Test Taking Stategies for Essay Exams

[Bullseye]

Hi, This is my first essay exam. Can some experienced people offer some test taking stategies ? For example: I have been told that I do not need to write everything in full sentences...phrases and bullets are OK

[FIOB]

http://www.soa.org/eande/view.html

[Actuarybert]

The best piece of advice that I can give is to budget your time carefully. You should generally allow 3 minutes per point.

I always tried to look at the clock when I started working on a question, and jot down my "finish time" (i.e. if I started working on a 6-point question at 9:00, I knew that I needed to be done with the question by 9:18). There are always bound to be a few questions that will stump you, and if you're not careful, it's easy to waste an awful lot of time on these questions--and still not get the right answer. If you've used up your allotted time for a question and still haven't finished answering it, you're better off just moving on to the next question.

[Actuarybert]

edited to remove duplicate post

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Actuarybert on 2002-03-14 21:08 ]</font>

[New at pd]

On 2002-03-13 19:52, Actuarybert wrote:
The best piece of advice that I can give is to budget your time carefully. You should generally allow 3 minutes per point.

I always tried to look at the clock when I started working on a question, and jot down my "finish time" (i.e. if I started working on a 6-point question at 9:00, I knew that I needed to be done with the question by 9:18). There are always bound to be a few questions that will stump you, and if you're not careful, it's easy to waste an awful lot of time on these questions--and still not get the right answer. If you've used up your allotted time for a question and still haven't finished answering it, you're better off just moving on to the next question.


That sounds like good advice. I think my biggest fear for the essays is not properly allocating the time. You really helped in quieting that fear for me. Thanks!!

[Me]

Also, main points are worth more than details. If it was a list kind of question, I write down the key words of the list first, leaving a couple blank lines in between each. Then I go back and fill in details if I remember any.

Don't worry about wasting paper! (If you're really environmentally conscious, think about how much more paper you'll waste if you have to study for the test over again). Outlines and white space are fine. It allows room to come back and fill in a related thought later. Plus it helps the graders by making your response more readable.

[Me]

It seems like this topic comes up every so often. Last time, I got sick of writing my advice for the umpteenth time so I started a Word file to keep some of the advice that has been given. I didn't remember that I'd done this until after my last post. I'll add to it for the next round if more good stuff comes up here.

These posts were in response to someone who failed course 5 (Jan '01) and was looking for advice.

Did you use the JAM study guide? For Course 5, there were 5 practice essay problems at the very back of the manual. The important thing for me was seeing the sample grading outlines.

These questions and solutions were created by Carmody, but they were very important for me to get the idea of what graders look for. Main ideas are worth lots of points, details are worth a few points, and there's LOTS of partial credit to be had (especially on math problems).

On the written answer type, you should be able to tell what material they are asking about(chapter/section) and what lists they are looking for. [No matter what they say about integrating material and moving away from lists, DON'T BELIEVE THEM. There were more lists than anything on Course 5.]

On math questions, don't worry about getting an answer! You could probably get close to a "6" on the question for writing down the correct formulas. You can get a "10" on the question without ever punching anything in your calculator [there was an extensive debate about this in another thread shortly before exams -- I think people with grading experience convinced us that my statement above is accurate].

Always state the obvious. You will not lose points for writing irrelevant stuff (the only exception is if you write contradictory statements).

Place strict time limits when taking the exam: for each question write as many minutes as 3 times the number of points the question is worth. If you run out of stuff to write, write anything tangentially related, whatever, just keep writing. OTOH, if you know a ton and haven't written half of what you know in the time allotted, quit and move on -- you probably already got a "10" on that question.

Bullet form / outline form is *GOOD*. Start by writing down the main ideas (worth lots) and leaving space after each to come back and fill in the details (worth little). It's ok if you never get back to all the details. This approach is especially important for the questions where you feel you could write for an hour+.

Practice is the way to get good at these (hard now since they don't really have sample exams). Carmody generates 20+ sample essays and grading outlines for people taking his seminar. This was the absolute key for me.

This message has gotten pretty long. If you want a break down of how the scoring process works, I'll tell you (to the best of my knowledge) in another message. Hope this helps!




I recommend the JAM seminars because Carmody emphasizes how your answers will be graded. He provides detailed outlines of the sort of key a grader would use for the questions he uses, and how the points would likely be distributed.
On the other hand, you seemed to suggest that you did focus on core points, and I passed using bullet points. Maybe you have the wrong core points for the question being asked.




After failing many,many,many! times. What finally worked for me was.

1. Start early; better to study a few hours for long time than to cram. Also don't take too many (consecutive) "days off" , it's hard to get back into it. When I really didn't want to study, I would at least flip through it for an 1/2-1 hour or so to brush up on a subject I knew well or thought was interesting.

2. Do some timed practice problems. The greatest quarterbacks may know everything about the game, but they still need to practice throwing the football.

3. Before you start to answer a question, make a quick list of main points of your answer so you can refer to it when going into detail. And, remember, main points are more important than lots of detail. Four/five main points with some detail is better than two main points with a ton of detail.

I'm not a grader , but this worked for me on C8

4. When doing a calculation type problem.

Step 1. First, WRITE DOWN THE NECESSARY FORMULA
Step 2. see step 1

[Gretchen]

My two cents worth on the timing: I usually allocated about 2 1/2 minutes per point, rather than the full 3. That way you have some time at the end to go back to questions where you think adding some more would really help. For example, if a major point occurred to you while looking at another question, or you really felt like you didn't write everything you wanted to/should on a particular question.

