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72. Have you got any hints on how to prepare for and pass important examinations?

eg-:

•    study together with friends;

•    don't study for too long; take reguł ar breaks;

•    don't leave studying or revising until the night before the exam;

•    get enough sleep the night before the exam;

•    read the instructions very carefully before you start doing the tasks;

•    start answering the ąuestions you think you know the answers to first;

•    control the time;

•    remember that if it does not work this time, you can always re-sit the exam.

Which exam will you remember as one of the most difficult exams you have ever taken? Why?

7' e exam 1 will never forget is my driving exam. I should have used the plural here rather as it was actually 5 r es of tests and I passed only my fifth or sixth retake. They all looked very similar and I felt almost exactly in me same way taking them. Each time it meant a sleepless night during which I was trying to anticipate what mm happen the following day, what the weather would be like, what make of car I would be told to drive, aa manoeuvres I would be told to perform and in what order. Long hours of planning what 1 would do and a m mm not do that time. No breakfast in the morning. Taking a taxi to the driving examination centre. Waiting •:: ar. hour or two because I was always too early there. A feeling of anxiety and tension. The exam starts e -:    lasts 3-5 minutes before the examiner says again 'Thank you. You may get out. 1 will take over

- Possible arguments for and against examinations:

(+)

•    exams encourage students to study and review systematically;

•    exams are the ąuickest way of measuring what students know or are capable of doing;

•    exam grades provide students with a sense of achievement;

•    exam results provide students with information about what they know and what they still need to learn or review;

•    exams help you develop your critical abilities;

•    eveiyone is assessed on the same thing and exam grades allow for the comparison of the progress different students have madę;

•    far too much attention is paid to exam results; they are often the only indicator of failure or success;

•    exam results can depend on factors not connected with one's academic capacity or the effort one has put into the preparation for an exam (bad weather, headache, stress, personal problems);

•    despite the rapid progress madę in all fields of science, the methods of testing have been the same for decades;

•    exams often test memory rather than a person's true knowledge or ability;

•    assessment should be carried out in other ways too, for instance, through doing projects, experiments, etc.;

•    people who are slow at writing can never do well enough in a written exam;

•    exams do not encourage inquisitive, in-depth study, but induce cramming; if you are good at cheating, you can pass an exam without studying at all;

•    ieachers often devote much time to training their students in dealing with the exam instead of ieaching their subject;

•    mus best results are often achieved not by the best educated students but by those who are trained m dealing with elicitation techniques.