CS2 paper B preparation tips

Hello

I wouldn't expect the questions in the paper B exam to necessarily relate to exact scenarios you've come across before. It is likely you'll need to use your knowledge of the syllabus combined with your R skills to apply critical thinking and problem solving for the particular questions. This is mentioned by the examiners in their commentary on the latest paper. So, it's really important to be comfortable with the entire CS2 syllabus as well as having strong underlying R skills.

It seems like you're looking for some general tips for the CS2 B exam? I've set out some comments below.

Study stage

When you being your study, I think it is well worth working through the 'Introduction to R' and 'Techniques for CS2B' sections we have on the PBOR. The 'Introduction to R' section is the same as the section with the same name on the CS1 PBOR. However, you may find it helpful as a refresher of some of the key underlying principles. If you're comfortable with these basics, it shouldn't take very long to work through this section. The 'Techniques for CS2B' section covers some core programming techniques that will be useful through the CS2 topics.

I can't say whether or not this will continue to be the case; however, in the last few CS2B exams, there has been a good number of marks available for things like manipulating objects in R (eg constructing data frames by simulating data, that sort of thing). So, having strong R fundamentals alone meant you could have picked up a good number of marks.

I highly recommend working through the PBOR at the same time as working through the paper A content rather than leaving it all to the end. You may find it helpful to, for example, work through a chapter / section of the course materials before then working through that same chapter / section on the PBOR. This is a good way to reinforce the paper A content whilst also learning the paper B content.

It's also worth pointing out that the R in CS2 is a step up from the R in CS1. This is one reason why I recommend getting to grips with it early, at the same time as the Paper A content.

Although not directly related to studying the content (and somewhat subjective), I highly recommend using a mouse and learning some of the keyboard shortcuts. Personally, I find using a trackpad very slow compared to using a mouse. I am also a big fan of keyboard shortcuts (eg control + enter to run some code rather than say pressing 'run'). These are minor things but they can save a good chuck of time over the course of the exam. So, I'd start doing these straight away.

Revision stage

To prepare for the exam, I recommend going back through bits of the PBOR and practicing past papers (particularly under exam conditions) or using our mocks. If you need more questions to practice, then you can always try and answer some of the paper A questions (throughout our materials or past papers) using R. You may also find it helpful to read through the examiner reports and / or use our ASET when reviewing past papers.

I'd also practice copying over your code / workings / graphs into Word prior to the exam. Make sure you're comfortable with how that all works before exam day.

Exam

Have multiple screens if possible. Ideally, you don't want to be flicking back and forth between the exam and RStudio / Word. Could also be worth printing the exam paper if you find that helpful.

Have your open book material ready. We have chapter summaries that contain useful bits of R code for each topic. You may find these a helpful starting point for your open book material. You can print them / annotate them as you go through the content. That being said, the less reliant your are on your open book material, the less time you'll spend looking things up rather than answering the questions.

As part of your open book material, you may want to keep a log of errors you've encountered in your studies and how to fix them. For example if you're getting the error 'figure margins too large' in the plot window, you probably need to make the window bigger. If you're getting the error 'object <name> not found' then you probably misspelt something (remember R is case sensitive).

Remember that you don't need to answer the questions in order. I recommend spending some time at the start of the exam going through and deciding what you're going to answer first. The paper is likely to be time pressured so you may not answer all of the exam. This means you want to focus your time on where you think you'll get the most marks.

If you get stuck on an earlier part of a question, you may still be able to attempt later parts. If it requires an answer from a previous part, you can make up a 'dummy' answer and use that going forward. As long as the dummy answer doesn't make the remaining calculations trivial, then, as I understand it, you should still be able to pick up marks.

You have about a minute a mark for paper B. Keep this in mind when you are answering questions. It could even be worth setting yourself timers in the exam. Under exam conditions / pressure, it is easy to lose track of time and spend say an hour on a 20 mark question without realising it and possibly without making much progress. Don't be afraid to move on to a new question (or, as above, use a 'dummy' answer to progress) if you think it will help maximise your score.

Hope this helps!

Andy