|
Services |
|
Categories - Copywriting - Shopping - Free Online Business Help - Telecommunications Services Articles: Education - Are Exam Techniques Better Than Knowledge? By Ian McAllister Half a century ago I learned about exam techniques. At that time I was snowed under with study, and my headmaster said that I had as much chance as the Man in the Moon of passing three Ordinary level GCE subjects. He was right at that time! It didn't matter how much study I did, term exam questions were always about stuff I hadn't studied. Then I learned that you perform best in an exam if you know more about exams rather than about the subject of the exam. I liked that. So I studied exam techniques. What were the results? I passed eleven GCE ordinary level subjects. When artistic talent was handed out, my brother got it all, and there was none left for me. I panic every time I am asked to do a stick-drawing. However in the GCE exam, my brother set out to do good art, and I used exam techniques to get good marks. To my great glee I got a better pass mark than my brother did. I was sure that proved that exams are unfair, but remained very smug. Multiple
Choice Then came a time that I studied math again, and I was hopelessly at sea. I learned math where the best methods were those that worked - fast. New math had been introduced since I was at college. Now the explanations were just nonsense to me. However when the exam came around, it was another multiple choice test, and I passed! We've
learned nothing They mentioned mnemonic techniques to help me remember, but I'd been using them since the middle of last century and knew how they could let me down. The day before a university exam I decided that I would probably get a question about the life cycle of Fasciola hepatica. So I used a mnemonic technique to memorize every number in the complicated life cycle. Next day the expected question appeared, and I remembered every number - BUT - I had forgotten the units. It was no use remembering the number 3 if I didn't know if it was three hours, or three days, or three weeks, or three months, or three years. So I couldn't answer the question. Fortunately examination techniques got me through the exam. Birth
of Exam Mastery The
arithmetic of success Your teacher has brainwashed you by punishing anybody who wrote a three-line essay for homework. But two essays of three lines each could take you from failure to a pass mark. My book shows what to put into these few lines, but think of the arithmetic. You got 45 marks out of 60 for your three good questions. The pass mark is 47%. You get one mark out of 20 for each of the remaining two answers. You have a pass mark. That is better than walking out of the exam in a panic - isn't it? In fact I usually got about 75% by using exam techniques. Oh, they aren't magic. I failed an occasional exam, but I passed many exams that I didn't deserve to pass, especially using crafty essays. About
the author - You too could write crafty essays to beat the
examiner...and more. Get your free report here. http://studying-techniques.com/essays.html
|
