There is a certain point where all your hours of study and hardwork does not count for much, sure it'll get you the basic marks but you need to know how to tackle an economics exam properly.
This is part 1 of a series of articles on how you can use simple yet effective techniques to do well in that exam. These tips are compiled not only from years of examination experience from many many different people, it is from your actual examiners! That's right, the examiner's reports which are made after your scripts are marked.
1. Do not feel like you have to offer all the information you know about a topic!
Classic mistake, a question comes up which is specific in the topic e.g. arguments against trade protectionism. Students who have studied hard in this topic feel like they have to tell the examiner everything they know about the topic. STOP! Not only are you wasting precious time in the exam, you are actually moving the focus of your answer to an irrelevant part of the topic which actually ruins the good part of your answer!
Do read the question properly and make sure you answer to that question!
2. Answer the question that is asked and not the question you think is asked!
Another common mistake. It is because of the so-called model answers and essays that students prepare when studying and when they see a question similar to the one they wrote out, they go and write out their own essay they prepared!
How do you expect the examiner to give you marks for an answer he didn't ask for?
Now some students still insist on writing out model answers and that's fine if that is what works for them. What you should be doing however is tailoring that answer to the question, that may mean dropping out sections of your answer which you don't need. Be dynamic! Learn to be flexible with your answers.
3. Do not answer the next part of your question in the first part.
Be careful when answering the question to not answer part (b) in part (a). The simplest way to avoid this is to read your entire question and bullet point out what you want to say on the actual question paper. That way you'll avoid the embarrassing situation where you repeat what you say in the previous part of the question. Plus you'll save time by being economical with what you write.
4. Read the entire question, not just the trigger words like "discuss" and "explain"
Schools have this strange habit of hammering into you the trigger words, yes they are important, but you still need to read the entire question properly. Some students go into the exam, perhaps under considerable stress, read the first word of discuss see somewhere down the line it says externalities and then jump right into the answer without reading the whole question.
Not only will reading the entire question help you answer the question properly, it'll slow you down a little and calm your nerves.
5. Use mark allocations as guides
Simple and straight forward, if part (a) says [3 marks] part (b) says [7 marks] then part (b) should have a more in depth and longer answer than (a).
Also use these as point guides, if part (a) was "state the functions of money" and it was 3 marks, it wouldn't hurt to give them 3 functions of money would it? Generally the examiners are pretty good and they will ask you the question well.
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Have you seen a general theme in all these tips? Read the question thoroughly! It's really a silly thing to lose marks on.
Keep checking back for part 2 of the examination tips which are out soon!
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