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Tips
on answering essay questions
Adrian
Whyte and Joanna Johnson, Contributor
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participate in a cheerleading
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FOR
ONE reason or another students seem
fearful of the essay section of the
examination. For this reason we have
decided to show you how best to approach
this type of question.
The
essay section of the examination (Paper
three) has three sections with two
questions in each section. You will
be required to answer three questions,
one per section (that is, do not answer
more than one question in any section!)
Now,
even though Paper three is called
the essay section, it is just a free
response to be answered on a separate
paper. The value of an essay question
can range from 15-20 marks. Each question
is broken into different parts, for
example 1a, 1b, 1c, etc., and should
be answered by clearly labelling the
individual parts answered, so as to
allow the marker to easily identify
which question or part(s) of the question
you are answering.
It
should be noted that it is best to
answer each question on a new sheet
of paper.
In
the essay paper, time management is
critical as you only have one hour
to answer three questions. This means
that you have a maximum of 20 minutes
for each question. Therefore, it is
imperative that you monitor the time
in this examination.
READING
TIME
Now
do not be dismayed, you are give an
additional 10 minutes reading time
which should be used wisely. During
this time, you should read all six
questions and decide which question
from each section is best for you
to answer. Now that you have decided
on the questions you believe you can
answer, to maximise your marks, list
the points needed on your question
paper (Do not write complete sentences
when listing your points).
ANSWERING
THE QUESTIONS
When
answering the questions, there are
a few things to keep in mind:
The number of marks required indicates
the number of points you need to make.
So,
for a question valued three marks
you should not be writing more than
five lines and likewise, you should
not write three or less lines for
a question worth 10 marks.
Focus your answer based on the
parameters of the question asked.
That
is, answer what is being asked; irrelevant
information (even if correct) will
not get you additional marks. Providing
irrelevant information wastes time!
Learn to spell, especially scientific
terms.
You
are not required to be a spelling
bee champion but you need to pay keen
attention when spelling commonly misspelled
homonyms, for example, their, there;
hear, here and so on.
Express yourselves clearly.
This
type of examination not only evaluates
your understanding of the subject,
but also your level of expression.
Avoid using colloquial terms; write
in standard English and not in patwa
(Patois).
Do not panic if you run out of
time.
Despite
your best effort, you may run out
of time in the examination. If this
happens, do not panic! Do you remember
those points you jotted down in your
reading time? Well, just list and
appropriately label the remainder
of your points on your answer sheet.
*
Adrian Whyte and Joanna Johnson
teach Biology at Ardenne High School
masterbio@gmail.com.
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