Tackling SA

How does everyone approach studing an SA subject? Is it important to get through the notes as quickly as possible to give more time for further reading and exam questions? Given that the exam is so different to earlier subjects I feel my approach to studying should also be different, but I'm lost as to what to do for the best.

How important is the further reading? What about doing lots of questions? Are the Q&A bank and Assignments useful, or is it better to just look at past papers?

What approaches have you found successful / should I avoid?

 

Hi Cathy,

I found it useful to try and get through the course as quickly as possible - doing regular tutorials helped me to do this, and also gave good question practise. Other than that, I would say doing as many past paper questions as you can is invaluable. Try and do them under exam-type conditions and see how you get on. I found ASET quite useful as it gives more ideas than the examiner's reports - often marks would be given for sensible points that aren't necessarily on the examiner's report.

Wider reading can be useful to help you get more of a feel for the subject and often gives more "real life" situations than pure theory. Looking at topical issues around the time the paper is set might be useful (think papers are being written around now for April). I think there might be a topical issues paper on this forum somewhere - i'll try finding it. I certainly found that useful when I was doing SA4.

I think the SA exam seems different to the other exams because the examiners are looking for more depth in your answers. So practising plenty of questions will help you develop the technique required and help you to think broadly enough to gain enough marks.

Good luck with the studying!

 

Current topics

Found it! If you go into the general forum page for your SA subject there is a topical issues thread at the top which gives you a document covering topical issues for that subject. Hope it's useful.

 

Try to have covered in detail the chapters & assigments in time with the recommended dates for X-assignment submissions - this will give you enough time to practice exam papers before the exam (I never bothered with Q&A as its either past exam questions anyway or not in the right format to give exam practice).

The questions do seem to be a lot more vague than in the ST's, so you will need to practice generating lists of ideas on a random topic. Make sure to go through the lists from the relevant ST subject - it will help with your idea generation if the question is a bit whacky.

Lastly follow the mantra: "What-How-Why" for every point that you make in the answer - helps focus the brain & cut down on time spent waffling when you are trying to jot down 10+ relevant points!

(+ Ricegirl's comments above)

Good luck!

 

Thanks for your comments. Its really helpful to know how to go about tackling this.