Condensing isnt the best. Only condense if your short for time.
I had my half yearly's and in 90mins i did
30 multiple choice
15 short answers
and wrote a 6 page extended response
and got 100% i was soo happy.
I figure you should remeber key topics, and not waffle oh and most importantly answer the question right.
My friends got zero because they didnt answer the question right. Ask your teacheer how to improve
You definitely don't get zero if you don't answer the question properly. You shouldn't, anyway. Having an attempt should guarantee you at least 1 mark, as long as it's considered a "serious" attempt.
As for report writing problems, it's hard to say what to do. Is it that you end up waffling and getting off track? Or spending so much time on one aspect of the question you don't get around to answering the rest? Because your reports, generally speaking, shouldn't be too condensed.
This is what I did when writing reports:
1. Highlight or underline the key terms in the question
2. Make a rough plan of the report, outlining what needed to be addressed in each paragraph
3. An executive summary. You want to make it clear and concise - it should tell the marker exactly what's going to follow.
4. Go on to the body. I'd use sub headings for each new paragraph and highlight the key terms throughout your report. When writing, always have a topic sentence that relates to the question. Then expand on it, drawing first from the theory done in class and then from practical examples and case studies. You really want to show and explain the implications, effects and causes. Or similarities and differences (it's different for every question).
5. Key recommendations or findings. Just sum up what you've written.
