Typical problems with answers to questions

How to Do Badly in

Examinations

A Guide

for Business,

Management and

Engineering

Students

(and others)Frank Bannister

School of Computer Science and Statistics

Trinity College, Dublin.

How to Do Badly in Examinations

A Student Guide

Table of Contents

Section Content

1 Introduction

1.1Why this booklet?

1.2Example questions

2Time Wasting Activities

2.1Writing out the question

2.2Writing out multiple choice answers

2.3Pointlessly deconstructing the question

2.4Second guessing the question

2.5Unnecessary preambles

2.5Choosing the wrong question

2.7Missing parts of the question

2.8Over Selection

2.9Irrelevance

2.10Echoing the lecturer’s irrelevant opinions

2.11Repetition

2.12Digression

2.13Over complication

2.14Valid, but non contextual, answers (not answering the question asked)

2.15Unbalanced answers

2.16Pointless definitions

3

Mark Losing Activities

3.1Re-interpreting the question

3.2Not answering multiple choice questions

3.3

Dragging in irrelevant theory

3.4Poor handwriting

3.5Poor English

3.6Padding

3.7Dragging in irrelevant information

3.8Motherhood and apple pie.

3.9Bullet points

3.10Spoofing

3.11Brain dumping

3.12Side slipping.

3.13Stating the obvious

4

Conclusion

Appendices

AA note on technical/mathematical questions

BGrading

1.Introduction

1.1Why this booklet?

This guide is the result of many years of reading examination scripts and consequent frustration with students losing marks unnecessarily. It is written for students in the hope that it will help some of you improve your performance by eliminating bad habits. Of course, if you have no idea of the answer to a question, no amount of examination technique can save you. However, I often have the feeling that students could make much more of what they do know and/or are not getting down all that they could. These notes are designed to help you avoid some of the more common pitfalls.

There are two basic types of problem:

· Actions which forego marks, i.e. actions which waste time and space on material that is not going to earn you any marks. This is the greater problem;

· Actions which actually lose marks. This is a lesser problem.

Both are covered below.

This short guide is written with essay/discursive type questions in mind. Some aspects of answering numerical and technical questions are discussed briefly in Appendix A. Appendix B contains some general guidance on how questions are graded and what examiners look for in answers. Examinations are different from assignments or essays and marking takes account of this fact. Time is limited, you are under pressure and you may not be able to get down all you know – particularly if you are a slow writer (like me).

Almost all of the problems discussed below are based on real answers received in examinations, mostly on my papers, but also on those of a few colleagues whom I asked to help me in writing this document. In the interests of decency, no real student’s words have been copied or otherwise reproduced. In all instances I have written my own version of stereotypical answers given. In almost all cases, these problems occurred more than once and some problems occurred in one third or more of scripts.

1.2Example questions

In this text, the following questions will be used to illustrate the points. Each of these is taken from a real examination paper. Don’t worry if you do not know the answers to these questions; it is not important to understanding the problems with poor answers.

Question A (from a paper on Information Systems and Technology)

It is Friday morning and you are the CEO of an electrical white goods manufacturer. The telephone rings. It is the head of Engineering who tells you that they have just discovered that one of the company’s best selling products, the MWR101 Microwave Oven, has a potentially dangerous design fault which might lead to it going on fire under certain circumstances. The product must be withdrawn/recalled immediately and it is your responsibility to make this happen.

· What information do you need immediately and why?

· What information will you need over the coming days and why?

· How much of this information can be obtained from internal systems?

· Which systems will you need to access (directly or indirectly)?

· What problems might arise in obtaining the information that you need?

Marks will be awarded for the breath and depth of insight shown in the answer. (25 marks)

Question B (from a Project Management paper)

(a)Briefly discuss the role of the following people/groups in a project:

· Project sponsor;

· Steering group;

· Project management group;

· Project champion.

