Guide to preparing for examinations: Part IV: During and After examination

-Nitin D Parekh, CA, CFA, MBA (IIM, A)

Executive Director, Ashima Limited

We have discussed general tips useful during the exams. In this article I would
present specific strategies for different types of questions.

The preparation for examinations during and after examinations is discussed in

the following paragraphs.

Specific strategies during examinations

1. Multiple choice questions:

a. Understand clearly how and where the answers are to be marked.
b. Understand whether there is any negative marking system for incorrect
answers. This is quite common in many competitive exams.
c. If you do not understand the question properly look at the answer
choices to make the meaning of the question.
d. If two answer choices are almost alike and confuse you, look at the
question again and get some clues. You may follow elimination method
of answering and then make a calculated guess, when there is no
negative marking system. Even in a negative marking system you may
take a chance if say out of 4 choices you have already eliminated two
choices and you are deciding one from the balance two choices left.
e. If you want to eliminate some choices you may see which choices do
not fit grammatically.
f. If you are at guess work in answering a question without any clue, the
longest response is correct answer in many cases. Another tip is
normally choice ‘C’ is less risky than other blind choices.
g. If you are not able to settle on the correct choice immediately, mark the
question and come back later on rather than spending too much time.
h. Having attempted the choice, if you get confused and think that some
other choice should have been made, you can change the answer.
However if you are equally uncertain about both the answers do not
change the choice and keep the original answer as the correct choice.
i. While attempting answers pay special attention to the words like
‘none’, ‘not’, ‘never’, ‘all’, ‘always’ etc.
j. There is a possibility of some questions carrying multiple answers like
‘all the above’ or ‘none of the above’. For the first choice all previous
answers choices must be correct and for the second choice all the
previous choice answers have to be incorrect.
2. True or false questions: These are again multiple choice type questions but
with only two choices. Keep the following points in mind:
 a. Read minutely the statements clearly and understand the key words
and phrases of the same.
b. You should not make attempt to read any hidden meaning out of the
statements. There is no need to bring in your interpretation of what
should have been the question as the paper setter is supposed to have
taken due care in framing the questions.
c. In case you are not sure of the answer you may go for guesswork only
if there is no negative marking system.
3. Matching questions: Matching questions are normally based on the
relationships of certain names, places, dates or periods, creations, who says
and what etc. keep the following tips in mind:
a. Read the question carefully and understand whether there are more
items on any side than the other side. If yes, then it means that there
are certain misleading answers to confuse you.
b. Start matching the items where you are quite sure to reduce the
uncertainty for rest of the items.
c. You may read the column with the longest details to find the answer.
You may not necessarily read items on the left side first and then right
side. You may, when you are not sure, start from right side to use
certain items on the left side.
d. You may be able to do some matching only based on elimination of
other items which you are sure can not go with the specific items on
hand.
4. Fill in the blanks questions: These questions are normally based on the test of
students’ ability to remember and recall some important facts or figures.
These may be dates, names of persons, places etc. Keep the following tips in
mind:
a. Read the question carefully to understand what exactly is missing or
to be supplied.
b. If you are provided the answers in the brackets, then these are very
much like multiple choice type questions and you may follow those
guidelines here too.
c. If you are not aware about the correct answer and answer choices are
made available, some hint as to correct choice may be found by finding
the suitable answer which fits in well in terms of grammatical structure.
d. Look at the number of blanks and the length of the space left out in the
test paper which may lead some hints to the correct answer.
5. Writing an Essay: You may keep the following tips in mind:
a. The students are advised to keep writing of essay as the last answer in
language papers. This is done for three reasons. Firstly, writing of
essay would require some thinking on your part which is better done
when you have completed the rest of the questions. Secondly, when
you are answering other questions, if you are willing, you may be able
to think about the outline of the essay and make note of the same so
as to save time at the end. Thirdly, you may decide the outline and
actual essay length based on the available timeframe.
 b. Make choice of the essay topic based on your preparation and ability
to put in best write up rather than which topic you like.
c. Before you start writing essay it would be better that you decide the
outline of the essay and then you may develop the same, unless such
outlines are already given in the test paper.
d. The essay should cover a brief introduction, main text part (which may
be divided in 3-4 logical paragraphs) and conclusion at the end.
6. Essay type questions: Essay type questions test subject knowledge. They
primarily test the ability of the students to remember and present in the
orgainised manner specific information. The following points are important:
a. Understand exactly what the question is. Read and understand the
words like explain, analyse, discuss, illustrate, justify, list, prove,
contrast, compare etc. and prepare your answer accordingly. For
example in case of contrast question you are only supposed to give
differences and in case of compare question you are supposed to give
both similarities and differences. These questions are normally of
analysis, application, evaluation, recognition, recall or synthesis type
questions.
b. Please make sure whether you are required to give dates, names or
examples as per the question. Keep in mind the question before you
answer the same. If you cannot write exact date or year write in
general. For example if you are not aware about Nehru’s birthday on
14th November but you remember only November, you may at least
write November rather than not writing anything at all.
c. You may start your answer with strong introduction or words which
clearly establish that you have understood the question properly and
are on the absolutely right track.
d. Use facts, figures and logic rather than your emotions in writing
answers.
e. You must not include more than one main idea in one paragraph.
f. Your answers should be easy to read, neat and in legible handwriting,
properly paraphrased with logical sequence and with titles, headings,
serial number etc., wherever applicable.
g. Write the answers with adequate margins on all sides of answer book.
Ensure that margins on particular side are maintained uniformly
through out the answer book.
h. A good answer starts with direct response to the question and goes on
describing the relevant specific information based on the question and
ends with a logical conclusion.
i. Do not include unnecessary details in your answer just to increase the
length of the answer. Remember the examiner would also like to
understand how far your answer is focused and to the point.
j. Avoid unnecessary jargon unless it is necessary in the context of the
question asked.
k. You need to ensure that there is natural flow and coherence in your
answer and no internal contradictions.
 l. The conclusion should emerge as a natural outcome of what you have
mentioned and should be consistent with your write up. You should
never introduce new information at the end as a conclusion.
7. Short-notes:
a. The response to the short-notes has to be really short. You should
refrain from putting everything which you know on the topic.
b. If you are asked to write a short-note, you cannot write what you have
prepared for an essay type question on the same topic. In such case it
would be better to cover all major points but you should cut down on
the details.
c. If the length of the short-note is specified in the question keep the
same in mind.

