The MBB examinations in January should contribute one ninth of the final mark for a BSc degree or one fifteenth of an MBiolSci degree. Because we use multiple-choice exams at Level 1, it is probably at least eighteen months since you sat an examination in which you had to write your own answers. There is no need to panic, but you need to make sure you are well prepared to demonstrate your knowledge and understanding as effectively as possible.
At A-level, you may have been able to choose to resit modules in order to improve your grades. Once you have passed a module in your degree programme, however, the University does not normally permit you to resit it. Moreover, if you fail a module at the first attempt, the maximum grade you can be awarded in a subsequent resit examination is 40.
Note that if you have evidence of a "good reason" for missing or performing badly in an exam, such as a doctor's note or other appropriate documentation, you can be awarded a result of "NA" (Not Assessed). This means that you must be examined on a later occasion, when you will be awarded a grade that will not be capped, but will reflect your actual performance.
All MBB Level 2 lecture modules follow the same exam format. You will have 2 hours in which to complete the examination. The first 15 minutes of the exam are for reading the questions, and you will not be permitted to start writing your answers until these 15 minutes have elapsed. 50% the marks for the module are available from Section A, in which you must answer all six short-answer questions, and 50% of the marks are available from Section B, in which you must choose one question from eight. More detail may be found in the Aims and Objectives document for each module. For example, see the Aims and Objectives for MBB267.
The short-answer questions are intended to take about 7.5 minutes each, and the essay about 45 minutes. This means that you should, in principle, be able to complete the exam in 1 hour 30 minutes. We have given you 2 hours, however, to make sure that you are not under undue time pressure.
The format of the exam for the practical module (MBB265) will be significantly different, with no essay, and short-answer questions that are somewhat longer than those in the lecture modules. Further information will be provided in the module Aims and Objectives.
The rubric (instructions) for the final exam in each lecture module is shown in the specimen paper for the module. You can also click here to see the rubric for an MBB266 final exam.
The questions in Section A of each lecture module exam will cover the full range of the material that has been covered in the module, and all questions are compulsory. It is quite likely that you will feel more confident about answering questions in some areas than others, but you need to prepare yourself to answer questions on anything and everything covered in each module.
In Section B of each lecture module, you will choose one question from eight. This may suggest that ignoring some parts of the module could be a good strategy. Be aware, however, that some questions may ask you to bring together material from different parts of the module, in which case you might find yourself well prepared for only part of the question.
You will have been given the opportunity to carry out various practice exercises in your modules, in some cases resulting in detailed feedback and/or contributing to the final module grade.
In addition, you have been encouraged to write and submit your own answers to the questions on the specimen exam papers. If you do this in good time, you can expect lecturers to mark and give you feedback on your answers, and to give you suggestions for improvement. If you leave writing your answers until just before the exam, this will be good practice for you, but staff are likely to be too busy to give you timely feedback.
Note that writing exam essays is a generic skill, which we have tried to help you develop in Level 1 as well as Level 2. Although it is highly desirable that you practice writing some exam essays, it is not necessary to do this for every module.
Answering Section A questions is generally quite straightforward. Each question in Section A will appear at the top of a blank A4 page. You have the whole of the page available for your answer, and can even use the blank facing page page if you really need to. Although you may feel that all this space is an invitation to write an essay in response to each Section A question, you must keep your answers short enough to be completed in the time available. You do NOT have to fill the page! We usually expect answers to be limited to a BRIEF paragraph and/or a diagram. Although you may occasionally be asked for what appear to be one-word answers to some parts of a question, it is usually appropriate to supplement the "key points" with some brief explanations and/or examples. [Some staff have suggested writing "bullet points" in Section A, which is sensible provided you realise that this does NOT mean the sort of bullet points lecturers often put on PowerPoint slides, which require some additional explanation to be meaningful.]
You wrote several essays under exam conditions in Level 1. You received feedback on these essays, and advice from your personal tutor and Professor Anderson. It would be sensible to review all this feedback and advice before each Level 2 exam period, looking particularly for generic advice that will help you this year, rather than points that were specific to a particular piece of work.
Key points to remember are:
Include large diagrams with appropriate labels, and make sure that the text of your essay makes the context of the diagrams clear. A perfect reproduction of a diagram from a lecture may be worth nothing if you present it without some appropriate contextual explanation. You need not number the diagrams in an essay, provided they appear at an appropriate in the text. Alternatively, you could group all the diagrams together, but in this case you will need to number them, so that you can refer to each one at the appropriate points in the text. In most answers, it will be appropriate to include several diagrams, and it is only rarely that a good answer can be written without diagrams.
Consider whether your answer needs an introduction and/or conclusion. If a question is worded to ask you to provide very specific information, it may be a waste of time for you to write an introduction or conclusion. On the other hand, if you are asked to discuss an area, or present your view of a topic, it will probably be appropriate to include an introduction that sets the context for your answer, and/or a conclusion that sums up your arguments.