(16 marks)

(b)You have been asked to write a job advertisement seeking a project manager for a major engineering project. Obviously what can be fitted into an advertisement is limited. Ignoring these limitations for the moment, draw up a preliminary note on:

· the key responsibilities and

· the personal qualities you would like to see in this person.

commenting briefly on each. It is not necessary to draft the advertisement itself. (9 marks)

Question C (from an Information Systems and Technology paper)

(a)What is meant by ‘data mining’? (5 marks)

(b) What is meant by each the following data mining terms? In each case, include a simple example to illustrate your answer.

· Decision trees;

· Clustering;

· Accuracy;

· Coverage.

(8 Marks)

(c)Discuss the rationale, potential benefits, limitations and risks of data mining. Give two examples of how companies might use it for commercial benefit. (12 Marks)

Question D (Also from an IS&T paper)

(a) Define the terms:

· critical success factor and

· key performance indicator.

(6 marks)

(b)Discuss the critical success factors for one of the following:

· Manager in a branch of a retail bank;

· Sales Manager in a fast moving consumer goods company;

· University lecturer;

· Finance Director of a large multinational.

(10 marks)

(c)What is meant by the term ‘management by exception’? What are the implications of this type of management for information systems design? (9 marks)

Question E (from a Project Management paper)

(a) What is meant by a work breakdown structure? Illustrate your answer with an example. (6 marks)

(b)What is meant by a work package? Describe the contents of a typical work package and illustrate your answer with a simple example (real or made up) of a work package. (8 marks)

(c)Write a short note on activity coding. Your note should cover the purpose of activity coding, what the code should contain and key principles in code design. Illustrate your answer with examples either of your own construction or of well known standard coding systems. (11 marks)

Question F (from an Introduction to Management and Organisation term paper)

Briefly explain the function that the ‘merchant’ fulfilled in the pre industrial economy.

A few other questions are used to illustrate points and are introduced as they are needed.

2.Time Wasting Category

All of the problems in this section relate to behaviours which waste the student’s (not to mention the examiner’s) time and consequently earn no marks. Sometimes, students do these things to get themselves started or to build their confidence. If you are doing this and you know it, fine; if not, you are wasting precious time writing stuff that is not going to do you any good.

2.1Writing out the question

This is the oldest time waster of all. Some students do this for every question. If the question is short and in sections, this is OK and may even be helpful, but sometimes students will faithfully copy out ten or more lines of question from the paper into the script. Sometimes students don’t literally re-write the question, but paraphrase it in some way.

This is not required. You can take it that the examiner knows what the question is without relying on your script. Writing out the question does not gain any marks and wastes valuable time.

2.2Writing out multiple choice answers

A comparable, and particularly pointless practice, is writing out the answers in multiple choice questions where you are simply asked for ‘a’, ‘b’, ‘c’ or ‘d’. Either your answer is right or it is not. Writing out the wrong answer is not going to earn more marks.

Incidentally, it is important when doing multiple choice questions to know whether there is negative marking or not. Negative marking deducts marks (usually half a mark) for a wrong answer. In such circumstances a blind guess is a bad idea if there are four or more options.

2.3Pointlessly deconstructing the question

There are times when it is reasonable to challenge the question. An example of this is given below. However such circumstances are rare. Most questions have been carefully vetted and do not justify this.

Pointless deconstruction occurs where a student starts questioning the question itself rather than answering it. For example, in answer to question A, a poor answer might start with something like:

“A first question is whether, in fact, the CEO would take personal responsibility for something like this. Most likely he would delegate it to the chief of operations and ask to be kept informed of progress. Most CEO’s would not get involved in operational details; their focus would be on the strategic.”

Now we could happily debate this proposition for many hours, but the point is that you are told in this question that it is your job as CEO to make this happen. Wittering on about whether this is your job or not earns no marks and wastes time. This question was not asked on a paper on organisation theory. Some examiners might actually deduct a mark here for sheer stupidity.

There is one exception to this rule. Consider this question (from a real Freshman paper). Students were asked to write a short essay on the following topic:

”Management today is more difficult than it was in the past.”