8. Number problems:
a. Understand or frame the problem, analyse the information provided,
think of the steps to follow for solution and then start solution to the
problem. Also decide the formulas to be used for solution to the
number problems.
b. Normally each and every figure given in the problem would be of use in
solving the problem. Thus if you are not in a position to use one or
more figures, you must doubly check your work and ensure that
possibly the additional information is redundant or given only to
mislead the students.
c. Ensure that you write all numbers of the question and your calculations
clearly legible. Though clear and legible handwriting is must for
language part also, this is almost compulsory for number problems.
d. Make special note of the one or more units of measurements used in
the question paper and the unit of measurement in which answer is
sought. For example if in the problem some figures are for kilometer
and some in meter and ultimate answer is to be given in kilometer then
you have to carry out the conversion from meter to kilometer before
attempting the solution.
e. Make use of calculator whenever permitted.
f. If you are provided with charts/graphs and you have to interpret and
write answers based on the same, understand clearly the ‘x’ and ‘y’
axis and the base level (origin).
g. You should carry out quick cross check of the answer to the problem if
possible before going to the next question. If you think this will be time
consuming exercise, please do not attempt to follow this initially and do
this work only after completion of the entire test paper.
h. If after you have solved a particular problem some changes in the
question are announced by the supervisor you must try to re calculate
the problem based on the new information. If you are not able to do so
due to shortage of time, you must at least mention that fact in your
answer book that you completed the solution before the change was
announced and thus the solution should be considered in the light of
 original description of the problem. If you are courageous enough you
should take signature of the supervisor at the relevant place of your
answer book.

After examinations:

1. When you come out of your exam room you should avoid talking about
your performance to other students.
2. During exam days do not make any attempt to think about your
performance and expected marks when other subject tests are yet to be
taken. This may unnecessarily disappoint you if you have not done well in
a particular subject.
3. After all exam papers are over you should evaluate your now expected
performance vis-à-vis your original expectations for all subjects. Ask
yourself what is there to learn for you from this exam. Is it that you lacked
subject knowledge in a particular subject, is it that you could not complete
the test paper fully, is it that you forgot to write your details in
supplementary sheets, is it that you found sleepy in the exam due to not
taking proper sleep on some days etc. These and similar other questions
will help you in finding the areas of improvement so that you can work on
the same and expect better performance next time.
4. After exams of all subjects are over, you may go through all your question
papers and put estimated marks against all the questions in each subject
and estimate your subject wise marks and grand percentage to decide
your overall expected performance.
5. If you feel that you are not in proper health, you need not immediately
decide to take drop from the exams as appearing for exams second time
itself can become a matter of losing confidence.
6. You need to reward yourself after the exams are over. How about a picnic
party or a movie? Don’t forget me!
7. Even when you get your results you must make comparison with what you
expected and then find out what possibly would have gone wrong. You
would have some if and then kind of scenarios with you like ‘if I had not
given so much time on question number 3 the I would have more time for
rest of the questions.’ Make use of such learning for future exams.
8. When you are pursuing studies and are yet to undergo further exams on
the subjects you should remain on the task. It is said that a successful
students is either taking a test or preparing for another test.

Let me wish best of preparations and best of luck to all of you.