Avoid "regurgitating" your lecture notes. While our lectures will normally include the key points that could earn you a good 2.1 grade, we will not normally award a 1st class grade unless we see evidence that you understand these points. If you simply reproduce the contents of lecture slides, we may conclude that you have a good memory, but we will probably not be persuaded that you understand the topic. Identify the information that you think is relevant to the question, and use this to assemble your own answer.
Make a plan. If you are going to assemble your own answer, as suggested above, you will need to spend some time planning what information to include, and how to organise this in a way that demonstrates you have both knowledge and understanding. Even if a question specifies quite precisely what should be included in your answer, it is probably worth spending a little time on a plan. This will help to organise your thoughts, and also give you a list of points to check against your completed essay.
Show evidence of your reading by bringing in relevant material from other lecturers and modules. To be awarded a 1st class grade for an essay, you will usually be expected to provide some evidence that you have developed your understanding beyond the material presented in the corresponding lectures. This evidence might be in the form of additional, relevant examples or other information, which may come from the reading recommended by the lecturer, from other reading, or even from material you have been taught in another module. Even in the absence of identifiable additional material, Level 2 markers may conclude that your presentation of a topic is so confident that you must have underpinned the lectures with appropriate reading.
Include suitable examples. It will usually be appropriate to include specific examples to illustrate any general principles that you explain in an essay. In some cases, you may be able to include relevant examples from your reading or another module, rather than relying wholly on the examples discussed in the module being examined. This will not only provide evidence of your reading, but also emphasise your understanding.
Your "Level 2 Round Robin Tutorials 2016-17" document (see the MBB265 page in MOLE) contains much useful information, including a list of the criteria used by examiners in assessing essays. The wording of these criteria has been clarified slightly since the tutorial documents were produced, and the updated wording of the same criteria is listed in Section 9.17 of the MBB Student Handbook.
Many students lose marks by answering the wrong question.
If you do not know the answer to a question in a practical module exam, or in Section A of a lecture module exam, you are unlikely to pick up many marks by "waffling" in the general area, so this is probably not good use of much of your time unless you have spare time at the end of the exam.
In Section B of lecture module exams, students often write essays that they have prepared in advance. This SOMETIMES works very well, but the problem is that we often ask questions that are not of the type "Write everything you know about the general subject of X". If the question is more specific in its coverage or approach, it is essential that you recognise this and shape your answer to be an appropriate response. Once again, "waffling" in the general area is probably not good use of your time.
Your "Level 2 Round Robin Tutorials 2016-17" document contains much useful advice about planning essays, including the following explanation of the meanings of the instructions we may use in exam questions:
Data handling is an important component of some of the Level 2 lecture modules, and data handling questions may appear in Section A and/or Section B of these exams. The Aims and Objectives document and the Specimen Exam Paper for each module should give you an idea of whether and how data handling is likely to appear in the exam. For example, the MBB262 exam will include some data handling questions in Section A, and at least one of the Section B questions always includes at least an element of data analysis.
One possible attraction of choosing a Section B data-handling question is that it is probably easier to score very high marks on this question than on an essay. If things go wrong, however, it is also probably easier to score very low marks.
If you decide to attempt a data-handling question in Section B, a few minutes consideration should be enough for you to decide whether you are on the right lines. If you are not confident after this time, consider choosing one of the essays.
In general, marks for Section B data handling will be awarded not only for giving a correct answer, but also for giving as much explanation as possible to justify your answer.
In lecture module exams, some students in the past have spent a disproportionate amount of time working on Section A, but it clearly makes sense to allocate your time according to the marks available. A good plan might be to spend 45 minutes on Section A and 45 minutes on Section B, with the remaining 30 minutes distributed more flexibly according to your initial progress in each section. If you leave yourself time to write only one page in your Section B answer, you will probably not score well!
Within Section A, each question in the examination is of equal value, so it makes sense to divide your time roughly equally. This means you should initially allow about 7.5 minutes for each answer. Some questions may require a little more or a little less than this, but you should keep a careful check on the overall time that you are spending on Section A.
In the practical module, each exam question will be of equal value.
Under the pressure of an examination, the quality of your handwriting will probably suffer to some extent. Although we do not award marks specifically for handwriting, your assessment may obviously suffer if we cannot easily make out what you have written.
If you think that your handwriting may be difficult to read, try writing your essays on every second line in the answer books. This allows examiners to read each line of text without being distracted by the lines above and below.
If you have poor manual dexterity, or other problems in writing, you should consult the Disability and Dyslexia Support Service for an assessment of your special needs (e.g. use of a computer in exams or an amanuensis).
We shall not award marks specifically for the quality of your English, but you are likely to score better marks on an essay if you not only include appropriate information and ideas, but also communicate these as clearly as possible to the examiner.