CLASS ACT
‘misinterpretation of the question’, and ‘presenting answers unrelated to the question’. Remember – a perfect answer to a question that has not been asked scores nothing.
Examiners also noted that there
were instances of candidates avoiding syllabus areas – possibly areas difficult for the students, or could it be topics that the teaching centres find more difficult to present? They noted too that sometimes weak answers were presented on topics that are well covered in the set texts and where it might be expected that a conscientious student having read the texts would probably perform well – again, is it the student or is it the centre? Why are students apparently not familiar with standard text-book knowledge? In a similar vein examiners commented that there are syllabus areas that necessarily recur from exam to exam
Examination success is a joint venture between the students and the teaching centres
over a period of time, yet students were under-performing in these areas. Do candidates not routinely use past papers as part of their revision programme? Do teaching centres also not have this as standard practice for exam preparation? And a final category of short-coming is where candidates use the words of the question as the mainstay of their answer without adding further value of their own – recycling the question as your answer will not score highly! In addition to these there was a further interesting criticism of some answers at Higher Diploma level. Questions that were probing skills and knowledge appropriate to this Higher level (perhaps for example requiring critical comparisons of factors) were being met with ‘Diploma-level’ answers based on the rote learning of facts and lacking the higher-order skills expected at this level. Again, is this entirely a student failing or are the teaching centres not stretching their Higher Diploma students in the way that they should?
On a positive note, help is at hand! While in this column I have necessarily been brief and selective in what I have been able to say, IMIS is releasing, alongside the new syllabus documents complete with example examination papers, a Student Guide which covers this area in much greater detail. This is a document that I have written myself based on having been involved with IMIS examinations in one way or another for about
two decades. There is a section on the general challenge of tackling external examinations, and how to study and prepare for them under the headings of: • Space organisation • Time organisation • Reading • Making notes • Revision
That is followed by a detailed section of ‘examination tips’ covering all that I have mentioned above and much more besides. The structure and format of the new papers as described above is also included – in short the Student Guide is a must-read document for all examination candidates ahead of tackling the new-format examinations next June.
The final point that I would like to
stress is that examination success is a joint venture between the students and the teaching centres. Exam success depends on a combination of subject knowledge and skills combined with a good level of study, revision, preparation, and exam-sitting skills. Teaching centres clearly recognise their role in delivering subject knowledge and developing associated skills in their students. I just wonder whether they have equally embraced their role in those other important areas: developing study skills, training their students in the art of revision and exam preparation, constructively using past papers as part of this process, and spending time on explaining the various aspects of examination technique to avoid the common issues reported last June and thereby maximising their students’ chances of examination success.
s.e.wallis@greenwich.co.uk
42 December 2012 | Volume 22 – Issue 4
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