Examination Techniques

It was the first day of a school in USA and a new Indian student named Chandrasekhar Subramanian entered the fourth grade. The teacher said, "Let's begin by reviewing some American History. Who said 'Give me Liberty , or give me Death?" She saw a sea of blank faces, except for Chandrasekhar, who had his hand up:?' Patrick Henry, 1775' he said. Very good! Who said 'Government of the People, by the People, for the People, shall not perish from the Earth?" Again, no response except from Chandrasekhar. 'Abraham Lincoln, 1863' said Chandrasekhar. The teacher snapped at the class, 'Class, you should be ashamed. Chandrasekhar, who is new to our country, knows more about our history than you do.' She heard a loud whisper: 'F___the Indians,' "Who said that?' she demanded. Chandrasekhar put his hand up. 'General Custer, 1862.' Now furious, another student yells, 'Oh yeah? Suck this!' Chandrasekhar j

1.  SPEED: Getting Ready In 5 Minutes.. 2.  SHARING: Whole Class Copying One Assignment.. 3.  PRESENTATION SKILLS: Can Present One Answer, In 5 Different Ways For 5 Different Questions 4.  EDITING: Your Report Contains At least 5 Pages Less Than, The Person From Whom You Copied.. 5.  MULTI TASKING: Playing Games On Cell, SMS to Gf/Bf, Gossiping With Seat Mate, Day Dreaming, Making Teacher's Sketch And Still Pretending That, You Are Listening What Teacher Is Saying.. 6.  Art: Beautiful Art On The Last Page Of Note Books.. 7.  SENSE OF HUMOR: Provide Best Unintentional Humor, To Teachers During Viva..

Many examining boards ask their examiners to produce reports each year which explain the general performance of candidates. The same concerns are highlighted year-in-year-out. They invariably read something like this: ‘Many students did not read the instructions at the head of the question paper. Some answered fewer than required and some even answered more! Some failed to answer the required number from each section and others missed out elements of a multi-part question.’ ‘Students did not read the questions carefully enough. A question in a 20th century history paper asking for causes of the outbreak of World War 1 prompted answers from some candidates relating to World War 2!’ ‘Students did not take careful note of the verb in the question which told them what to do e.g. assess, compare, describe, argue, list, etc. Instead they regurgitated all they could think of about the topic involved.’ ‘Students did not plan their answers. They produced an uncoordinated mass of prose whi

Remember, you will not be asked to ‘Write all you know about..... The examiner is not interested in whether you can memorise facts and simply repeat them. So it’s important to ascertain exactly what is being asked. Below is a selection (not an exhaustive list) of the type of verbs used typically in essay questions and (my suggestions of) what they mean. Account for Explain why something is so. Analyse Explain the main points in detail. Argue Make a case for and/or against a particular viewpoint and back it up with objective evidence. Assess Using your knowledge of the course and associated issues, judge the degree to which something is so. Compare Identify similar characteristics and differences between two or more things. Contrast Point out differences between (and possibly, briefly acknowledge similarities). Criticise Judge something showing its shortcomings backed with logical argument to support your criticism. Describe Give a detailed account. Discuss Exa

Once PVNR (PV Narasimha Rao), L.K-Advani and Laloo Prasad Yadav were going in an auto. They met with an accident and all three of them die. Yama DharmaRaj was waiting for this moment. He asks PVNR and Advani to go to HEAVEN. But, for Laloo, Yama had already decided that he should be sent to HELL. Laloo is not at all happy with this decision. He asks Yama as to why this discrimination isbeing made. All three of them served public. Similarly, took bribes, misused public post etc. He felt that there should be a formal test or a concrete way to decide this, and should not be just based on opinion. Yama agrees to this and asks all three of them to appear for English test. PVNR is asked to spell "INDIA" and he does it correctly. Advani is asked to spell "ENGLAND" and he too passes. It is Laloo's turn and he is asked to spell "CZECHOSLOVAKIA". Laloo protests that he doesn't know English. It is not fair that he is given a tough question and thus fo

Professor Ernest Brennecke of Columbia is credited with inventing a sentence that can be made to have eight different meanings by placing ONE WORD in all possible positions in the sentence: "I hit him in the eye yesterday." The word is " ONLY ". The Message: I .ONLY I hit him in the eye yesterday. (No one else did.) 2.1 ONLY hit him in the eye yesterday. (Did not slap him.) 3.1 hit ONLY him in the eye yesterday. (I did not hit others.) 4.1 hit him ONLY in the eye yesterday. (I did not hit outside the eye.) 5.1 hit him in ONLY the eye yesterday. (Not other organs.) 6.1 hit him in the ONLY eye yesterday. (He doesn't have another eye..) 7.1 hit him in the eye ONLY yesterday. (Not today.) 8.1 hit him in the eye yesterday ONLY. (Did not wait for today.) This is the beauty and complexity of the English language.

Most irritating moment: Morning alarms Most dreadful journey: Way to class Most lovely time: Meeting friends! Most tragic news: Test in 1st period Most wonderful news: Teacher is absent;) Most relaxing area: BACK BENCHERS Most funny moment: Teacher cracks a joke and nobody laughs..