A student here might reasonably challenge this by asking what is meant by the ‘past’? Does this mean the recent past, the time since the first industrial revolution or the whole of history? The point here is that the student will need to give his or her interpretation of the question before answering it so discussing the question itself, or indeed defining what you mean by ‘past’, is not unreasonable.

2.4Second guessing the question

A variant on the above problem occurs when a student writes (in answer to question A) something like:

”An important question is how serious the problem with the microwave is? Is it a single batch or does this problem apply to all MWR101s? Does it affect other models? These are the first things the CEO needs to know.”

No (s)he does not. You are told this is a design fault; not a production fault. Therefore it will be present in all machines, not just in one batch. Here again, a pedantic examiner might even deduct marks for not being smart enough to understand what you are told. Furthermore, whether or not it affects other machines is irrelevant. You have been asked to take action on the MWR101 and musing on possible faults with other products is beside the point.

Always bear in mind the context of an examination. In this case, it is an information systems examination (see also below under valid, but non contextual answers). The examiners are not looking for insights into human resource theory or production management. They are looking at how you would use the information systems to help deal with a crisis.

2.5Unnecessary preambles

A quite common problem is taking a long time to get to the point. A simple rule for answering examination questions is cut to the chase. Pleasantries and longwinded introductions are unnecessary.

For example, in answer to question B, such an answer might start with something like:

“There are many people involved in various aspects of a project. Projects vary in complexity and the importance of roles reflects this. In considering the roles of individuals and groups in projects, it is necessary to take into account both their responsibilities and their level of authority. These too can vary with context. Understanding the roles of different people in projects is important.”

All of this might be true and one might even argue that it is vaguely relevant to the question, but it is not what is being asked and is therefore not going to earn marks. Unlike the above example, many preambles are of the motherhood and apple pie (M&A) variety (see below for more on M&A).

2.6Choosing the wrong question

This is a subtle point. Most examinations offer some degree of choice and sometimes students choose poorly. Questions may be broadly divided into two types:

· those which require specific knowledge of a field and

· those which ask the student to apply his or her broader knowledge in what may be an unfamiliar context.

Consider questions A and C (both from the same paper) above. Question A is of the latter type and looks harder, but it is actually a much lower risk option than question C. Question C is much more specific. If you do not know what ‘coverage’ means in data mining, you will get zero for that part of the question. On the other hand, most students in the module facing question A should be able to use their general knowledge of management and information systems as well as their common sense to make a fair stab at answering it and, with a reasonable general knowledge of the systems found in a company, they could even do quite well. (It would also have helped if they attended the lecture where this was discussed at length!).

In practice, most students who did question A in this examination did much better than those who tried C and really did not know all of the answers (apart from one remarkable student who got 25/25 for a textbook answer).

2.7Missing parts of the question

This is surprisingly common. When you read a question, you should underline each of the points that requires an answer. Sometimes these will be set out as bullet points. Other times they will be in the question. The third part of question C is a good example of this. In the examination several students left out a part of this question (such as the risks involved in data mining). This included students who had otherwise given good answers, suggesting that they could have answered the missing part competently as well.

Make sure you don’t miss out on marks by overlooking something to which you know the answer.

2.8Over Selection

This occurs where a student is asked to select from a number of options, but chooses to answer more than is necessary. Example D part (b) illustrates this point. Here students were asked to write about one of these four roles. A number of students chose to write about two or more.

If you do this, it is important to realise that, while an examiner will mark all of your answers, he or she will only award marks for the best one (or ones if you are asked to answer more than one part). There are no additional marks going for the other parts, no matter how good they may be. There is, therefore, only one good reason for answering more than one and that is that you are not sure which one of the four you can answer best and are therefore deliberately covering several bases (and, of course, you have the time to spare). Otherwise, this practice is a waste of time. It would be much better to try to answer the part you chose well.

This principle also applies to answering more questions than is necessary. You should only consider doing this in an examination if you really feel that you have nothing else useful to add to the other questions that you have answered. There is a rumour about a case where a maths student was given 115% on an examination once, but it is not a good idea to bet on this strategy working in most examinations.

