The exam is approaching, and you are getting nervous because you have no idea how to answer the questions. Here are some basic tips on what to do and not do on your exam paper from one of the best educational service – Customessaymeister.

Here are some basic things you can do before you start writing your essay.

  • Read the instructions carefully. Are there any changes?
  • Make sure you understand each question and its sub-questions.
  • Underline the main point of each question, or read through it again to make sure you understand what this is asking.
  • Think about how you’re going to organize your answer: do you separate between Reasons and Consequences, or Causes and Outcomes?

Do read the instructions and check for any changes.

Do read the instructions and check for any changes.

The exam instructions will be printed on a card, which you should read carefully before answering each question. The instructions can change from year to year, so even if you took the same test last year, it’s important to check whether there are any changes this year.

Each question has two parts: the stem and two answer choices (A and B). To answer correctly, you must choose the correct one of these options—there is no “none of these” option in a multiple-choice exam! Be sure not to accidentally click on A or B when looking at your answer choices; instead take your time and carefully consider each letter before selecting an option.

Do underline the main point of each question.

Before you begin to answer a question, you should find the main point of the question. To do this, read through the entire problem and underline each word that seems important or related to the topic of the problem. Then, reread your underlined words carefully until you find one sentence that clearly gives an overview of what is going on in the entire story/situation/problem. This sentence is called “the main point.” It tells us everything we need to know about how things are connected and why it matters.

Now, go back over all your answers from before and see if they address this main point correctly! If not, rewrite them so that they do.

Do read through the question and make sure you understand it.

You should read through the question and make sure you understand it. Don’t just skim over what’s written in the question.

Don’t just read the question and then start writing your answer. The questions on the exam will have more than one part so make sure you know exactly what they’re asking before starting to write down an answer.

Do outline the structure of your exam answer, making sure you clearly separate between Reasons and Consequences, or Causes and Outcomes.

  • Understand the question
  • Understand the structure of your answer
  • Write down a plan for yourself before you start writing your essay. This is called an outline and it helps to make sure that when you go back through the essay, you don’t miss any key points or ideas. An outline should include:

4-5 Reasons (Causes) + Consequences (Effects)

3 Costs/Benefits

2 Strategies/Tactics

Do make a list of the reasons/causes (the things that will explain your main point).

Be sure to make a list of reasons/causes. In order to help you out, here’s how I’d do it:

  • List them in order of their importance (or, if you’re writing about more than one thing, the things that are most important).
  • If there are multiple causes for something that happened, list them in the order they occurred. For example, let’s say we’re talking about why someone died from an illness—the first cause may be that he or she didn’t get enough sleep; then his or her immune system might have been weakened by lack of food over time; etc.
  • Order your reasons/causes according to how they will be presented in your essay (which could even change!).

Do brainstorm an introduction/conclusion.

As you brainstorm, you’re thinking about what kind of essay to write. Brainstorming helps you get started by giving your mind time to relax and think about the question. It also helps you develop ideas and organize your thoughts in a way that makes sense for the question.

You might ask yourself: Why did the author write this document? What is its purpose? What arguments is the author making? How does my opinion relate to those arguments?

Here are some things you should definitely not do before you start answering an essay question on your exam paper.

Here are some things you should definitely not do before you start answering an essay question on your exam paper.

  • Don’t write out the entire answer in your own words on a separate sheet of paper before copying it onto the answer sheet. This is a sure-fire way to lose marks. What happens if you run out of space? What happens if the examiner reads your handwriting and gives it zero marks because he or she thinks it looks stupid?
  • Don’t panic! Exam questions are very rarely any trickier than the ones you work on in class during revision sessions, so try not to worry too much about this particular one being different from what you have been taught at school or university before now.

Don’t write out the entire answer in your own words on a separate sheet of paper before copying it onto the answer sheet.

DON’T copy the full answer from your own sheet of paper onto the answer sheet.

You don’t have to write out the entire answer on a separate sheet of paper before copying it onto the answer sheet. It’s okay to use scratch paper for things like solving problems, but once you’ve solved a problem and are ready to record your solution, do not simply write down all the steps in their entirety on another piece of paper and then copy those steps onto your answer booklet! Instead just record each step separately—this way if something goes wrong with your hand writing (which has been known to happen) you won’t lose everything at once.

Don’t panic! Exam questions are very rarely any trickier than the ones you work on in class during revision sessions.

Don’t panic! Exam questions are very rarely any trickier than the ones you work on in class during revision sessions. You know the material and you have been practicing, studying for the exam and revising for the exam. You have experienced exam conditions before and have a good idea of how long it will take to complete a question.

You also know what format your course is going to follow: multiple choice questions followed by short answers or extended writing tasks.

Always go through the instructions, check for changes and read through the entire question to find any important details.

The instructions, as well as the questions themselves, are going to be written in a specific format. Your task is to read and understand this format. Each question will have a key part that you must identify and understand before answering the question. The key details could be words or numbers.

This is an example of a typical question:

What is the best way for kids to learn about healthy eating habits? ____A) Get parents involved at home by serving healthy meals prepared from scratch; B) Encourage them to snack on fresh fruits and vegetables; C) Learn how many calories they’re burning while they exercise; D) Make sure they get plenty of physical activity each day.(Source: Nutrition Across America Survey (NAAS))

Conclusion

The main thing to remember is that exams are designed to test what you’ve learned and how well you can write about it. There will be no ‘sneaky’ questions, because this kind of thing doesn’t really help anyone. Just make sure that when you’re reading your exam paper, you properly understand what each question is asking for, and don’t panic!