. I try to solve that what I see in question booklet in front of my eyes.

[vox nihili]

Try rushing a couple of your practice exams and it'll start to become a bit more second nature.

[Reus]

Whattttt I thought biology was one of those subject where it feels like extra time is given! I would love the spare time I have after my bio exams to be transferred to my english exam time  

[althepal]

Yup I find I struggle a lot with the separate unit 3 and 4 exams in terms of time, usually only 5-10 mins left over whereas with the combined ones I have heaps of time - up to 30 mins.

[walkec]

I went to a lecture run by Andrew Douch of Douchy's Biology last week and he gave us a suggestion for how to finish on time.
He said we should be aiming for a mark a minute. So what he suggested was at the start of writing time write at the bottom of the page when you will need to have that page done working on a mark a minute. So say on page 3 of short answer (if beginning with short answer) you write say 10:30am but by the time you start page 3 it's 10:35, you know you need to pick up the pace.

Equally if you write 10:30 as your target time to finish page 3 and it's 10:15am when you finish, you know you need to slow done because you're rushing. I tried this strategy out this morning and I found it really helpful.

[althepal]

Oh hey that sounds like a really good tip, never heard that from anyone before. Thank you I'm definitely going to try that one out!

[katiesaliba]

I went to a lecture run by Andrew Douch of Douchy's Biology last week and he gave us a suggestion for how to finish on time.
He said we should be aiming for a mark a minute. So what he suggested was at the start of writing time write at the bottom of the page when you will need to have that page done working on a mark a minute. So say on page 3 of short answer (if beginning with short answer) you write say 10:30am but by the time you start page 3 it's 10:35, you know you need to pick up the pace.

Equally if you write 10:30 as your target time to finish page 3 and it's 10:15am when you finish, you know you need to slow done because you're rushing. I tried this strategy out this morning and I found it really helpful.

Oh my god, I'm so jealous that you got to go to his lecture! Thanks for this, I'll definitely try it out

[walkec]

Oh my god, I'm so jealous that you got to go to his lecture! Thanks for this, I'll definitely try it out

He was so good and engaging - definitely wish I had him as my teacher 

[swagsxcboi]

it's probably best to read through all of the short answer first and see which questions you can answer with a LOT of confidence.
If you get to finish reading all of short answer section during the reading time then read MC but as soon as writing time starts, you should be answering the questions that you feel you are extremely confident with. Questions that you aren't as confident with, you can come back to.

If you feel exhausted from writing so much, just relax, have a drink and stretch. Then once you feel like you've answered all the questions you're extremely confident with for short answer question, come back to the MC. Make sure you do all of the MC in one go, and remember to read the question at least twice (there were a few tricks last year)

Whilst a bulk of the marks are from SA, MC is quite easy in comparison, so if you're confident you can easily smash out the 40 questions with ease, then maybe that's your best option.

Try rushing a couple of your practice exams and it'll start to become a bit more second nature.

This ^

Just go quick for a few and you'll realise that it doesn't really make a difference, and you'll get used to writing quick.
Even though I felt like doing single u3/u4 exams (combined of 150 marks) back to back wasn't too difficult to finish in time (10-15 mins left over), I found that in the actual exam I was much more slower (110 marks) and as a result I finished with 5 minutes to go after reading over responses.

best of luck guys!
I took the real exam much much slower and finished with 5 minutes to go.

[Tyleralp1]

I feel like it's worth pointing out, that whilst the "one mark a minute" approach is effective in some ways, don't feel obliged to commit to your time restraints.

For example, some multiple choice may take 20 seconds, and some may require 2 minutes as you read it again and think about the application. More so, with short answer, a 3 mark question may require a bit more than 3 minutes effort of writing to cover all the necessary points. Basically, if you feel the need to spend more time to cover yourself, do so, better to have more than less our teachers says.

Definitely, this method is good as a guide, but don't go on the "oh shit past my allocated time, move on" as each individual may differ in terms of required time and points necessary to gain the marks.

Also, our teacher always tells us to start with the short answer section first. The reason being is that usually requires a bit more thinking. Also, in the event your pushed for time, you can get lucky with quickly reading and answering multiple choice, but short answer, you can't exactly pull off the same marks with the reduced time.

[RazzMeTazz]

 I find I finish too quickly and make many  silly mistakes

Would you guys advise finishing as quick as possible and then checking over answers or checking answers as you go?