Tutorial Material:
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Instant Tutor
Of course the WWW will provide you with a wealth of answers to your questions but be aware that most of the material on the WWW is NOT 'peer reviewed'. Peer Reviewed? That means that material has been checked by a person or persons of equal or higher competence as the author. Most material printed on paper is peer reviewed: Most Internet-published material is not. When you use material from the WWW do so with caution. Check the source of the material. If it is some known and respected institution then you can treat the information with a bit more confidence than material Internet-published by "Joe Soap" :-).
If there are inaccuracies in WWW material they may be due to
- Typographical or graphical errors made by the author
- Theoretical errors made by the author (lack of competence)
- Malicious alteration of the information by some 'third party'
- Corruption of the digital data due to a number of causes.
Exam Craft
Here are some tips for making the best of your examination.
Rain Shadowing? If most of the rain comes from a certain direction (southeast) and meets high ground aligned across its path (NE-SW) most of the rain falls on the southeast facing slopes (due to uplift), the air is stripped of its moisture and humidity falls as the air descends the far side of the high ground resulting in much less rain behind the barrier - a rain shadow.
If necessary answer the question-parts you find easier first and then leave
space to return to the question and complete it later. Feel free to ask for
additional answer books Make sure you get your passing marks. Passing
marks can often be answered quickly in less than the minutes/mark-based
calculated time for the question-part, giving you "extra time" for the more
difficult question-parts.
The final mark often consists of part exam mark and part a classwork mark. If
this is the case you should try your utmost to get a good class (or 'year') mark
This allows you to do less well in the actual examination and still end up with a
good pass.
Naturally good study habits and a determined approach to tacking problem
areas, including hiring a tutor :-), are also vitally necessary. Amongst the good
study habits is organizing your knowledge so that it is easier to recall under the
stress of an examination. This may include developing your own short-hand
for deriving trigonometric identities or the use of mnemonics as an aid to
memory ("All Students Take Chemistry" reminds you which trigonometric ratios
are positive in which quadrants (Anticlockwise from the top left quadrant, All,
Sine, Tan, Cos). It is also very useful to make connections and associations.
For example:
The gradient of a slope in geography is the first derivative in mathematics.
Social factors in geography may have links to what you learn in history.
A Thoughtful Student's Approach to Science Examinations:
A Structured Approach to answering Science Exam Questions:
Here are some tips for making the best of your examination.
- Don't Tell the Examiner what S/He should know! Do not say things like "In the Eastern Cape it is easy to see that most of the rainfall occurs in the eastern part of the country." Rather either say that THIS IS where it occurs , or say WHY it occurs in this place. For example: Most of the rainfall in the map area occurs in the coastal zone and over the higher ground. This is shown by the isohyets (lines of equal rainfall) and the runoff data. The lower-lying inland areas receive lower rainfall (and show lower runoff) due to the rain-shadowing of coastal high ground.
Rain Shadowing? If most of the rain comes from a certain direction (southeast) and meets high ground aligned across its path (NE-SW) most of the rain falls on the southeast facing slopes (due to uplift), the air is stripped of its moisture and humidity falls as the air descends the far side of the high ground resulting in much less rain behind the barrier - a rain shadow.
- Before you start to write Generally at the start of an exam you will be given about 5 minutes to read through the paper before you are allowed to write. Devise a plan to use this time NOW. Perhaps study the instructions of the paper. Perhaps you can choose which questions to answer. Try to decide which you will attempt. if possible look for the 'passing marks' (see "Structure of an Exam Paper" below).
- Marks on the Paper Generally the paper will be marked out of 100% and you will have 3 hours to answer. This results in 1.8 marks per mark. Take care not to spend too long on a question. If the particular part of the question is "passing marks" (see Structure of an Exam Paper below) you may be able to answer quickly and 'make up time'.
- Structure of an Exam Paper If you examine an exam paper you will probably find that not all part of questions are equally difficult. Some questions will be easy for any student who has studied the whole syllabus with reasonably understanding. These questions should be provide almost enough marks for such a student to achieve a 50% pass. I call them "passing marks". Then there are more difficult questions which, if answered correctly will, together with the "passing Marks", achieve about 60-70%. Finally there are the hardest parts of questions which have to be correctly answered, together with the other question parts, to achieve above 70%.
