Revision and examinations

3.10 Thinking about the exam

3.11 Other ways to practise for the exam

3.11.1 Answering multiple-choice questions

Multiple-choice questions usually involve you in selecting the right answer from several possible responses. The questions are frequently short, and your answer requires no writing. However, finding the right answer may require you to do calculations on paper or, in some cases, check back through an extract of material very closely to see which is the correct of two possible answers. In the Sciences Good Study Guide there is a good example on pages 265–68, which shows the series of calculations you need to make in order to identify the correct answer. It points out the need to check through notations to ensure that you have not found the right answer by coincidence. Above all, keep going, try not to slow down and have a go at all the questions. Educated and even random guesses may add a few vital marks to your total.

One student said:

Extract

The problem with the multiple-choice section was that I got really stuck on one of the questions and didn't manage to complete the section in the time available and the individual questions were not worth enough marks to justify my delay.