2.9Irrelevance

Sometimes students who do not know the answer to the question hope that if they write something, anything, that they have learned on the course, that it will get them some marks. It is important to be clear that marks are not awarded for material that is not relevant. Be careful here. Students are encouraged to make connections and link ideas, but simply throwing in everything, including the kitchen sink, is at best a waste of time and you may lose marks for being wrong. In answer to question A, for example, several students wrote about critical success factors (CSFs) and job definitions whilst others expounded on Porter’s five forces model and other irrelevant theories.

When faced with a crisis like this, the last thing any CEO is likely to be concerned with is the minutiae of his job definition or his CSFs.

2.10Echoing the lecturer’s irrelevant opinions

This is rare, but sometimes happens.

A lecturer expresses some strong views on some subject in class (not unknown). A student, faced with a question in the same general area decides, instead of addressing the question, to echo the lecturer’s views back to him or her as a way of showing how closely they were paying attention in class. This may be flattering to the examiner, but currying favour in this way is not going to work (or not with me anyway).

Obviously if the lecturer’s opinions are relevant to the question, that is a different matter. However, as far as I am concerned, when marking I do not take into account whether or not a student agrees with my views or not; I am only concerned with how well they understand what they are writing about and how well they argue their case. Most lecturers will take this attitude. There are a few that may not; it is important to spot these well in advance!

Bear in mind that I am talking about opinion here – not fact.

2.11Repetition

Sometimes the same point is repeated numerous times. It is easy to repeat something once in an examination when stressed and writing fast. However, when something is repeated for the third or fourth time, it starts to read badly. It also looks as if the student has nothing else to say and that they are hoping that sheer acreage of ink will do something to improve their mark. A particularly bad case of this is when the same point is stated, then developed and redeveloped as if it were some type of musical composition complete with reprise and cadenza at the end.

Not a good idea. Get down what you know and don’t waste time telling the examiner the same thing several times.

2.12Digression

Occasionally a student will meander off the piste to give vent to his or her views on the topic. This can be entertaining to read, but needs to be apposite if it is to earn marks. Generally examiners will read such digressions with an open mind, but will not award marks unless it adds value to the answer.

2.13Over complication

This is better than answers that are too terse and, if you have nothing else to say, you might as well do this, but be aware that it has pitfalls, including hiding the trees you want the examiner to see in a wood of other material. A common form of over complication is going on far beyond the point where you have earned as many marks as you are going to get. For example, in the data mining question (C), point (b) above, an answer might be:

Decision trees are used in data mining as a way of progressively breaking down data into groups. As this happens, the number in each classification may be noted. A customer database may break down as 70% male, 30% female. The males may be divided into those that spend over €1,000 a year with us (90%) and those that do not (10%). The same subdivision for female shows that only 2% of females spend over €1,000 with us. The high spending males break-down into 77% under 30 and 23% over 30 years of age. When females are divided into high and low spending, it might be found that 80% of high spenders are repeat customers and 20% are not. Low spending females, on the other hand, might be 90% non repeating customers. A parallel analysis of high spending male customers might show that…

This answer reaches its full mark earning potential after the first five lines. This is enough to show the examiner that the student knows how a decision tree works. Given that there are only 2 marks going for this, it is not worth answering at greater length. Use common sense when it comes to length.

This type of problem is sometimes caused by anxiety. A student is so relieved that she knows the answer to a question that the answer pours out in a flood onto the script and, as a result, she loses track of how much time she is spending on what is a minor part of a part of a question. Train yourself to be self disciplined and avoid this type of non productive writing.

2.14Valid, but non contextual, answers (not answering the question asked)

This is where the answer is, strictly speaking, correct, but not in the context of the examination. You might get away with this or you might not, depending on the circumstances and how carefully the examiner has phrased the question. This has been known to happen, for example, when an acronym or abbreviation was used in the question and misinterpreted by the student. Where the question is clearly ambiguous, the student cannot be penalised for taking an unintended, but valid, interpretation. However often an incorrect interpretation is taken by accident.

