EXAMINATIONS
Relax, you did all that reflection, reviewing and revision, so the examinations will be most agreeable. Check, and double-check, the examination timetable and room locations - they can change. Know where you are going. Plan to be there 20 minutes early to find your seat or block number, visit the loo and relax. Check the student handbook so you know what to do if you are delayed. Make sure you have a pen, spare pens, pencils and highlighters and a watch (even though there ought to be a clock in the room). Take heed of anything the invigilator has to say. If you think there is a problem with the paper tell an invigilator.
Find out well in advance how the paper is structured and use the time in proportion. The usual convention is that if the marks for individual questions are not stipulated, the questions will all be worth equal marks. So, if you have to answer four questions in a two-hour paper, allow equal time for all four, i.e. 25 minutes per question + 10 minutes to read the paper and plan your answers + 10 minutes to check through your answers. Be strict with yourself about running over time, and if you can shave a couple of minutes off one or two of the questions, you gain another 5 minutes for extra checking or emergencies.
Don't rush to answer the first question on the page. Read through all the questions before you put pen to paper, and make a rough plan of every answer (including any quotations or references you intend to use) before you start. Answer the number of questions required, no more and preferably no less.
Should you be seized with anxiety and your brain freezes over, use the brainstorming approach. Write out the question and then look at each word in turn scribbling down the first words that occur to you, anything ... authors' names, examples, and related words. This should generate calm and facts, and you can plan from the spider diagram you have generated.
Examination Essays
Essays allow you to develop lines of thought, draw in diverse ideas and demonstrate your skills in argument, analysis, synthesis, evaluation and written communication. Remember to keep the linguistic/cultural/historical/literary content high, use evidence to support your arguments wherever you can and cite supporting references.
Short Answer Questions
Search for evidence of understanding through factual, knowledge-based answers and the ability to reason and draw inferences. For short answers a reasoned, paragraph answer is required to questions.
MCQs (multiple choice questions)
In a final assessment watch the rules. With on-line assessment, once the answer is typed in and sent, it cannot be changed. Look carefully at the instructions on MCQ papers. The instructions will remind you of the rules, such as: There is/is not negative marking. (With negative marking you lose marks for getting it wrong). One or more answers may be correct, select all the correct answers. (This is how you can get 100 marks on a paper with 60 questions.)
Gap-Filling Test
These are peculiar to language learning, especially interactive CALL (Computer-Assisted Language Learning) drills, and used wisely they have a powerful reinforcing effect (because you can learn by your mistakes, go back and try them again). But there is also a sudden-death paper-based form much-beloved of language teachers out to probe (as in 'dentists' instruments') students' knowledge of grammar, where they can be profoundly demoralizing! You are given sentences or a passage containing a series of gaps which represent missing adjectival endings, articles or verbs, and you are required to fill the gaps by adding the correct form. With these tests, there is no grey area, only black and white, right and wrong, and the only sensible way to approach them is in the sure and certain knowledge that comes from learning the rules off by heart... and get some past exam papers to practise on.
Oral Examinations
Oral examinations in L2 (second language) are an integral part of all language degrees. In the Oral exam (anything from 10 to 40 minutes) you have a conversation with one or sometimes two examiners (perhaps one of the native-speaker language assistants plus a lecturer or external examiner), either on a topic you have chosen and prepared in advance, or on a subject determined there and then by the examiner(s). Either way, it is a test of your conversational skills, aural and oral.
You may also be asked to read a passage out loud, to test your pronunciation. With a topic chosen beforehand, it is up to you to research it and practice the vocabulary connected with it, but many people think that if you don't know the subject until you enter the room, there is nothing you can do to prepare for the exam. Not so. As with writing an essay, there is a lot you can do to help yourself.
