Hi All
Below are some handy tips from the head of OCR and all round media
genius Pete Fraser of
Pete's Media Magazine Blog read them carefully
and check out his blog for more revision!
Top tips to prepare for
exams
This is just a short post with a few top tips
as exams approach!
1. Don't spend ages revising. This may be what you
want to hear because you're lazy, but that's not what I mean. My view is that if
you don't take things in as you go along, you won't do well in exams (at least
not in Media or Film) just because you do a load of work at the end. You need to
understand your subject and be able to talk about it anyway. preparing for exam
questions about it should be a matter of technique and refreshing your mind
about it, rather than cramming loads of information for weeks.
2. Focus
your preparation completely. Know PRECISELY what you are going to be expected to
do in the exam- how long the paper is, what form the questions take, how many
marks are attached to them and how long you are expected to spend on each one.
Know what the rules are about the questions- do you have to refer to a minimum
number of texts, a variety of media, to examples from a particular period of
time- whatever! all this knowledge helps you to be absolutely clear about what
you need to prepare and what you can set aside. Look at past papers and past
questions- if your teacher can't provide them, go online and find them- all exam
boards have old papers you can download.
3. Decide what you feel most
confident about using and systematically prepare that material so that you can
summarise it, refer to the key arguments, mobilise specific examples to back
your points and adapt it to the needs of different questions. You don't need to
know EVERYTHING about a topic, but you do need to be able to be FLEXIBLE with
what you do know!
4. PRACTICE writing to time. Start with some old
questions and set out what your paragraphs will contain as a set of bullet
points. Then just write and time yourself. How much can you cover in the time
and how well does your argument work? get someone to read it, especially someone
who doesn't know about the subject, and ask them if they can follow your
argument and if your examples back your points up. If not, go back to what you
have written and work out how to fill the gaps. If you do a few timed essays,
you will get faster and if you seek advice from readers, you will get
better.
5. Have some of your own examples. Don't rely on everything
having been spoon fed by the teachers. Applying ideas or concepts to examples
YOU have found always helps your answer to stand out from the same old stuff
that everyone has half-remembered or half-understood the teacher
saying.
6. Don't panic. If you prepare effectively in the short term and
have taken things on board in the long term, then you have nothing to worry
about. You can only do your best.
7. And finally, get the obvious things
right. Know WHEN the exam is- DAY and TIME! I have known students to miss a
morning exam because they assumed it was in the afternoon. Aim to be there
EARLY- transport isn't always reliable. And have your PENS! When I used to
invigilate, it always shocked me that there were many people in the room who had
forgotten to bring pens. And during the exam, keep an eye on the clock. There is
no value in spending an hour on a 25 mark question and then only half an hour on
a 50 mark question. You might get full marks for the 25, but you will probably
lose 25 on the 50!