For example in answering question C above, many students gave good definitions and examples of decision trees, but not as used in data mining. The question specifically says ‘in the context of data mining’, but this did not prevent many students describing more generalised or different types of decision tree. In this instance, some marks will be given for knowing what a decision tree is, but marks will be foregone or even lost for seemingly not understanding their use in data mining.

2.15Unbalanced answers

This is a specific problem that occurs when there are multiple parts in a question. Here, it is important to be aware of the marks going for each section. It is common to find good, but far too lengthy answers to a part of a question with 3 or 4 marks attached, whist a part with 10 marks gets about the same number of lines. Be sensible about this, particularly for sections which carry few marks. Often these require a simple definition or just a few sentences to answer correctly.

2.16Pointless definitions

Examination questions often contain technical terms or expressions (e.g. profit pool, CRM system, intermediate governance, free float, etc.). Sometimes you are asked to explain or define these; somes you are not. In the latter case, there are no marks going for providing a gratuitous definition, all you are doing is wasting your precious time. If a question asks, for example “Discuss how the structure of the profit pool has changed in the airline industry in the past 20 years.”, it is not necessary to say what a profit pool is, any more than it is necessary to define what an airline is. You can take it as read.

3.Mark losing activities

3.1Re-interpreting the question

This is a cardinal sin. Sometime students seem deliberately to misinterpret the question to suit themselves (this is different from accidental misinterpretation which also occurs and ‘side slipping’ which is discussed below). Examiners dislike this practice and are likely to punish it with negative marking. Consider question E which was from a mid-year examination in which students were given about 10 lines to answer. The question asks what is/are the function(s) of merchants?. Many students chose to answer this by discussing the social status of merchants. A typical answer (in my words, but a compilation of points actually made by different students) ran along the following lines:

Merchants emerged in the USA, the UK, Japan and Germany. In the USA the merchant was highly regarded and the more wealth that he accumulated the higher his status. Many merchants demonstrated their status by building large properties and endowing public works. In Japan the status of the merchant was low. Merchants were at the bottom of the social order behind samurai and even peasants. The latter were at least seen as creating something; merchants were viewed as necessary parasites. Etc.

Now as a piece of historical/sociological analysis this answer is fine and quite accurate, even showing a degree of insight (inasmuch as that can be done in 10 lines). But it will get zero because it tells the examiner nothing about what merchants actually did (apart from building big houses) for the economy. This is likely to lose marks as it suggests to the examiner that the student has either not read the question or does not know the answer and is hoping to get away with answering something else.

3.2Not answering multiple choice questions

As noted above, it is important to know (and you may have to ask the lecturer) whether multiple choice questions are negatively marked (i.e. marks are deducted for incorrect answers). Often they are not, in which case one might as well have a go if you do not know the answer. If there are four choices, you have a 0.25 probability of being right. Actually, you often have a better chance because you may know that at least one of the choices is not right, thus improving the chances of guessing correctly.

3.3Dragging in irrelevant theory

This is closely related to, but not quite the same things as, bringing in irrelevant material. Here a student brings in a piece of theory which has nothing to do with the question or problem and tries to make the answer fit into the theory. A good example of this was a student who tried to fit the answer to question A into Michael Porter’s five forces model. For readers not familiar with this, in its original version, this theory suggests that all businesses are subject to five competitive forces including traditional competitors, suppliers and customers.

From an examiner’s perspective, it is encouraging to see that the student understands Porter’s ideas. Furthermore, examiners (or at least I) will normally be open minded about any attempt to bring a piece of theory to bear on a question or problem. However, to gain credit, this has to be convincing. Where the model or theory is clearly not relevant, attempting to superimpose it on the problem (or shoehorn the problem in the theory) is only going to lose marks because it suggests to the reader that the student either does not understand the question, or the theory, or both.

