Exams & Revision
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Revision and Exams
Revision tips
Here are our top tips for making sure your revision is as effective as possible.
Tip 1: Consider the best time for you to revise
Are you more productive in the morning, afternoon or evening?
Do you need to change your current patterns to help you work during your most effective times?
We often meet students who work late into the night to complete assignments, but find that they are actually more productive at other times of day.
Work to your strengths.
Tip 2: Think about the best place for you to revise
Think about where you are most productive and comfortable when studying.
Is your time spent at home/in the park/in the library effective, or are you easily distracted?
Tip 3: Use your attention span to your advantage
Work out how long you can concentrate comfortably for. It may be minutes or hours. The important thing it to acknowledge it and use it to your advantage.
Build regular breaks into your routine to refresh yourself. It is better to revise productively for a short time than to spend unproductive time staring at books!
Tip 4: Plan it out
Many students find it useful to plan out their revision using a timetable, to break revision into blocks and allow time for other activities.
We recommend building blank sessions into a revision plan. If you run behind slightly in your revision, this allows you to catch up with difficult material.
Tip 5: Choose methods that work for you
Some educators suggest that people have different styles of learning. For example, learning through hearing (auditory), seeing (visual) or through undertaking activities (kinaesthetic).
It may be worth experimenting with different approaches to revision, to see if any of them suit you. Here are some ideas...
Using lists/sequences:
Rather than writing pages of notes, many students find it useful to categorise information using lists or sequences, which can help them to memorise subject material.
This can provide variation for you, as well as helping if you have a visual learning style.
Using revision/flashcards:
Revision cards (small index cards) allow you to divide topics up into smaller sections, and categorise them.
Similarly, flashcards are a way of testing your knowledge with subject-related questions on one side and the answer on the other.
Both revision and flashcards can be carried with you for revising while travelling.
Auditory techniques:
Using rhyme, mnemonics (words which enable you to memorise more complex information) or recording yourself explaining a concept, and then listening back, may suit you if you feel you have an auditory learning style.
The use of recorded revision aids also lets you revise in other contexts, rather than having to have notes to hand.
Using colour, symbols or senses:
This can include using different coloured highlighters to categorise ideas, or using pictures or symbols to represent things.
Diagrams such as concept maps can also provide a useful way of representing a complex topic. These involve the use of a central theme in the middle of the diagram, with points and sub-points branching off. Large blocks of text are generally avoided, as concepts are summarised into key points. Concept maps can include images, colours and patterns as well.
We often find that students have good experiences of using concept maps as an aid to understanding complex topics.
Exam tips
Many people think about these questions at some point (even if they never ask them). Here is some useful advice and guidance adapted from Stella Cottrell’s Study Skills Handbook and the Skills4Study Campus site:
Should I plan out essays at the beginning of the exam, or before each question?
You will learn from experience what works best for you, so it is a good idea to complete some past papers to try different approaches before the exam. It is also worth spending a few minutes at the start of the exam jotting down the key information for each essay answer. This may help with:
Checking whether you really can answer the questions you have selected.
Identifying whether you need to spend more time on some answers.
Stimulating your memory, and feeling you are more in control of the exam.
Should I spend more time on my best question?
It is best to use your time based on how many marks are available for each question.
If all questions are worth the same marks, spending a lot of time on one question is not a good idea.
Answering one question very well may not give you enough marks to pass the exam overall, if you fail to answer the other questions to an appropriate standard.
For essay questions, you may find that it is easier to get enough marks to pass each question, rather than to gain sufficient marks from one or two outstanding answers.
Should I take breaks/finish early?
Some people find it refreshes them to have planned breaks of a few minutes between each question.
For others, planning out a new question serves as sufficient break.
Avoid breaks if stopping makes you feel anxious about wasting time.
It may sound simple, but it’s always a good idea to visit the toilet before you get into the exam room!
Exam questions are designed to match the time available. Use the time to review your answers and check whether you have missed any important points.
Once you leave the exam room, you lose the opportunity to add further material.
I don’t seem to use as much paper as other people
Try to avoid making comparisons with other people in the exam. They may have a very different writing style to you.
The most important thing is to answer the questions and cover the necessary subject material.
What if I go blank in the exam?
This is a very common concern. Here are some ways of managing this situation:
Aim to remain calm. Panic makes it harder to think clearly so managing anxiety is your first concern.
Move on to another point rather than trying to force your memory. The material you are trying to remember may come back later.
If you are really stuck, write rough notes on a piece of paper, following possible connections, and the ideas may start to flow again.
If no ideas come, keep the pen moving, if only to doodle or free-associate.
Read the question again, and jot down key words. Some of these may stimulate ideas that take you to the material you need.
If you cannot remember an occasional point or reference, keep this lapse of memory in perspective. The details you are looking for may come back to you before the end of the exam.
You may be tired. Take a few minutes’ break to calm yourself. If you have practised breathing or calming exercises, use those now.
It’s over... so why don’t I feel happy?
