STUDY SKILLS AND EXAMINATION TECHNIQUES

STUDY TIPS
1) Study regularly.
2) Try to study in long continuous periods of time. Short snatches at studying are rarely effective as you
need time to get into the work you are doing.
3) Read over any notes and exercises you have done in class.
4) Keep up to date with current business practice by reading newspapers and business journals, and
watching business related television programmes.
5) Organise your notes-keep notes on individual topics in separate sections in your file.
6) Use a highlighter pen to emphasis headings and important points.
7) Consult your teacher about your individual problems.
8) Learn from the corrections to your written work.

REVISION
Why revise? To ensure success in the examination.
There are many methods of revision. Some people start revising soon after they start their examination/course.
Some plan a revision programme covering the last few months before the examination. Some people, foolishly,
leave revision to the last few days or the night before and others “hope for the best”

Some important points about revision to help you to achieve examination success:
a) Plan your revision
b) Start revising early. Do not leave revising to the last few days or examination panic will start.
c) Know exactly what you need to do. Ask yourself the following questions:
i. Have I covered the syllabus?
ii. What do the past examination papers look like?
iii. Are there any model answers to past papers available?
d) Watch for areas not covered in recent examinations.
e) Be flexible – if something unexpected happens, e.g. illness, adapt your timetable and carry on.
f) Be disciplined about your revision. Some people spend longer preparing a revision programme than
they spend revising. Do not be tempted to take too much time off your studies just because the weather
is good.
g) Be comfortable. You need to work out where you can best revise.
h) Keep going. Revision can be boring and repetitive. Keep reminding yourself that it will soon be over and
the reward will be examination success.
i) Share your revision. It may be helpful to revise with a friend from time to time and test each other.
j) Be methodical in your revision.
k) It is important that you do not just sit and read through notes. You need to be more active.
l) Summarise key points as you go through each.
m) Underline or use a highlighter pen.
n) Make use of topic cards to record key points if you think this will help you.
o) Try not to memorise large sections of notes. You need to be flexible in the examination and to respond
to the particular question. Aim for a broad understanding of the topic.

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 p) Do not spend too much time on your favourite topics or those you feel at ease with. Concentrate on the
areas you find most difficult.
q) Go through past questions and try to answer them but remember that your examination questions will be
different. A common fault among candidates is to reproduce last years answer to this year’s questions.
r) Make good use of revision sessions with your teacher. Very often teachers will set past questions
against the clock to enable you to acquire the discipline of time management in the examination room.
s) Allow yourself regular relaxation periods. If you have started revising early enough there should be time
for this.

EXAM TIPS
1) Arrive at least fifteen minutes before the exam starts.
2) Make sure you have everything you need: statement of entry, ID card, pens, pencil (2B or 4B would be
ideal), rubbers, watch (no beeps or alarms), coloured pens and pencils and calculator (all programmable
calculators should be reset). If you have spares of any of these, bring them along too.
3) Read all the instructions for the exam carefully – note especially how long you have and if you have to
answer all the questions. (If you do not, what are the rules regarding which questions you answer?).
4) Plan your time out so you spend the correct proportion of time on each question. Look at the marks
available for the question and see what proportion of the total marks they make up. You should spend a
similar proportion of the time available in the exam on that question. For example, if an exam is marked
out of 100 minutes to complete the exam, you should spend 10 minutes on a ten-mark question.
5) Look at the marks available for each question (marks are indicated at the end of each question in square
[ ] brackets). This will give you a guide as to how much information the examiners are after. For example,
a two-mark question generally means the examiners are asking you for two points or one point fully
explained.
6) Look out for key words in the question. For example, ‘calculate’ means show your calculations, or there
may be words that remind you of your revision cards, or periodic table.
7) Always read the question twice.
8) If your exam contains multiple choice questions, make sure you answer them all.
9) In multiple choice questions, if you are unsure, eliminate the answers you know are wrong first then
make an educated guess between the options that remain. This will increase your chances on those
questions where you are not quite sure of the right answer.
10) In structured questions, look at the space left for your answer and the marks available. This should give
you an idea of the sort of answer the examiner is expecting.
11) In the extended questions (generally worth at least 6 marks) the examiner is looking for you to write
down several key points and to link them together with good English; possibly with examples.
12) Plan your answers to extended questions. Even if this is jotting down a few key words it will help you
form your answer in your mind and therefore enable you to put it down on paper better.
13) Keep all answers relevant and to the point. Always bear in mind what the question is asking. Don’t waffle!
14) If a diagram will help in your answer, use one. Make sure it is neat and well labeled.
15) If a question requires a calculation always use the correct units.
16) In a calculation, work with one more decimal place than the question asks for, then reduce your final
answer to the required number of decimal places. This will make sure your answer is accurate. For

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 example if the question asks for your answer to two decimal places, do the calculation working to three
decimal places. When you have your final answer, reduce it to two decimal figures.
17) If a graph is needed, give the graph a title, label the axes (including units), show the points accurately
and clearly, and draw your line or curve with a sharp pencil.
18) There are several different views as to what to do the night before the exam, ranging from working all
night to have the afternoon off school the day before to relax properly. The best solution lies between
these two extremes as you might expect.
19) We have consulted doctors and examiners to come up with this very simple list. It is incredibly easy to
follow and will give you the best chance of success in your exam:
i. Have a good meal.
ii. Go over your revision cards for between half an hour and an hour (definitely no more than an
hour) early in the evening.
iii. If you have any questions, ask someone rather than remain silent and worry about it.
iv. In the hour before your regular bedtime, relax. Many people relax by watching TV or by
listening to music.
v. Go to bed at your regular bedtime and get a good night’s sleep.

