Exam day strategies

For most exams, spend the first 10 minutes or so perusing the questions.

Read the instructions carefully to examine the options.

• Identify the topics covered.
• Read the questions carefully
• Identify the type of writing required
• Jot down some notes (if your exam permits this). Your first impressions are often important in the decision-making process.

Manage your time

The exam paper may state how much time you should spend on each question. If not, use the marks (weighting of each section) as a guide to work out how much time to spend on each section or question.

Keep an eye on time left. The countdown timer is in the navigation block.

For example: Exam length: 2 hours and 15 minutes (135 mins)

Question weighting:

• Multiple-choice questions (worth 20%)
• short answer questions (worth 40%)
• essay (worth 40%).

Allocate time as follows:

• 10 minutes for planning = 125 minutes left
• 25 minutes for the multiple-choice questions (i.e., 125 minutes x 20%)
• 50 minutes for the short answer questions (i.e., 125 minutes x 40%)
• 50 minutes for the essay (i.e., 125 minutes x 40%)

Read the question twice, carefully, and identify

• instruction words (e.g. create, evaluate, analyse, apply, and understand),
• topic words, and
• any restricting words.

This will help you to demonstrate how you are meeting the learning outcomes being assessed and your overall understanding of the topic. Apply this technique to essay questions, multiple choice, short answer and labelling tasks. For more information, see Analysing the Question.

Multiple Choice Questions usually test your memory about topical facts taught in the unit.

• Look for answers that seem obviously incorrect. Remove these from your decision making. This increases your likelihood of picking out the correct response
• If you are still unsure which response is correct, always select a response. Don’t submit your exam with no response selected unless there is a penalty for incorrect answers. This will be clearly stated in the exam instructions. In this case, if you are unsure of the correct response, making no selection is a valid choice.

These questions usually test your knowledge of the facts and content of your unit.

Short answer responses may need a few words, sentences, or paragraphs. There is often a suggested word count available in the response box.

Another way to decide how much to write in your short answer question response is to look at the value (weighting) of the question. How many marks are on offer for the question? Questions worth more marks usually require a more detailed response.

In UNE Online Supervised Exams the size of the short answer response box is expandable. This means that if you need to write more than the box can fit by default, it will automatically expand to fit in your extra words as you continue to type.

Essay questions in an exam depend more on recall than on research. You are often given a choice of topic. Don’t waste too much time deciding which topic to tackle. For example, if you have 45 minutes to complete the essay, allow

• 10 minutes for planning,
• 30 minutes for writing, and;
• 5 minutes for review.

Plan your answer

Decide on your point of view

• Essay questions require you to have an opinion and take a position on an argument.
• There are four possibilities: agree strongly, mostly agree, mostly disagree, and disagree strongly.

Make notes.

• Jot down the points you are going to use to support your opinion. You can do this in the answer box provided in your exam. Be sure to either clearly distinguish rough work from your answer or delete the rough work before you submit your exam.
• You will need three to five main points. One of these may involve a counter-argument or concession.

Write your essay

• Don’t spend too long on the introduction. Keep it to 30–50 words. Use it to identify the topic and state your position.
• Most of the marks will come from the essay body, followed by the conclusion.
• Work on the body for most of the writing time. Expand each major point into a topic sentence and back up your points with evidence or examples.
• If you have planned your essay well, your conclusion will flow from your argument. The conclusion should give a concise summary of your main points and re-state your position.

Review

Allow 5 minutes to re-read and revise the essay. Check your answers by asking yourself

• Have I answered the question?
• Is this a logical answer?
• Is it complete?

If not, you still have time to make adjustments. Before you run out of time, at least jot down the main points you wanted to make.

Try not to get caught up in going over and over what happened in your exam. You can’t change your answers, so it’s best to put your energy into getting ready for the next exam. Once you’re done with all your exams, make sure to take some time away from study. Relax and enjoy having some free time. You deserve it!