That way you've basically allocated your time according to the weight of the questions, but then also allocated some extra time to where you can get the most out of the time.

[Abducens]

OK, what do I know, but here's my two cents.

1) Don't worry so much about time on these new exams. On Course 6 they are giving you 5 hours (!). That's not even counting the extra time they're giving now to read. GrumpyOldMan says, "In myyy day, we only had 90 minutes to write an exam. We had to write so fast our fingers fell off. And we said, 'Awww look, I've got no fingers!' But it was too late! We were digitless actuaries, and that's the way it was and we LIKED it."

2) On MC-WA combo exams, run through each essay question quickly and jot down quickie notes (read: mnemonics) for each. Then answer the MC questions while the essays simmer in your brain. Then return to the essays.

[Gretchen]

Actually, my post on timing is from experience when the exams were also 5 hours long (OK - I'm showing my age....).

You still need to allocate your time appropriately.

[Dr T Non-Fan]

Gretchen's right. Allocate time based on number of points per question. Feel free to go over or under for any one problem, but after a certain point, it would be better to move along to the next problem.
I do the problems in high-point-to-low order. I don't think I need 15 minutes or reading time to figure that out, though.

[JoJo]

From the home office in Schaumburg, IL...

TOP TEN SOA ESSAY EXAM ANSWERS WHEN YOU DON'T HAVE A CLUE
10. "Hey! There's a spider on your back!"
9. "Where are the multiple choices?!? This whole exam is defective!"
8. "It's just the whole concept of life, and stuff."
7. "I can't read the question, this $100 bill is blocking it."
6. "If you don't know, I'm not going to tell you."
5. "Always with the questions! What is this, the Inquisition??"
4. "When I was younger, we used to have this dog name Bobo. He was a German Shepherd. What we used to do is take this long rope and dangle it above him. He loved to try to jump up and grab it away from us, but we'd always pull it away at the last second. It might sound mean to tease him like that, but it was actually his favorite game. He'd play it too, where he'd have the rope and if we reached for it, he'd quickly take a step or two back, wagging his tail. I loved that dog, he lived to be 15. He was a puppy his whole life. This doesn't have anything to do with the question, but it's a nice story, isn't it?"
3. "The metal plate in my head is preventing me from recalling this material. Under federal law I am required to receive full credit for this question."
2. "My issues of The Future Actuary said nothing about this type of question appearing on the exam."
1. "Whatever, dude."

[urysohn]

1. Get the big picture stuff first
2. If you memorized a list that you can spit out in 30 seconds and you think it might apply, but then again you're really not sure......write it down!
3. If you've memorized two lists and you know one of them applies and one of them is laughably irrelevant...write them both down. Almost all of your points are based on putting the right info down, only a few discretionary "quality of answer" type points will be un-awarded for the extra bunk you dropped in that made it obvious you didn't know what you were talking about.
4. When in doubt, write.
5. You don't know squat about how to solve a problem, but you know this particular formula is used: jot down the formula. Heck, jot down things you think are related to the formula.
6. You get done with a problem and realize your answer is obvious bullsh*t. If you had to look the graders in the face while they read it, you'd be blushing. Even though you don't have a better answer to give, you're tempted to rip it up and leave the question blank....NEVER, EVER leave a question blank. 1 or 2 points out of 15 is better than 0, and could be the difference in passing and failing.

Warning: having good, quality, well-written answers to most of the problems is a far better course of action that what's above. But, for those times when you just don't know what they're talking about, see above.

To summarize: screw your pride, you can't get points if you don't write something down.


(Personal note: I never really pulled all this together until my last exam, Course 8 the first time it was offered. I passed in more crap than I did quality stuff. Least stressful time I ever had waiting for results, because I knew I'd be lucky to get a 4, let alone pass. But I passed with a six, and I'm creditting that to 4 points quality + 2 points on the above "strategy")

[In England]

Don't spend too much time on the multiple choice section of the exam. That's how I finally passed my first essay / MC exam (old course 210). In fact, spend less time than the allotted points would suggest. I think 1/5 of the points are for MC, so spend 45 minutes not one hour on it, and skip the math ones if there aren't too many.

[Me]

bumping for last minute advice seekers

[Scrubby]

be sure to always end essay answers with the phrase "and stuff." This covers any possible points that you may have missed. :P

[josie]

For the essay questions, I found the key is to write anything and everything you know that may be related to the topic, except that you need to keep your eye on the clock so that you don't run out of time. Despite that essay exams are 5 hours or longer, I have run out of time everytime I took an essay exam.

Another key I found is to try to write at least something for every question so that you get some points.

Finally, don't worry about being neat, because there is just too much writing to do to worry about that. I have passed with some sloppy handwriting. Just make sure it is readable.

Good Luck!

[Phil]

be sure to always end essay answers with the phrase "and stuff." This covers any possible points that you may have missed. :P

LOL!!!!!

[Me]

Bumping for people who might be about to take their first essay exam...

[E. Blackadder]

the top 11 answer: How are you gentlemen? All your base are belong to us. You are on the way to destruction. You have no chance to survive make your time. Take off every Zig (http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~pyang/base/allyourbase.swf).

[Me]

bump