Tips to do better in the exam-given by Mr.Pinto (mainly for 1st year students)

After a 'wonderful' performance..:P....by the 1st year students in the Optional English/British Literature paper, Mr.Pinto gave us a few tips in class to improve our performance in future exams...:).Here they are and I hope they are of some use to all of you!

Cheerz!

P.S.these are all Mr.Pinto's tips and are NOT a figment of my imagination..:)

TIPS:-

A two/three-hour written examination does not test all that you know. It's primary purpose is to test the comprehension of classroom teaching. It wants to evaluate to what extent can the student express what s/he has comprehended. Hence, in an written examination, answer the questions and not the write what you know about a particular area. Formal collegiate examinations are never about testing the overall ability or knowledge of the learner. To that extent the examinations are clearly influenced by behavioral psychology of Skinner and company.

1.Please draw margins in the 5 minutes before the exam. Preferably, 1cm for the left margin,half a centimetre at the top and quarter centimetre each on the right and bottom sides respectively. You may also draw lines after each answer.

2.Begin or end your answers with the question.

3.Quote from the text, on the text. Also, you may argue for/against the author's views and ideas.

4.Write the corresponding question number in the margin (not in the main page) while answering the question and not in serial number order as they WILL result in a loss of marks as such answers do not correspond to the respective question.

5.If you exceed the word limit by 10-15%, marks will be deducted.Therefore, adhere to the word limit.

6.Understand the text and works similar to the text. Formulate ideas and support or argue them.

7.Quote ONLY if you are sure. If you are not sure, do not use the '...'/ "..." symbols.

8.Use single quotes for the titles of poems and essays.In case of the name of a book, novel, play etc., underline the title of the text.

9.Do not quote your teachers in exams. While quoting from somewhere else, preferably written or published sources-site the source.

10.Ensure that you are grammatically correct. A few examples:-

(a)Writing 'English' with a small 'e' tends to bug teachers...:) as it reflects the lack of basic grammar of the language.

(b)Writing 'I' with a small 'i' is NOT acceptable.

11.You cannot use short forms like 'don't', coz, &, and can't. Please use full forms like do not, because, and, and cannot.

Referance:-

Pinto,Anil.Class lecture. Christ university.Bangalore,India.17 Feb 2009