School of Computer Science

Taking Examinations

Remember that the examiners, generally, want their students to do well in the examinations: but you have to give them a good excuse to give you the marks.

Most of these points are blindingly obvious, but virtually all students will throw some marks away by overlooking some of these.

Preparation

• Make sure that you know and understand the contents of the course.
• Look at previous examination papers for this course.
• Do all the exercises and answer the questions on past papers.
• Make sure that you aren't too tired (or whatever ...) when you take the exam.

In the examination

• Read the exam. paper:
  • Read the rubrick: How many questions should you answer? How long do you have? Are there any special requirements (for instance, putting each answer in a separate book)
  • Read the questions: What are they asking?
• Answer the questions:
  • Make sure that you really answer the question
  • Don't answer a related question just because you know the answer to that question. You'll be given credit for answering the question asked: I doubt that rambling on about something related but different will do anything other than irritate the examiner.
  • Answer the question fully. Make your answer complete and explicit.
  • Remember that the examiner may be marking a large number of papers and may mark each question or part of a question separately. Don't assume that because you said something in answer to another question, or even another part of this question, that the examiner will remember.
  • What is being asked for? For instance if the question says:
    • "Give 3 ..." Then make sure you give 3 - and that they are different!
    • " ..... using examples ..." Then use examples!
    • "Describe and compare ...." Then both describe and compare
• Look at your answers from the examiners point of view:
  • Write legibly,
  • Use the layout to make your answer clear,
  • Make sure that each point is clear - use notes or bullet points or perhaps underline ....
  • Don't give the marker any opportunity to overlook parts of your answer: Try to stick to the order of the question so that sub parts are clearly identified and where expected. If you do need to add things out of place then make sure that they cannot be overlooked. Always start new questions on new pages and use separate books if that is what you are supposed to do.
  • Use information about the number of marks available to guide your interpretation. If 3% of the marks are allocated then a very different answer is required than if 33% is allocated.

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Last updated 24th April 2012