| Addressing
exam weaknesses
 |
| Grade
11 students of Cambridge High School in St. James give a rendition of 'My Help'
during their school-leaving exercise at the institution on Thursday, July 5. -
Photo by Mark Titus | In
the previous lesson, I started to highlight some areas of weaknesses in what students
did in the recent examinations. I
mentioned that there were students who did not answer questions from ALL sections
of the paper, as was required. In
addition, many did not seem to understand the key verbs of the question, so were
unable to give satisfactory answers. I will continue to share other concerns in
today's lesson. I trust that you will use these to guide you along the right path
when you do your examinations next May. Looking
at the geography question paper, you would have observed that the questions are
divided into sections and sub-sections. In
addition, a certain number of marks are allocated to each section and/or sub-section.
Use
question layout There
are two things I would like to comment on here. First of all, the layout of the
question must be used when writing the answer. DO
NOT do continuous writing as you would for an English essay. Generally speaking,
the question incorporates a mix of topics from the same section of the syllabus,
so keep the sections and sub-sections separate. Second,
as you read each part of the question, pay attention to the marks allocated to
it. Use these, along with the key verbs mentioned in the last lesson, as guidelines
to determine how much you need to write for your answer. Students,
if you see one mark or two marks for a section, you may just be required to write
one simple sentence for your response. It
would be futile for you to be writing a whole paragraph or several paragraphs
for those one or two marks. Use
geographical jargon Could
you please pay attention to your use of language? Remember,
you are writing a geography examination and as such, you MUST use geographical
terms and expressions. Always remember that each subject has its own jargon. It
is my intention to discuss the question paper, hopefully, in its entirety. Before
I begin to discuss aspects of question one, I wish to bring to your attention
the fact that the questions are all structured on a three-profile dimension as
follows: Profile
1 - Practical skills
Profile
2 - Knowledge and comprehension
Profile
3 - Use of knowledge The
mark allocations for each profile varies on paper two. Question one, the compulsory
map reading question, has most marks allocated to profile one, that is, practical
skills. In fact, 50 per cent of the total marks for the question go to this profile.
This is in contrast to the other questions two to 10, where profile three has
the highest marks. From
experience, I know many students have a fear for the map reading question. There
is definitely no need for this. First of all, see the question as an 'open-book
test'. Why
do I say that, you may ask? Simply because the question is based on the given
map extract. The instruction at the beginning of the question is clear. It states:
'Study
the extract and then answer the following questions'. Grasp
concepts You
do just that. Second, once you have grasped all the concepts for the practical
skills and can apply them properly to arrive at the right answers, you would have
already scored 50 per cent of the marks as I mentioned before. Question
one carries the most marks in the two-and-a-half-hour examination. Manage your
time properly so you can spend as much as 45 minutes on this question. Aim
at scoring the maximum marks for it. This is possible. The
concepts tested in question one in the May/June examination this year include:
- Six-figure
grid reference
- Measure
distance
- Calculate
gradient
- Give
direction in terms of compass bearings
- Describe
vegetation
- Describe
landform
I
will focus on these in the next lesson. Marjorie
Henry is a vice-principal at Glenmuir High School and is head of the Geography
Department. She teaches the subject at the CSEC Level. | 
