Exam technique (1 Viewer)

[GoldyOrNugget]

I think I'm capable of doing most or all of the questions on the paper, but on past HSCs I almost always run out of time. This is becoming very frustrating.

My current technique: when I'm going through the paper, if a question seems to be taking too long, I note it down and come back to it later. After going through the whole paper once, I usually have about 100/120 with 15 minutes left, then I try to scrape 5-10 more marks in the remaining time. This consistently gets me low-to-mid 100s on past HSCs, but I rarely break 110/120.

Does anyone have any good techniques in regards to time management (or anything else) that would alleviate these issues?

 

[SpiralFlex]

Try speeding through a past paper and see if you can get through it and maintain accuracy.

You changed your sig...

 

[GoldyOrNugget]

You changed your sig...

First I had included my aims in each subject, then I thought I'd push myself and make those aims higher, but then on reflection they were way too high, so I just removed that section completely I also had ranks for each subject in my signature a while ago, but there are a few subjects where I'm not sure of the exact rank, so instead of guessing I removed that section too.

 

[HeyJes]

T T I usually ran out of time with questions undone

 

[GoldyOrNugget]

T T I usually ran out of time with questions undone

That's what happens to me too. I keep a list of questions that I wasn't able to do immediately, and in the last few minutes I go through that list and get as many marks as possible from those questions. There are usually about 5-10 marks I can't get at all and 5-10 marks worth of silly mistakes.

 

[Mr Slick]

I can tell you the OP is trolling

 

[Mr Slick]

What a troll lmao

 

[GoldyOrNugget]

Not trolling, just competitive and surrounded by other competitive people.

 

[Mr Slick]

Not trolling, just competitive and surrounded by other competitive people.

I see, I know you! DOn't make me say it here !

 

[GoldyOrNugget]

You know me? Cool, who are you? No one at my school does Latin or Greek.

 

[Mr Slick]

You know me? Cool, who are you? No one at my school does Latin or Greek.

Check your inbox, I am not gonna say it here coz I am nice.
Also, I don't have to go to someone's school to know them !

 

[GoldyOrNugget]

lol people can know who I am, Goldy is my nickname in real life too.

EDIT: hurry up and message me. I'm guessing I know you from one of the Australian olympiad teams.

 

[Mr Slick]

Btw poor troll mate

 

[Sup3rDry]

Ehh don't usually time myself when i do exams (cbf). But during the exam, look for the easy marks and leave the harder one till later.

 

[barbernator]

I think the reason why you don't finish in time is because you leave the longer/harder questions till later by skipping them. If you know you can do all the questions they throw at you, then take the time to answer each one in order. Sure if you have spent 2-3 minutes on a question and you can't get it, skip it, but if you can do it and it just takes a while, do it then, because you will have to come back and do it later anyway.

 

[GoldyOrNugget]

Ooh another question... are we allowed $\mathrm{cis} \theta$ notation or do we have to expand it as $\cos \theta + i \sin \theta$?

(and how do you do latex on this forum?)

 

[Sweatyspuds]

Isn't the format of the exam different this year anyway? Im pretty sure its 6 questions at 15 marks each and 10 multiple choice. So maybe with fewer questions, timing wont be an issue.

 

[HeyJes]

That's what happens to me too. I keep a list of questions that I wasn't able to do immediately, and in the last few minutes I go through that list and get as many marks as possible from those questions. There are usually about 5-10 marks I can't get at all and 5-10 marks worth of silly mistakes.

Totally agree m8

 

[YoYoWayne]

At the 5min reading time read the exam paper back to front (or if this is too uncommon then front to back, not a big deal), and for each question if you can not think of a way to attempt it in 10 seconds, skip to next. So when you are really doing the questions you can attempt those questions that you're REALLY good at first (it could lead to 1/3 or even a half of question left out blank, but then you have LOTS of time after you finish the kinds of question you can kill).
I found this way useful because I didn't put that much effort on studying 4U (I assume if someone really studied hard and good at it, he could just do all questions non-stop so technique becomes not important anymore?),
BTW, the BEST exam technique is do whatever b4 the exam to KEEP CALM! haha

 

[HeyJes]

At the 5min reading time read the exam paper back to front (or if this is too uncommon then front to back, not a big deal), and for each question if you can not think of a way to attempt it in 10 seconds, skip to next. So when you are really doing the questions you can attempt those questions that you're REALLY good at first (it could lead to 1/3 or even a half of question left out blank, but then you have LOTS of time after you finish the kinds of question you can kill).
I found this way useful because I didn't put that much effort on studying 4U (I assume if someone really studied hard and good at it, he could just do all questions non-stop so technique becomes not important anymore?),
BTW, the BEST exam technique is do whatever b4 the exam to KEEP CALM! haha

Thank you that's really helpful