It is worth recalling that an examination is a spot check. It is not possible to examine everything on a course, so the premise is that if the student knows all or most of the course, there will be several questions that (s)he can attempt. If marks were to be given for writing in answers to questions not asked, there would be little point in setting questions at all. We might as well ask one question: ‘Write out everything you know about this subject in three hours’!

3.4Poor handwriting

There is probably little that most of us can do about this by the time we are 18, but it is worth some effort to learn to be as clear as possible. An examiner with 150 scripts to mark does not have time for deciphering poor writing and may well skip something if he/she cannot read it after a minute or two. If it contains an important point you will lose marks. Occasionally I will take a minute or two to try to decipher a sentence (and believe me it can take several minutes in some extreme cases), but most of the time, two attempts to read it is as much as I have time for. If writing is really appalling, marks may be lost because answers are actually misread.

Marks are not awarded for sheer volume, only for added value.

3.5Poor English

One of the frustrating things for an examiner is seeing a student who seems to know his or her stuff flounder in the attempt to convey what (s)he knows in an examination. A common sight in scripts is to see several lines and sometimes even a whole page crossed out by the student. Students trip over themselves because they have not practiced the skill of communicating succinctly when they write.

It is therefore worthwhile practicing writing clear, easy to understand English. Remember the old saying, ‘I would have written something shorter if I had had more time’. Writing good English when time is short and subject to stress in an examination is hard, but in some ways it is like playing a musical instrument on stage. A professional artist will know the music backwards and will be able to perform it without thinking about the notes or the chords (s)he is about to play. (S)he will not be trying to remember them as (s)he performs, because it would impair his/her ability to interpret the music and communicate with listeners. So it is with sharp English. If you have practiced beforehand, it is easier to write it while under pressure.

3.6Padding

This is where additional, non value adding material is put in between useful information. It also applies to the use of superfluous adjectives and, in particular, adverbs. Below is an example in answer to question E part (a). The actual answer here is fine, indeed every sentence is correct, but the answer is surrounded by so much irrelevant material that it may actually lose marks simply because the examiner cannot find the required information amidst all the verbiage. Here the relevant part of the answer is underlined and the padding is plain text. Remember, the question here is ‘What is a work breakdown structure? Give an example’

Work breakdown structures are important. They are used in all projects including civil, mechanical and electrical engineering projects as well as software projects. Work breakdown structures decompose the work to be done in a project into successively smaller components. The result is a hierarchical structure. This is usually done by the project manager, but may be done by sub managers or engineers. Being able to prepare a work breakdown is an important project management skill and needs experience. Specialist engineers may be required to complete a WBS where specialised work is involved. The work breakdown structure enables the project manager to estimate more accurately and later on helps in controlling the project. A typical breakdown may start with a project being divided into phases, stages, activities and tasks. The lowest level in the breakdown is usually a task though occasionally task may be further subdivided into sub-task or even steps. The number of tasks in a project can be very large. The absence of a work breakdown structure can cause problems in a project as it may not be possible to estimate accurately or assign work effectively. If the work breakdown structure is not complete in some way, then the project is almost certain to overrun. One project manager was quoted as saying that a good work breakdown structure is of ‘monumental importance’. A proper work breakdown structure is normally coded with a simple numeric coding system. The work breakdown structure may also be reflected in a Gantt chart. A Gantt chart is a sort of horizontal bar chart used for showing the timing and duration of the various stages of a project.

There is not a single sentence in the above that is not true. However only about one in four of the sentences relates to the question and will consequently earn any marks. If the question had been a slightly different one, e.g. : “Discuss work breakdown structures and why they are important”, then all of the above would be relevant.

In other words, focus on answering what the question asks first. Then, if you have time to spare, elaborate and go for a bonus mark or two.

3.7Dragging in irrelevant information

This is a similar, but slightly different problem to dragging in irrelevant theory. There are no marks going for deliberately putting in material that is not relevant and it can actually lose you marks for two reasons. First because it wastes time that could be spent on relevant material and secondly because, in certain circumstances, it may suggest that you do not understand what the question is about. For example, when asked to give the rationale for data mining in question C part (c), a student might write.

