Matters relating to the question paper
By Marjorie Henry, Contributor

Kingston College's Alain Bailey clearing 2.05 metres to win the Class One boys high jump at the VMBS/ISSA Boys' and Girls' Athletics Championships at the National Stadium on Saturday, April 1. - Ricardo Makyn Photo

IN ANOTHER few weeks you will be sitting the external examinations. In light of this, I will take time out to inform or remind you of matters relating to the question paper.

The question paper has three sections:

• Section A - map reading skills
• Section B - natural system
• Section C - man-made system.

These sections correspond with the three sections of the syllabus, namely, skills, natural system and man-made system. Let me hasten to add here that skills are not tested only in map reading but also in the other questions. I will return to this later.

There are two papers to be done in the geography examination. Paper 1 carries the multiple choice items and Paper 2 tests your ability to respond to essay questions. Both papers will have questions from all three sections of the syllabus.

You do not have a choice of questions on Paper 1. In other words, you must answer all questions. In Paper 2, however, you are to choose questions from Sections B and C. Section A, the one question on map reading, is compulsory.

Here is the instruction given at the beginning of the question paper for the General Proficiency level:

This paper has THREE sections. You must attempt FOUR questions. You MUST

answer Question 1, and THREE others, choosing at least ONE question from EACH of the other sections. Credit will be given for the use of relevant sketch maps and diagrams.

However simple this instruction may appear to you, unfortunately, many students have difficulty understanding it and, therefore, do otherwise. I am advised on this situation because of my close association with the examination.

Permit me to explain this for the benefit of those who may have a problem understanding it. Where the instruction has stated "choosing at least ONE question from EACH of the other sections," you are required to do at least ONE but no more than TWO questions from sections B and C.

So, since you must do a total of THREE questions, should you choose TWO from Natural Systems - Section B, then you can only choose ONE from man-made system - Section C. Should you choose ONE from Section B, then you must choose TWO from Section C.

Your choices from these sections along with the compulsory Section A will give you your FOUR questions as required.

The situation with the question paper for the Basic Proficiency level is a little different. The instruction is:

This paper has THREE sections. You MUST attempt FIVE. You must answer Question 1, and TWO questions from Section B and TWO questions from Section C. You will earn credit for drawing relevant sketch maps and diagrams where appropriate.

This I think is quite straightforward and needs no further explanation. Another very important aspect of you examination is the management of your time. The time given for the General Proficiency level of the examination is two hours.

As stated before, Question 1 is compulsory and carries more marks than the other questions. It involves some measurement and calculations and in many cases a sketch. In light of this, it is advisable to spend about 40 minutes on this question.

About 25 minutes could be spent on each of the other three. The rest of the time should be spent reading the questions carefully, making your jottings for the response and reading over your paper before handing it in to the invigilator.

I would like to encourage you to read through the entire question paper at the beginning of the examination and select the questions you are most prepared for. Of course, you must bear in mind that the selections must be from all sections of the paper.

The duration of the Basic Proficiency paper is two hours. Although there are more questions to be answered, the demand for a response is less than for the other level. About 35 minutes could be spent on question one while about 20 minutes could be used to do each of the others. The remainder of the time should be utilised as stated above.

In the next lesson, I will share with you some information on the questions.