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First Year Exams Session Danielle McConville 09/12/2013. Practicalities. Exam Period is Monday 7 th -Tuesday 22 nd January You must be available for the whole exam period Final Timetables are now online via QSIS – check and check again (times and venues)
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Practicalities Exam Period is Monday 7th-Tuesday 22ndJanuary You must be available for the whole exam period Final Timetables are now online via QSIS – check and check again (times and venues) Results are issued by Tuesday 11th February
Extenuating Circumstances What counts as extenuating/mitigating circumstances? • Significant illness or injury • Serious illness affecting a close family member • Bereavement • Unforeseeable or unpreventable events including family crisis or major financial problems leading to acute stress More examples are available in the handbook Or at: http://www.qub.ac.uk/directorates/sgc/ec/ All require some type of evidence If in doubt –speak to someone as soon as possible Brilliant resource!
Extenuating Circumstances Emergencies during the exam period • If you miss an exam/leave an exam • complete the extenuating circumstances form (School Office) and • bring evidence to the School Office before Friday 31st January • Your evidence will be reviewed by the SECC, who make a recommendation to the Exam Board • If applicable, you will normally be allowed to re-sit (in August) for full marks
Extenuating Circumstances Ongoing situations likely to affect your performance • Speak to your Adviser of Studies immediately • Usually also need to • complete the extenuating circumstances form (School Office) and • bring evidence to the School Office before Friday 31st January (or sooner depending on circumstance)
Extenuating Circumstances The BIG caveat about extenuating circumstances: The ‘fit to sit’ rule - If you sit an exam you are presenting yourself as well enough to do so. i.e. we can’t add marks, you can’t re-sit something you pass. We can have your script reviewed, we can (very rarely, in very serious circumstances) have that script ‘discounted’.
Personal Tutor and Adviser of Studies Combined You have one contact point for both general issues and issues that affect your academic progression:
Extenuating Circumstances And remember: If you wait until the results its usually too late for us to do anything. We will always give you the best advice we can for your circumstances. We’ve heard all sorts…
What’s an examiner thinking??? • Challenging • Differentiating between groups • Opportunities for the best to show it • Not about tricking people • Cover important topics • Reasonable breadth across the module • And across years….
Tutorial Questions Your best guide to what your lecturer sees as important Your best guide to how they ask certain questions Your best guide to what they want to see in an answer Get the questions, get the solutions, work through them as you revise (in groups?)
Past Paper Questions Will be available to you through QOL
Past Paper Questions Some may also be on your module pages CHECK – are these still relevant? If the lecturer has changed some topics may have changed CHECK – are solutions available? You can ask but not all lecturers make them available
Past Paper Questions – the good ideas! Use these to test your knowledge after revising a topic Skeleton answer plans/ what formulae/computations Or… time yourself answering the question (what type of Q takes up most time for you?) Work together in groups (esp. if no solutions available) Highlight areas where you need more work/ likely exam topics that you want to particularly cover Look at how the question is asked**
Past Paper Questions – the good ideas! Check: assessment criteria, how many Q’s from each section, are there optional questions, allocation of marks Work out how much time you have for each Q, based on the marks Split off multiple choice questions and do a few every time you sit down to revise that subject Keep 1-2 whole papers to do at the end in exam conditions (especially if you don’t write much…)
Past Paper Questions – the bad ideas! Topic-picking #1 reason for failing exams #1 reason for not getting the deserved marks Just reading the solution – everything makes sense then! Not reading the question on the actual exam – and answering the question you’ve seen before!
Essay questions Topic-picking #1 reason for failing exams #1 reason for not getting the deserved marks Just reading the solution – everything makes sense then! Not reading the question on the actual exam – and answering the question you’ve seen before!
What’s an examiner thinking – after marking??? • If I can’t read it, I can’t mark it • If there’s nothing there, I can’t mark it! • Answer every part of the question • Do not answer extra questions • Why would you put your name on it? • Don’t waste time scribbling/tippexing- just put a line through it • Don’t write notes to the examiner
What’s an examiner thinking – after marking??? Read ALL of the question before embarking on your answer • Example: On Question 3 last year many seemed to begin answering without having a good answer for parts C and D (at six marks each). Answer ONLY the question asked • Example: Marking one answer to question 3 last year, I was only able to give one mark for three pages of writing: student had written out the normal revenue cycle, integration with other cycles and lots of other information, and still had not answered the question asked. • Give your answer a clear layout • Example: Question 4 last year related parts A and B, easiest to follow the answer where weaknesses were numbered or clearly underlined: it was then easy to identify the controls which addressed the weakness (as the marks were for the controls which addressed the weakness, not just naming controls). It would have been acceptable to answer part A and B together also, as long as you clearly stated the weakness and the controls. • Bear your audience in mind • Example: Question 4 was a memo to Lauren, and I saw loads of references to ‘Lauren has no management experience and may not know what she is doing....’ Would you write that to a client!!??? • Use bullets/numbering as needed • Example: this is useful when listing items to give a structure to your answer.
What’s an examiner thinking – after marking??? Give your answer a clear layout • Example: Question 4 - It would have been acceptable to answer part A and B together also, as long as you clearly stated the weakness and the controls. Bear your audience in mind • Example: Question 4 was a memo to Lauren, and I saw loads of references to ‘Lauren has no management experience and may not know what she is doing....’ Would you write that to a client!!??? Use bullets/numbering if appropriate
Dealing with stress Stress can be good… depends how you deal with it! Help each other out Be honest with yourself Plan in breaks/treats, be good to yourself! Talk to people… especially those outside your course
Good luck!! Hope all goes well and see you next term
