Best Use of Reading Time

[xox.happy1.xox]

Following the lead of lacoste, I have decided to make a thread of my own!

So, how do we best use our reading time in exams? Do we simply skim over all information required, or do some problems in our head... Or like me, sit around and daydream!  :smitten:

Everyone's input is welcome.  8-)

[ed_saifa]

I usually skim over the whole exam to see which parts I feel most comfortable with first. If you do the easier questions first, you gain confidence to tackle the more challenging questions.

[cara.mel]

Or like me, sit around and daydream!  :smitten:

Don't do that!
If an exam has 2 hours writing time, you are wasting 11% of your total time in the exam if you don't use those 15 minutes! In methods/spec exam 1, this shoots up to 20% wastage

Oh, and I read every single question to see what all the questions are and if they were idiots and the question in one question contains the answer to another one

[/0]

Do you think it's better to do the easy questions in your head so you can just write them down as soon as time starts? Or is it better to find a hard question and spend time thinking about it? (This is after skimming through the exam)

[mark_alec]

Answer or work out how to answer every multiple choice question, then read the other questions and work out how to best attack them.

[Ahmad]

I generally tried to get an overall feel for the exam. I'd try to spot out questions I'm familiar with, having worked through similar questions before. I will read an unfamiliar or difficult question, setting up a mental framework I can use to attack it later. You'd be amazed how much the passing of time helps with these sort of things.

I often did not go through MC, other than fairly briefly skimming through them. However, each individual is different and it is important you find a strategy which works best for you.

[ninwa]

I must be a weirdo then I go through the MC really closely and do all of them in my head. Then when writing time starts I can finish MC in about 5 mins and having all that time left to spare for SA makes me feel more confident for whatever reason ...

[gabrielle__]

Yeah, if you do the MC in your head first, you can't put pen to paper, but you can make a bit of an indent in your paper with you nail on the correct answer, then just go back when writing time starts and shade in the answer.
I do that in the theory subjects such as psych, but with maths and chem i suss out the order I'll do them from easiest hardest. It gives me great confidence for the hard ones!! wooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[droodles]

gabrielle,

you do know that VCAA made it clear that anyone who makes the 'indent with nail during reading time' gets shot with a 9mm after the exam right? then they get the victim's family and deport them to greenland and make them work in a labour camp for the rest of their lives.

i don't think that's anything to smile about, you?

[gabrielle__]

I heard it was an AK-47, but maybe i was wrong?
and droodles, I smile at anything!

[cara.mel]

But seriously, don't let them catch you indenting the paper

[lacoste]

Following the lead of lacoste, I have decided to make a thread of my own!
Everyone's input is welcome.  8-)

nice thread xox.happy1.xox. keep it up!!

i'd start the MC qsts. just to build up momentum and get the flow going....... but now i think about it more and more, i think building up a plan for the SA is better use of reading time. As ahmad said make a mental plan for the SA. possible becoz its worth 66%!!

[ReVeL]

I must be a weirdo then I go through the MC really closely and do all of them in my head. Then when writing time starts I can finish MC in about 5 mins and having all that time left to spare for SA makes me feel more confident for whatever reason ...

Yeah I like this approach too, works for me.

[vce01]

work out as many MC questions as possible. esp with further paper 1.

[danieltennis]

Can you use your calculator during reading time?