BBB tutorial SIX:

8 September Glasgow Caledonian University

Snippets from discussions

Here are the discussion notes - but I have to admit that the graphics may still be a bit rough!
Some revision documents were presented on the following topics:-

Learning & Memory

Brain function and disease

What we really concentrated on, however, was ways of optimising revision effort and tactics which might help during the exam itself.

1. Optimising revision

Remember that in part 2 of exam, you only have to answer three questions out of nine. In effect, this means that you stand a good chance of being prepared if you only revise four out of the six course books. You could concentrate on the four which interest you most - but a better strategy might be to ignore the two books which you find most difficult; of course, it is likely that these two approaches might amount to the same thing!
Don't ignore the two books altogether, it might be helpful to at least be aware of their key aspects (e.g. for Part 1 of exam) and they might make for good bedtime reading (if you find them really boring they could help you sleep!) - but don't waste time on them.
For Part 1, try out some old exam papers - or the specimen paper which you received earlier in the course. The CMAs can also be good practice, as the format of Part 1 is just like a CMA.
Likewise, for the essay questions in Part 2, look at the questions in old papers. We'll be doing that in these final tutorials in September and October.

2. Exam tactics/techniques

Your attention is drawn to the advice offered during my "Exam lecture" at Summer School.
During this tutorial we tried to put some of this into action with respect to Part 1 of the exam. We worked through an old exam paper, managing to keep to schedule and complete part 1 within the time allocated.

Emphasis was placed on my perception of the optimal time rationing for the exam, as follows:-

Take about 10 minutes at start of exam to "compose yourself", taking a quick look at Part 2 and deciding of which essays to write.
Then do Part 1 first. A dozen questions re. books 1 and 2 and another dozen on the remaining books (approx.) - so 24 questions in all; take no more than 2 minutes per question (preferably less) and you should finish Part 1 within the first hour of the exam.
So, you now have two hours left. Allocate 30 minutes for each essay and you'll be left with a spare half-hour to go back over you answers and finish them off or polish then up!
For each essay, the 30 minutes could be used as: 10 minutes brainstorming and planning plus 20 minutes writing the essay itself. Remember to brainstorm and plan on paper and don't cross his rough work out - you could pick up a few extra marks here!

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