Case Studies

3.2.1 Exam writing skills

It is not uncommon for students to call on counselling services for help in learning how to write exams. Case study exams in particular can pose difficulties for students who have otherwise studied diligently to learn their course material. Although exams give a student the opportunity to show that they have learned the course learning objectives, a weakness in test-taking skills can result in exam scores that are below the student’s potential. In other words, ‘exam-wiseness’ can significantly affect your exam scores. Educational research has shown that by learning exam-taking skills students can often improve their test scores by 10-15 percentile points, and in some cases even more. Therefore, the good news is that these academic skills can be learned. Let us look at some ways to improve your exam results.

3.2.1.1 Study

First, there is no magic system for taking exams that is a substitute for studying and learning the course content. Read the IMM GSM’s learner guide on “How to Prepare for and Write an Open Book Exam” for some studying guidelines.

3.2.1.2 Prepare

It makes sense that you should prepare yourself to write your exams. Appropriate preparation for your exams includes not only regular and thorough reviews of your course materials in order to ensure that you have covered the course learning objectives, but also:

• Be familiar with the expectations and IMM regulations governing exams, including ordering and paying for exams, unwritten exams, supplemental exams, and appealing exam results.
• Know when and where you will write your exam. Schedule your study time and course reviews to peak just before your exam. When students misjudge the timing of their studying and/or ordering of exams they can end up scrambling to coordinate their efforts in a way that increases their stress and anxiety, something that can be disruptive to a more appropriate exam-taking state of mind.
• Tackle exam anxiety early in the course rather than later or not at all if you know that exam anxiety detracts from your ability to do your best on exams.
• Prepare yourself physically and emotionally to write your exam. These include things that seem more obvious but are overlooked with surprising frequency.
• Get a good night’s sleep before the exam rather than staying up late in order to cram.
• Have an appropriate (for you) breakfast before a morning exam or lunch before an afternoon exam.
• Arrive early enough to write so you can get yourself into your best exam-writing state of mind, but neither too early nor at the last second.