Learning the tricks of writing an examination

Unlike the general belief, passing an examination with good marks is not only a result of long hours of self-study. In fact, it is also the matter of how you write answer to the questions asked in the examination. Because writing answers in examination is an art which plays a vital role in the final result of a student.

Here are a few ways to write your answers which will help you score good marks:

WRITE QUESTION NUMBER CORRECTLY AND LEGIBLY

From my experience of over 20 years as a teacher and examiner of scripts of board classes, I have found that question numbers written by students are awkward. Students simply scribble the numerals which cannot be legibly read nor clearly identified. This is really a sad situation which gives birth to confusion and finally examinees have to incur loss of marks beyond their wild imagination.

Always write correct number of question you are to write answer of. Incorrect question number irritates the examiner.

Numerals must be written in standard notation. Do not write them carelessly lest they should be difficult to decipher. The way you write a figure must not be mistaken for some other numupon bers.

It is advisable to write the question numbers in bold. You also need to encircle the question number so that the examiners can find out easily which question they are evaluating.

BE CAREFUL OF OBJECTIVETYPE-QUESTIONS

These questions are easy to score because they only test the memory retention capacity of the students. The answers of these questions are simply information or facts or figures for which very high level of intelligence and understanding is not required.

Sometimes, for the objective type - questions where alternative answers are not given, correct answers need to be filled in the space or gap provided.

In this case, the correct way of answering the question is to write the answer with the question number and underline it.

In case, choices are given, students must write answers with serial number like a, b, c, d, 1, 2, 3, or 4 preceded by question number.

SHORT-ANSWER -TYPE QUESTIONS

These types of questions usually carry 3 to 4 marks depending their nature of toughness. Answers to these questions are also instructed to be written within the word limit of 150 to 200. In this case, students must adhere to the given word limit fairly. However, if you are answering 20 to 30 words in excess of the aforesaid word limit, it is not taken as very seriously or as violation of instruction.

LONG-ANSWER-TYPE QUESTIONS

Long-answer-type of questions are based upon the holistic and intensive study of the entire syllabi of subjects. That is why they make the synopsis of the syllabi. These questions carry 6 to 8 marks and that is why they substantially affect the final score and results of students. These questions have also the word limit of around 300 to 350 words.

You may write your answers in excess of 50 to 100 words, sometimes even more if your time allows and answers so demand. While answering these questions, you must take the following points very seriously in your mind (A) Start answering these questions with the brief introduction of the topic concerned or the definitions of the related topics.

(B) Laws, rules, theories, theorems. principles must be stated wherever necessary.

(C) Answers must be divided in smaller paragraphs.

(D) Each paragraph must contain important contents and points not discussed earlier.

(E) Use diagrams and graphs wherever essentially required. If these have not been demanded in the question, avoid wasting time upon them.

(F) Label your graphs and diagrams clearly with their titles at the top.

(G) Formulae and their derivations must be written clearly and stepwise.

(H) Keep answers clean and do your best not to make any overwriting and cuts. If you commit any mistake, which has fair chance to be done, do not spoil the page to correct it. Do not smear it. Simply draw a line across the word or words and beside it write the correct answer. This way your scripts would appear very neat and clean.

Always write entire chunk of an answer to a question on the same page or pages in sequence. Spreading your answers on different pages is not considered good at all.

An examinee must understand that examination is not the test of sheer booking knowledge gained over the certain academic period.