New Star Software Collection/NSS_Collection.iso/3-251 oo2 english program/1.ima/RR.ZIP/PEXAMINA.SEQ

Text File | 1991-06-30 | 5.9 KB | 110 lines

Most examinations can be classified in two ways: subjective
exams and objective exams. Subjective exams require long,
written answers and often ask you to explain what you think
about something. The Writing exam is a subjective one. Objective
exams, however, require no writing and no explanations of what
you think about something. All your exams, with the exception of
Writing and Oral, are objective exams. You do not have to write
anything. You decide which of the suggested answers, A, B, C, D
or E is the best. An objective exam is objective in two ways:
first, each student has an equal chance: he just chooses the
best answers from a list of alternatives. He has no chance to
express his own ideas or thoughts. Second, his teacher cannot
affect the correction in any way. In fact, all your exams,
except Writing and Oral, are marked by computer.

An objective exam requires you to recognise things you have
learned; it doesn't require you to reproduce them.
Unfortunately, many people think that an objective exam is not
as effective as a subjective one at measuring your ability to
understand information or use a language.

The most important factor in all objective exams is reading
comprehension. You have to read and follow instructions exactly
and to read each question carefully and completely. A
misunderstanding of either instructions or questions will mean a
bad exam result.

There are several techniques you can use to help yourself
towards success in the Reading exam. Prepare yourself physically
and mentally. An exam is not just a test of your knowledge of
something. It also tests your mental and physical strength. Some
students collapse under the shadow of exams. Fear makes them
nervous, or they suddenly become ill. This may be a way of
avoiding responsibility for not having prepared properly. To
avoid this problem allow yourself
enough time to review all the materials that may be examined.
This may take you several weeks and cannot be done the night
before the exam. Be confident that you have worked to the best
of your ability and that you will do your best during the exam.
A happy, relaxed and confident mind is likely to achieve
positive results.

Like your mind, your body also needs to be in a confident and
positive state. In the evening before the exam, relax and go to
bed early. Avoid having a late evening out with your friends and
avoid staying up all night doing a final review. Neither of
these actions will help you. Instead, they will cause strain and
fatigue and may lead to bad results in your exam. The Reading
exam is a test of your ability to extract and understand
information from specific texts in a limited time. The two
skills that will help you most are the ones you have been
practising for the last 32 weeks in your Reading lessons:
skimming and scanning. As soon as you are told to begin the
Reading exam, scan the pages for the instruction which says "The
questions on the following passage can be answered by skimming
and scanning." When you find the passage, do not read it, but go
straight to the questions. Skim the questions, but don't read
the answers (a, b, c, d, e). Next, skim the passage and look for
the information that is relevant to the questions. As it is a
special passage for skimming and scanning, many of the questions
will be about names (starting with a capital letter, such as
Riyadh, India, Ali, Honda etc.) or numbers. Check that the
information you have found relates to the question and then fill
the oval of the correct answer.

The other two passages can be answered in a similar way.
However, as they are not planned only for skimming and scanning,
you will have to read the passages more carefully. Even so, you
should skim the questions (ignore the answers) first. Then, skim
the passage and locate some of the answers as well as the parts
of the passage which deal with the questions. Once a possible
answer is found, check it against the five suggested answers
under the question and fill in the oval of the best one.

When you have difficulties in deciding which the best answer is,
or when more than one answer seems possible, use the
"elimination technique." Take each answer in turn and prove it
wrong. The one you cannot prove wrong must be the right answer.
Alternatively, you can locate the sentences that are relevant to
the question and then find the answer that has the closest
meaning.

Remember, while skimming and scanning will help you to find
information quickly, it will not help you to understand it. The
third skill the examination is testing is comprehension or
understanding. Your ability to understand the information you
have located depends on several main factors: how much reading
in English you have done, how much vocabulary you have usefully
acquired and on how much English grammar you can both understand
and use. If you are familiar with the vocabulary in the passage
and understand the main meanings of the sentences and
paragraphs, you will be able to find the best answers easily.
Sometimes you will need to think carefully about two answers
that are very close in meaning. As long as you use the meaning
that is in the text and choose the answer that fits best, you
should be successful.

Before the exam, make certain that you have reviewed the
relevant material, that you are relaxed and prepared both
mentally and physically and that you know how to approach the
texts and questions you are about to read. The skills being
tested are: skimming, scanning and comprehension. In order to
make the test accurate and reliable, the questions are all
objective, the length of passages is carefully controlled and
the time you are allowed (40 minutes) means you have to work
fast; that is, you must use your ability to skim and scan. In
addition, you must use your abilities with vocabulary and
grammar to help you demonstrate your accurate understanding of
the information you have found.