Study and exam skills In Grade 8 you will complete a variety of tasks


to show that you understand your subject. This section helps you to prepare for your formal and informal assessment tasks. These could be assignments, research projects, tests or exams.


How to approach assignments


Assignments can be varied. You can be asked to answer questions based on a case study, answer questions based on given information, write a report, and so on.


Working with questions based on case studies and other texts You may be asked to answer questions based on case studies, news articles, book extracts, scenarios, and so on. You may need to respond to other information sources, such as quotations, graphs and tables, cartoons and lists. Make sure each answer is relevant to the case study or other source text.


Writing reports Writing a report needs careful planning. Once you know exactly what you have to do, make a mind map or a list of what you want to include in your report. Then plan each paragraph and write down the key sentence for each paragraph in rough. Make sure your report is structured correctly: • Your introduction presents the topic of your report and explains your approach.


• The body of your report should be logically organised paragraphs with headings to separate main sections.


• A conclusion summarises your key points. Once you have finished your report, read through it carefully to make sure it all makes sense, or get a friend to read it. Check spelling and punctuation carefully. Make sure your diagrams, graphs and tables have captions.


How to approach projects


A project is longer than an assignment and you will have to do more work. You need to research a problem and collect information. You need to complete the parts of a project over time. Therefore, you need to plan the time you are going to spend on each part. You will not be able to complete the project successfully if you leave it all to do just before the due date. Your teacher will check on your progress from time to time.


How to do research You will do research for some assignments, projects and reports. You can use your local library, or read magazines and newspapers for this research. You can also use the Internet, if this is available, and collect information by interviewing people.


Making notes When you use a source, you must make your own notes from the information that you read. You may not copy straight from a book or from an Internet article. You will lose marks if you do this. Follow these steps: • Make a copy of the material for yourself. • Skim read (quickly read) the text to get the general idea.


• Highlight or underline the key ideas. • Look up words you do not understand in a dictionary.


• Make your own notes from these key ideas.


How to read instructions Activities always give instructions about what to do. Keywords in instructions are usually verbs such as ‘label’ or ‘describe’. These key instruction words are used in your test and exam papers as well. Make sure you understand what each word means.


Study and exam skills 141


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21