In the lead-up to the exam, it is often assumed that everything will seem wonderful once the exam is over, and there will be a sense of freedom. However, the end of exams affects people in different ways. For example, it can make us feel:
Euphoric – it feels wonderful that revision and exams are over
Liberated – we can focus on other things
Anti-climactic – there seems to be nothing else important to do
Depressed – the excitement has nowhere to go
Powerless – it can be hard waiting for the results
However you feel, remember that it is finished, and that repeatedly going over the exam in your mind can be a bad thing. Try to relax, and shift your focus to the future instead.
Are you taking an online, time constrained test?
How do you feel about this?
Some of you will be happy, others will find it unfamiliar and challenging!
If you are used to doing online tests you have a head start, but these assessments may be longer and in a different format from the online and multiple choice tests that you are used to.
If you are doing an online assessment it is still a serious exam and you will need to be prepared.
Preparation
You will need to prepare for these assessments. Some of them are closed book, which means you will not be allowed to have any materials with you. Others may be open book, meaning you can have specified resources with you.
Closed book – If this is a closed book assessment, you are not allowed materials and you need to revise for this exam, in the same way as you would do if you were doing it at the university. I am sure most of you would never think of having materials with you, but if you do think of that, don’t fool yourself, you will not have time to look things up, you will need to spend the time giving full answers.
Open book – If your assessment is open book you are allowed some specified materials with you. However, you will need to make sure these materials are very well organised and that you know where to find the information you need. You will still need to know the material, you will not have time to search for answers, so the revision resource will also be useful for you.
Organising your workspace
If you are taking the exam outside of the classroom you will need to make sure you have a suitable workspace. You will need a quiet place, as you would do in an exam at the university. If your assessment is closed book you will need a clear desk with just the equipment you need for your exam. If your assessment is open book you will need a space where you can organise your materials.
You will need a sufficient connection to the internet to complete the exam. If you have any concerns about your IT equipment and internet connection, you will need to inform your course leader or personal tutor and you should talk to the university’s Information Services:
Telephone: 023 9284 7777
Email: servicedesk@port.ac.uk
Online chat: https://servicedesk.port.ac.uk/#
If you have any concerns about your IT connection or equipment make sure you contact them in good time before the exam day.
On the day of the assessment
You should treat this like any other assessment. Once you have started the exam you should stay at your computer working on it, using the time effectively. Make sure you have everything you need on your desk.
Have breakfast or lunch before the exam. Your brain doesn’t work as well when you are short of blood sugar and you won’t have time to eat during the exam.
Top Tips
Do all the same preparations on and before the day, that you would if you were doing the exam at the university
If you have any concerns about your computer equipment or connection do not leave it until the exam day to deal with it, get advice in good time
Do not assume the exam will be like the online tests you have done before
Interpreting your Question
It is natural to be concerned when preparing for exams, and many of them can be overcome with planning and stress management. However, if you develop the skills for interpreting your questions, you will be in a much stronger position when producing future assignments, or going into your exams.
How can I make sense of the question?
Although many of the terms used in your exam questions will be subject-specific (they will rely on you knowing what they mean), there are some simple techniques for identifying the real meaning of the questions, to ensure that you answer them fully.
Taking the question apart
Exam questions in business and law subjects can be broken down into three main components:
Task words (also sometimes called action words or key words)
These words are usually the easiest to identify within the question. Task words give instructions, or tell you what to do. For example, “discuss”, “evaluate” or “critically assess”.
Statement/content words
These words or phrases usually make up the biggest part of a question. They are often in the form of a statement for you to evaluate. Where task words tell you what to do, the content tells you what to do it with. However, not all questions will include a statement or many content words. In this case, they will certainly contain specific terms.
Specific terms
These are subject-specific words or phrases which may require evaluating. For example, in the question “outline Modigliani & Miller’s dividend irrelevance hypothesis”, the specific term would be the dividend irrelevance hypothesis.
Interpreting a question using the BUG technique
1) Write out the question
2) Draw a box around the task words (what to “do”)
3) Underline the content words (what to “do” things to)
4) Check back over the question to make sure you didn’t miss anything!
The BUG technique was developed by Geraldine Price, and is fully explained in Study Skills for Business & Management Students, Ramsay, Maier & Price, 2010)
In this case, you would consider the statement (identified here as a belief), and would discuss it (that is, provide detail about and evidence for and against the belief, explaining which argument seems stronger), using real-world examples to clarify your ideas. It may also be worth identifying the specific terms such as workers, poorer countries and multinational businesses, in order to ensure that you fully explore the issues.
Some other examples of questions:
“Critically discuss if and how non-audit services threaten independence, and why is it important for Ethical Standards to restrict certain non-audit services.”
Task words: critically discuss Specific terms: non-audited, independence, Ethical Standards
“Discuss whether Imran has a claim for misrepresentation and identify his available remedies. Illustrate your answer with relevant law.”
Task words: discuss, identify, illustrate Specific terms: misrepresentation, remedies
Taking your tasks apart in this way will help you to establish exactly what you are being asked to do and will help you to ensure that you do not go off track.