Speed?

I tend to be very fast when writing exams but already i can see that i don't stand a chance with this monster if i keep this way.

Any useful tips of how to take a chill pill and plan and structure my answers both during the 15 minutes reading time and during the 3 hours exam time?

I really have difficulty planning, i just wanna write down whatever i think. Probably it's because I'm used to the technical exams.

 

I had the same problem - I passed on my second attempt. First attempt, I jumped straight in and wrote down everything I could think of. Second attempt, i spent about an hour planning, basically "scattergunning" on the exam question paper. I then wrote everything up and was able to add a few points to each question - worked for me!

 

moreoomph, do you mean you only wrote in 2 hours 15 minutes?

I think planning is very critical, what have other people done?

 

Yes, the first hour went into planning. Makes it much easier to form a flowing and logical answer which can give rise to more points.

After the first hour, all the hard work is done!

 

My tutor for ca1 said for that and for one of the STs he spent a good hour planning, and I think he's right. Actually he may have spent even longer than an hour planning time on the st (and passed). You need to sit down and analyse each question to death - what are they asking, what are the instruction words, what are the topic words - then start a bit of a brainstorm, then start planning.

 

It takes a lot of discipline not to just dive in.

In the reading time, look particularly at the longer qns, so you can summarise the key data items that will need to be addressed. This could just be as simple as highlight important words. If there are different bits to the qn, think what info do I need to give in which part? Repetition is time consuming and may not score in all bits if repeated.

By all means get down your acronyms, but don't be a slave to them.

PRIORITISE. Which is the most important to a given qn. Write them in that order.

PRACTISE. Don't try a new tactic in the exam. It has to be worked on and perfected or you will fall back into old ways.

 

I find doing the exam paper backwards useful (provided you can do all the questions).

That way, if you over-run, you miss out the 6 mark question, not the 26 mark question.

 

I'm liking your approach an i will be trying it. What specific things did you normally do during the 1 hour planning time? I really have to practise planning.

 

Usual process is - read question multiple times underlining all appropiate keywords, etc.
Jot down any acronyms which you think might apply to each keyword or part of the question.
Go back and re-read question to see what ones may be used.
Literally write down everything you can think of for the answer - even if it seems trivial.

I also found it easier to plan all questions before writing as sometimes thoughts that came up in other questions could be applied somewhere else on the paper.

When I went back to each question outside of my planning, I re-read again (this process is really boring! ) then started to form an answer out of my points. The writing up process was relatively easy as very few new thoughts at this stage!

 

Thanks moreoomph, i tried this approach yesterday will try it a few more times and see if it works for me.

 

When I did CA1, STs and SA, I didn't do much planning. In fact when I did write notes I was generally writing down stuff that occurred to me so that I didn't lose it between thinking of it and actually beginning to write my answer. I agree with moreoomph that you should write down whatever you think of, however trivial it may seem. There are often marks for defining terms in the question or making deductions that are fairly straightforward consequences of the facts in the question. Don't spend time thinking about whether it's right - no marks deducted for wrong answers.

My philosophy is generally that you need to spend all the three hours writing. That's the only way to finish. Work on the basis of 1.8 minutes per mark and don't deviate from this by more than a minute or two. As long as you are making distinct points and set them out clearly it shouldn't matter whether they come in a logical order - there are no extra marks for this. If you find you're spending a noticeable amount of time thinking and not writing, it's probably time to move onto another question where the ideas are flowing and come back if you've got time. Thinking and planning are luxuries I just didn't have time for! The one thing other than writing that you can and must make time for (as others have pointed out) is reading the question carefully. Everything the question says is there for a reason.

 

Thanks td290, this is an approach I used for the CT's and ST6 and twas ok. However I sat one CA1 paper under exam condition and saw that my answers lacked cohesion and structure and were often very very few. I went through the ER and they mentioned the importance of planning.

So ill try moreoomph's tip and see how it goes still got a few more days to test it.

 

so did this approach work for you finally? I am guessing this approach requires that the person is a fast and smart writer, as if 1 hour is already spent on planning, then only fast-smart writing can ensure the whole paper is answered.