Data mining is one of a number of techniques used in information systems. These techniques include OLAP, executive information systems, decision support systems and business intelligence. Data mining is considered to be one type of decision support system.

While the last sentence here might, with attitude, be considered relevant, the first two are nothing to do with the question at all.

3.8Motherhood and apple pie

This is where an answer is made up of generalities with which nobody could disagree, but which do not tell the reader anything. For example, in answer to the question:

What is meant by the term ‘data mining’?

An M&A answer might be:

Data mining is an important technique used in computer systems. Companies use data mining to mine data. Many companies today use data mining for a variety of applications.

This is all true, but none of it adds any value whatsoever. If you really have nothing to say, look for places where you can add value elsewhere in the script before resorting to M&A.

3.19Bullet points

If you have an awful lot of them to get down, bullet points may be the only way to answer certain types of question, but frequently the problem for the examiner is that it is not clear that you understand what a bullet point implies. Consider the following answer to a question from a project management paper which asked for the Marketing Manger’s perspective on a project. One student wrote:

· Timing

Timing is certainly of concern to the Marketing Manager, but why? Although the question does not explicitly state ‘why?’ it is obvious from the context that further explanation is called for. Furthermore, the assumption must be, if you do not spell out what you understanding by ‘timing’, that it is just a word that you have memorised. In this instance, a much better answer would be:

· Timing. There are several reasons for this. If a new product is being developed, the Marketing Manager will want to know time to market. Promotional campaigns need to be planned, advertisements developed and slots booked at fairs or exhibitions. He may also be concerned about competing products, changes in technology or public taste or fashion not to mention the possible impact of project delays on his campaign schedule.

3.10Stating the obvious

The problem of motherhood and apple pie is discussed above.  Stating the obvious is making statement or giving self evident definitions.  An amusing example comes from an answer to a question on a physics paper which ran:

"Assume that the mass of the earth, the speed of light and G [the gravitational constant] are constant."

This will actually lose marks because each of these is constant by definition and saying let's assume that they are constant suggests that the student does not know this, thus displaying ignorance.   In a similar vein students often write things like:

“The project manager is important in civil engineering projects (implying that (s)he is not in some other types of project?)”.

Accounting systems are key to any business.  

Apart from asking what is meant by 'key' here, this is such a self evident statement that it is not going to earn any marks (not at third level anyway, it might in the Junior Cert.) and may well lose marks if an examiner was in a really pedantic mood.

3.11Brain dumping

This is where a student writes down just about everything that (s)he knows about a subject whether it is relevant to the question or not.  Usually this has to be done by bending and/or stretching the question beyond its breaking point in order to fit in some predetermined bit of knowledge although it is not unknown for students to ignore the question entirely and ramble on about what they can recall, ignoring what was actually asked. The danger in this is putting down things that are wrong and being penalised as a result. Avoid this practice if you can.

3.12Side slipping

This is a deliberate attempt to either fool or extract unjustified leniency from an examiner.  It is done by answering a slightly different question to the one that was asked in the hope that the examiner will think that you have misread the question and will mark you as if you were answering a this question. This is a different problem from accidentally answering the wrong question. If an examiner thinks you have simply misread the question, she may not award any marks. If she thinks that you are trying to con her, she may deduct them.

Be aware that, as pointed out above, examiners do not do give marks for answers to another question.  There are no marks going for non relevance to the question on the paper.  For example, in the data mining question, a student might try to answer the question as if it were about On-Line Analytical Processing.  OLAP is a (simple) form of data mining and might be given a sentence or two in this context, but to make it the core of the answer will earn few marks.

4Conclusion

There are many ways to squander marks in an examination. However, you can only squander marks if you have the wherewithal to earn them in the first place. Over the years I have taken many students who thought that they had answered a question well through their scripts. Occasionally, they have simply given a wrong answer. Much more often, they realise, when they read their answers in the cold light of day, how little information they have conveyed. Examiners can only mark you on what you write. Time in an examination is precious. It is worth practicing how to write answers effectively before you sit that paper. Trying it for the first time (or the first time since last year) is likely to yield a less effective result. Examiners prefer good scripts (believe me), so make the most of what you have got.

