Practice exam technique
Knowledge is necessary, but you also need to apply it
There is more to exams than simply knowing stuff. You need to be able to use that knowledge to relate your answer to questions about particular scenarios, case studies or problems.
There are a number of things to consider when answering exam questions:
- What are the command words?
- What is the question asking me?
- How many marks is my answer worth?
- Do I need to give a one word answer, one sentence, bullet points or paragraphs?
- Is there a structure or chained lines of reasoning I should be using?
Smart Revise helps you prepare for the different types of questions in your exams.
How
Set the topic filters to the topics you want to focus on. These may be controlled by your teacher if you have joined a class.
Select Advance and navigate to a question you want to attempt.
Start with the one or two-mark questions and work up from there.
Use command word help to know how to approach the question, the number of marks to guide your response, and the size of the text box to judge the number of lines in a real exam.
Use the guided marking system to evaluate your answer.
The references provide links to resources if you need to learn more about this topic.
Computer Science courses also include model answer videos.
You can see how well you are getting on using your personal revision report.
When should I use Advance?
If you have joined a class and your teacher is setting you tasks or end of topic tests that include longer answer questions, then you can probably leave Advance until later in your course to use as past-paper practice. If you are not joined to a class, you should attempt some questions from the a topic when you have finished learning it.
Mastery
Answering a question correctly once doesn't mean you will remember the answer over a long period of time. Mastery means answering a question correctly at least three times in a row.
The questions in Advance mode can be quite daunting the first time you see them. Start with lower mark questions and work up to the harder ones. Don't avoid Advance mode just because it is harder. You can't just use Quiz and Terms and expect to get the high grade. You need to be using a mix of all three modes.
Digging deeper
That's the basics but if you want to learn more about Advance, here you go...
- Advance tries to simulate how questions will be presented in real examinations while balancing that with also being a revision tool. The questions are not from past-papers so that you have more material to practice with. They are written by very experienced teachers and examiners.
Interleaving
Means mixing questions from different topics together. It has been shown to help memory retention more than blocking - looking at just one topic at a time.
Pseudorandom
Means a deterministic but seemingly random order. Random would mean the current question could possibly appear as the next question too. Pseudorandom order prevents this happening.
Spaced learning
Means a period of time elapses between seeing the same question again. Spaced learning has proven to enable the best memory retention effectively beating the forgetting curve.
- The question numbers may look like they are in a random order if you haven't got all the topics selected. That's because some of the questions can't be shown if you haven't got those topics selected. Unlike Quiz, Advance shows the questions in a numerical order.
Interleaving
Means mixing questions from different topics together. It has been shown to help memory retention more than blocking - looking at just one topic at a time.
Pseudorandom
Means a deterministic but seemingly random order. Random would mean the current question could possibly appear as the next question too. Pseudorandom order prevents this happening.
Spaced learning
Means a period of time elapses between seeing the same question again. Spaced learning has proven to enable the best memory retention effectively beating the forgetting curve.
- Advance will mix questions from different topics together automatically. You can use the topic filters to focus on just one topic at a time. Remember you can also use the "Prev" and "Next" buttons to cycle through the questions so you don't have to answer them in order.
Interleaving
Means mixing questions from different topics together. It has been shown to help memory retention more than blocking - looking at just one topic at a time.
Pseudorandom
Means a deterministic but seemingly random order. Random would mean the current question could possibly appear as the next question too. Pseudorandom order prevents this happening.
Spaced learning
Means a period of time elapses between seeing the same question again. Spaced learning has proven to enable the best memory retention effectively beating the forgetting curve.
- Answering the same question more than once is great practice. Each time you answer try to improve from your previous answer.
Interleaving
Means mixing questions from different topics together. It has been shown to help memory retention more than blocking - looking at just one topic at a time.
Pseudorandom
Means a deterministic but seemingly random order. Random would mean the current question could possibly appear as the next question too. Pseudorandom order prevents this happening.
Spaced learning
Means a period of time elapses between seeing the same question again. Spaced learning has proven to enable the best memory retention effectively beating the forgetting curve.
- Some of the mark schemes will also include "level of response" or "banded marks". These are questions where your answer isn't about writing facts, it's about how your answer is structured to learning objectives. These questions are usually marked low, mid or high with a number of marks available in each band. Smart Revise fully supports these types of questions.
Interleaving
Means mixing questions from different topics together. It has been shown to help memory retention more than blocking - looking at just one topic at a time.
Pseudorandom
Means a deterministic but seemingly random order. Random would mean the current question could possibly appear as the next question too. Pseudorandom order prevents this happening.
Spaced learning
Means a period of time elapses between seeing the same question again. Spaced learning has proven to enable the best memory retention effectively beating the forgetting curve.