2015.11.6 ec104 revision and exam tips

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Nick Zammit’s advice on final exams in Economic History Revision Plan 1) Pick a few of the topics you are most interested in from each term (you don’t need to try and cover EVERYTHING in the module as you get choice) 2) Look at the past exams and pay attention to all the questions that relate to your chosen revision topics 3) Write down bullet points for each fact or econ theory in your chosen topics 4) Memorize those bullet points 5) Read the lecture notes/seminar notes/key readings relating to those bullets 6) Do not worry about memorizing too many exact dates/numbers (have a general knowledge of when certain events happen and where certain countries stand) 7) Do not worry about proper citation on the exam (have an idea about the key authors/papers and mention them if you remember) 8) Try answering the past exam questions on your chosen topics using your bullet points and expand on each bullet point using what comes back to you from the readings and seminar discussions 9) Invent other possible wordings for questions on your topic and think how you would adjust your answers using your bullet points Exam Plan 1) Don’t panic – look at all the questions and take 5-10 mins of your total exam time to consider which questions you want to answer 2) Pick your favorite essay first 3) Write an essay plan (quickly) at the beginning if it helps you – include your main bullet points so all you need to do is form them into an essay 4) Be clear in your introduction –state your thesis and give the main points you plan to discuss (your bullets)

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Exam tips and esssays for Economics World History module. Warwick University 2015.

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Page 1: 2015.11.6 EC104 Revision and Exam Tips

Nick Zammit’s advice on final exams in Economic History Revision Plan

1) Pick a few of the topics you are most interested in from each term (you don’t need to try and cover EVERYTHING in the module as you get choice)

2) Look at the past exams and pay attention to all the questions that relate to your chosen revision topics

3) Write down bullet points for each fact or econ theory in your chosen topics

4) Memorize those bullet points 5) Read the lecture notes/seminar notes/key readings relating to those bullets

6) Do not worry about memorizing too many exact dates/numbers (have a general knowledge of when certain events happen and where certain countries stand)

7) Do not worry about proper citation on the exam (have an idea about the key authors/papers and mention them if you remember)

8) Try answering the past exam questions on your chosen topics using your bullet points and expand on each bullet point using what comes back to you from the readings and seminar discussions

9) Invent other possible wordings for questions on your topic and think how you would adjust your answers using your bullet points

Exam Plan

1) Don’t panic – look at all the questions and take 5-10 mins of your total exam time to consider which questions you want to answer

2) Pick your favorite essay first

3) Write an essay plan (quickly) at the beginning if it helps you –include your main bullet points so all you need to do is form them into an essay

4) Be clear in your introduction –state your thesis and give the main points you plan to discuss (your bullets)

5) Write each paragraph by expanding on those bullets from your memory on the slides and readings –be direct here also and link the points to your overall thesis

6) Make sure to include some econ theory in each essay –every topic had some econ theory and that will need to be discussed

7) Form a simple conclusion –don’t waste much time here trying to find the perfect wording. Your conclusion should not state anything new, just use it to say: `I have answered the question by telling you these things’.

8) Make sure to watch your time every so often (don’t get nervous about it but make sure you leave yourself fairly equal time between sections and between essays). Leave an essay without a

Page 2: 2015.11.6 EC104 Revision and Exam Tips

conclusion if you have used all your minutes but want to write more and then come back to it if you have extra time when finished the other essays!

9) Do not worry about your essay being a specific length or number of words (make sure you have covered all your key bullets from the module) 10) If you are running out of time then make sure you put down points you would have discussed if you had more time in bullets at the end of your essay!