If necessary answer the question-parts you find easier first and then leave
space to return to the question and complete it later. Feel free to ask for
additional answer books Make sure you get your passing marks. Passing
marks can often be answered quickly in less than the minutes/mark-based
calculated time for the question-part, giving you "extra time" for the more
difficult question-parts.
- How can you be sure of passing, and passing well?? Only a few things in life are 'sure', the rest are subject to change due to unforeseen circumstances. This is how insurance companies make money! You need some exam insurance. Perhaps on examination day you are not feeling well, or you are feeling sad because of some family misfortune, or perhaps for some reason you had to rush to the exam hall (you should try to be there in good time) and are feeling unsettled.
The final mark often consists of part exam mark and part a classwork mark. If
this is the case you should try your utmost to get a good class (or 'year') mark
This allows you to do less well in the actual examination and still end up with a
good pass.
Naturally good study habits and a determined approach to tacking problem
areas, including hiring a tutor :-), are also vitally necessary. Amongst the good
study habits is organizing your knowledge so that it is easier to recall under the
stress of an examination. This may include developing your own short-hand
for deriving trigonometric identities or the use of mnemonics as an aid to
memory ("All Students Take Chemistry" reminds you which trigonometric ratios
are positive in which quadrants (Anticlockwise from the top left quadrant, All,
Sine, Tan, Cos). It is also very useful to make connections and associations.
For example:
The gradient of a slope in geography is the first derivative in mathematics.
Social factors in geography may have links to what you learn in history.
A Thoughtful Student's Approach to Science Examinations:
- What does the examiner want to know? I suggest that s/he wants to know two things about you
- What do you know?
- What can you do?
- Who is the examiner? There will probably be several examiners examining different sections of the work. They were once (and may still be) senior lecturers and now work for the IEB. They know their subject and they kknow students. They will probably also act as moderators after the marking
- Who will mark your paper? Marking is done by a a group of lecturers (not from your school) who are known for their skill and honesty.
- The examiners want you to pass. The markers want to give you marks. The examiners want students who know their work and can perform the requested tasks to do well
- The markers want to give you marks. They follow the marking schedule supplied by the examiners and are looking for indications that you know what to do AND how to do it.
- Marking is a difficult and tedious task. When students are vague about what they are doing the marker may have to wrestle with an untidy and unhelpful exam script to find marks to give the student. This is tiring and can be disheartening. When a marker finds a script that is tidy, organized and annotated, s/he smiles. Believe me. The marks will flow and your work will receive the recognition it deserves.
- Moderation. Scripts that are border-line failures and scripts that are excellent will be checked by the the examiners acting as moderators. You want to be in the second group. This is where it is so important that your work is clear. There must be no doubt that you know your work. There must be no doubt that you know how to apply your knowledge.
- Exams are stressful. Examiners and markers know this. They were once students too! They know that under pressure mistakes occur. That is why it is so important to tell these markers and moderators what you plan to do and then set out your work so that they can see that you know how to use your knowledge to answer the question. If you make a slip you will probably still receive most of the marks.
A Structured Approach to answering Science Exam Questions:
- Read and understand the question. Underline or high-light important instructions. Many good marks are lost because the student answered the wrong question.
- If you are asked to select a question from a section of the paper, try to make sure that you can tackle all the parts of the question. You might see your favourite topic "Fluvial Processes" and not notice that one part of the question concerns aspects you know little about. Then you waste time on a question you cannot complete. Should you abandon it and try another question or hope that you have done "enough"? Not a nice decision.
- Look at the mark allocation. This may indicate the degree of difficulty
- Are the various part of the question related? If so, if possible check each part as you do it.
- Before you tackle each section try to write 2 or 3 words to describe what you plan to do. This can save your marks.
- If you get stuck part way through a question, leave plenty of space to complete it later, and move on The problem will go into your unconscious mind where your brain will continue to work on it. The solution that eluded you may "pop into your mind" later in the examination.
