Guide to Survivng

Guide to surviving the A200 test testings can be daunting but with the right preparation you can remove some(prenominal) of the stress. Start by thinking approximately the purpose of the exam and the skills and acquaintance it result test. The A200 exam tests your knowledge of the module and the skills you gain learnt during your study. You collect already safe these in your assignments. Part 1 of the Exam tests your abilityiness to try on a source. You did this in TMA 01 and TMA 03 and in the activities in the module blocks.Part 2 tests your ability write an essay in response to a interrogate. You discombobulate practiced this in TMA 02 to TMA 05. Part 3 asks you to answer a question about one of the course themes. You practised this in TMA 06. The plumping difference amongst the exam and the TMA is the clip constraint you have to answer questions that you have not seen beforehand in erad conditions. You can prepargon for this by revising the skills and topics tha t you have studied in A200 and by familiarising yourself with the sort of questions that will come up.Exam preparation Familiarise yourself with the exam study the Specimen Exam Paper and the approach pathd Notification of Texts and Topics so that you know how the exam written report will be set out and the sorts of questions that will come up. believe about the format of the paper and the kinds of essays you are required to write. The A200 Exam has trinity parts. Each part requires you to write a slightly different typesetters case of answer in response to a question. For Part 1 you have to answer a question based on a source.Part 2 requires you to write a traditional essay in response to a question on one of the blocks and Part 3 asks you to write an essay that considers the course themes over two or more blocks of the module. Use the Advance Notification to focus your revision. This tells you which blocks will be examined in Parts 1 and 2. It also gives you a hint of the top ic that will come up in relation to the module themes in Part 3. Revise. There are no hard and fast rules on how to do this. You carry to find out out what works for you. There are revision tips on the Skills for OU poll website http//www. pen. ac. uk/skillsforstudy/. call up to refresh your understanding of skills such as how to analyse a source and how to construct an demarcation with evidence, as well as the themes and topics you have studied. Practice writing by hand under a time constraint. If you use computers a lot you whitethorn not be apply to writing by hand. Seeing how much you can write in an hour will help you to pace yourself on the day. concoct the bimestrial answers are not necessarily the best. Focused essays that clearly address the question, unheeding of length, usually get the best marks.Also remember that writing an essay on a computer, when you can draft and redraft, is not the same process as writing a one-off exam answer. You are advised, therefore, to practice answering exam questions by hand, in the allotted time, to ensure you can develop a good structure, organise your material and develop a coherent argument in such circumstances On the day Dont panic. Take time to read through the paper. Follow the rubric. Read the book of instructions on the front of the exam paper and make sure you borrow them.Remember you have to answer one question from apiece of the three parts. Remember also that there should be no significant overlap in the content of your different answers. You can answer questions in any order. You might want to start with the question you are most confident with. This may help you to get going. Answer the question set. Dont be tempted to include irrelevant material or write an answer to a question you had hoped would have come up. Structure your answer carefully. Take time to write a plan. Make sure your answer has an introduction, middle and a conclusion.Construct an argument with evidence, dont simply narr ate or describe a series of events or, in the case of Part 1, recount the contents of the document. Pull out the significance of the points you make and show their relevance to the question. bring off your time effectively. Dont spend too long on one question and risk running out of time on others. You will need to spend about an hour on each question. Answer all the questions. A weak answer to a question will gain more marks than no answer at all. If you run out of time make a brief strike out of the key points you wanted to include. In summaryExams are an essential aspect of leg level study. They test your knowledge of the module and the skills you have learnt throughout your study. Remember you have already practiced these skills in your assignments. In your TMAs you will have learnt how to construct an argument with evidence, evaluate sources and understand and engage with historical debates. The big difference in the exam is the time constraint. Familiarising yourself with the layout of the paper, revising topics and reminding yourself of the skills you need to demonstrate will help you to respond better to unseen questions in timed conditions.