PREPARATIONS FOR THE EXAMINATION

Immediately beforehand:
a) Do not study into the night before. Have a good night’s rest.
b) Eat breakfast but do not drink too much – nerves may make you want to visit the toilet too much.
c) Make sure you have any entry documents you may need to gain admittance to the examination room.
d) Make sure the night before that you have sufficient pens and pencils to use in the examination.
e) Take a ruler and a highlighter or a red pen. Take a rubber but do not use erasing fluid.
f) Check what you are not allowed to take into the examination.
g) Arrive on time but not too early.
h) Relax immediately before the examination – find somewhere quiet to sit.
i) Try not to talk about the examination with friends before you go in.
j) There should be a clock in the examination room but it may help if you have your own watch or small
clock.

In the examination room:

1) Try to keep calm. You may feel nervous at the beginning so a few deep breathes may help you.
Once you start to work you will feel better. Settle yourself and lay out your equipment.
2) Read the instructions at the beginning of the exam paper carefully and check them again.
3) Read the questions carefully before starting to write. You are advised to spend the first 15
minutes of the examination reading the questions, making notes and choosing which questions
you are going to answer. Work out how long you need to spend on each question and try to keep
to that time schedule.
4) Do not be panicked into starting to write before you are ready just because people around you
have begun.
5) Underline the key words in the questions you have chosen, to help you answer the question
accurately.
6) Pay attention to the mark allocations given for each part of the question.

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 7) Plan your answers but do not do so much planning that you have no time to write the answers.
8) Do not write out the question. Put the number of the question and then answer it.
9) Start with the question you feel you can most easily. This will help to give you confidence.
10) Spread out your work. If you cannot answer something leave a space and go back to it later.
11) Keep a careful watch on time.
12) If anything goes wrong during the examination e.g. you feel ill, tell the invigilator immediately.
13) Give yourself time to check over your answers.

After the examination

i. Go home – do not spend time discussing the examination with your friends.
ii. Do not worry about the examination you have just taken. You cannot do anything
about it. Concentrate instead on the next one.

10 KEYS TO EXAMINATION SUCCESS IN COMMERCE

1. Study regularly and take effective notes.
2. Use a textbook (if applicable) as the centre of your study.
3. Make use of other support materials and notice what is going on around you.
4. Plan your revision and start early.
5. Get ready the night before – materials, stationary, entry documents.
6. Read the examination instructions and questions carefully and spend time choosing which ones to answer.
7. Start with the question you’re most confident about.
8. Obey the command words of the questions and follow the mark allocations for the questions.
9. Answer the correct number of questions.
10. Stay calm. Don’t panic.

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Some Examination tips on writing mathematics (and other) examinations
The following advice is based on many years of experience in marking examination scripts and noting some common
weaknesses in the presentation of students' work. Please read and observe these points carefully.

First and foremost, read and follow the instructions on the front cover of the answer booklet and on the title page
of the examination paper. If you fail to do this (for example, if you do not list the questions that you have attempted in
the proper order where required), there is a risk that some of your work may be overlooked by the examiner.

Read the questions carefully to see what is required. If you do something totally different from what is expected,
even if your work is correct, you cannot expect to receive credit.

If you are asked to use a particular method in a question, you should expect to receive no credit for solving the
problem by a completely different method, even if you obtain the correct answer, since the question is designed to
test a particular method.

Write clearly. How can you expect the examiner to mark work that cannot be understood?

Unless you are using a standard or fairly obvious method, it may be helpful to provide a few words of explanation
of what you are doing. [E.g. "Substituting (1) into (2),..."] You cannot expect to receive credit for strings of equations if
it is not clear where they come from. Occasionally students miraculously produce a correct result without showing
any calculations at all; such an answer is worthless. (On the other hand, don't write any more than is really
necessary; short and concise correct answers are better than long-winded ones.)

Check that your results make sense. If, for example, you were asked to integrate cos 2x over some interval of x and
you obtained an answer that was negative and therefore obviously wrong, without commenting on this fact, this
would be a more serious error than simply getting the wrong numerical value.

If you are asked to show some general result, this means that you must prove it, not just illustrate it for some
particular case. If you are asked to define some entity or explain some concept or principle, you must do so
precisely, not just mention something that you know about it. Do not expect sympathy marks for waffle or for
including certain key words.

Precision in mathematics is essential. It is important to use correct terminology and notation, and also correct
English. If what you write does not make sense, you cannot expect the examiner to guess what you are trying to say.

It is pointless to write comments like "No time" or "Can't remember..." What do you expect the examiner to do? The
examination is supposed to test what you can do in the set time.

GOOD LUCK IN THE EXAMINATION!

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