APPENDIX 1: Some Problems with Technical Questions

Examinations which require mathematical answers have some things in common with those that require essay type answers, but the rules of the game are rather different. It is easy to make mathematical mistakes when rushed and stressed. Most examiners understand this (we have been there, done that) and tend to be understanding of minor mathematical slips (this is not true in some places, so be careful). Clearly, you will not get full marks if you do this, but provided the method is right, you will get most of the marks going. That said, there are some caveats:

· Where possible, make sure that your answer looks sensible. Sometimes answers come back which are clearly ludicrous (like a rate of return of 2500% or a cost per widget of €15.56 million).

· Where proof of something is required, there is no point in writing things like “with a few simple manipulations it follows that” and then skipping 10 lines of mathematics. This is one of the oldest tricks in the repertoire and it doesn’t fool anybody.

· If you get stuck, move on to another question and come back to the problematic one later. At all costs avoid the ‘I’ll give this just five minutes more’ syndrome. Next thing, you have wasted half an hour on this part of this question and you are still stuck.

· It is a good idea in derivations to show all the steps, even where you are capable of skipping an interim line or two. Sometimes, an examiner may suspect that memory rather than understanding is what is at work in a script. Always show that you understand the logic of what you are doing.

Appendix BGrading

University examinations are currently graded from first class honours to F2. If you were to read through the criteria that different departments, schools and universities apply in determining grades, you would be surprised how consistent they on (on paper anyway, what happens in practice may be a different matter).

The following short outlines are distilled from several documents that I have collected over the years and set out what is expected at each level. Note that grade boundaries may be slightly different for Erasmus and Socrates students.

First class (70+)

A first class answer will demonstrate that the student has a thorough grasp of the subject. This is not a question of having memorised facts and figures, but of showing deep understanding. This can often be demonstrated through use of examples. Sometimes, for example, where a definition or calculation is required, it is easy to get this 100% correct. This is much more difficult where an essay type question is concerned (see above). Experienced examiners can recognised first class work fairly quickly.

Other aspects of a first class answer are that the student demonstrates critical thinking, insight and creativity. In the context of business and engineering essay type questions, this may include the ability to relate theory to practice, to challenge theory by argument and/or example and generally to present a logical and well argued line of thought. The student will show good judgement, good analytical thinking and the ability to convert concepts into, or relate them to, practical situations. (S)he can, if necessary, take a position and argue it well. All of this is hard enough to do when writing an assignment; it really is challenging in a three hour examination. However it can and has been done many times.

Answer will be fluent and well written. Nearly all key points are covered.

Where computational questions are asked, this will have the correct method and the correct answer although the latter is not essential if the slip is a minor one and the answer is otherwise top class.

Upper Second Class (60-69)

Like the first class answer, a 2.1 answer will show good critical and analytical thinking and a firm grasp of the subject matter in question. Answers and ideas will be presented logically and coherently. In a way, the difference between a 2.1 and a first is that the latter demonstrates either originality, great depth of understanding and/or the ability to think about the subject and marshal/organise one’s thoughts. In a 2.1 answer, a student will demonstrate not only that (s)he has read widely and has a good understanding of the subject, but also that (s)he can synthesise various perspectives and compare and contrast these if appropriate. For questions that involve aspects of management, an answer in this category should show awareness of the subtleties and practical issues and problems in managerial decision making and behaviour. Nearly all key points are covered.

For computational questions, this will have the correct method and should have the correct answer, although there may be minor mathematical errors.

Lower Second Class (50-59)

A 2.2 is a solid answer. The student clearly knows the basics, has understood the core material in the lectures and has read beyond the lecture material. Typically this type of answer is good on facts, can present arguments well, but may not show much evidence of synthesis or critical thinking. Generally the answer given does not go much beyond the lecture notes and has limited added value. However it is free from major misunderstandings or errors. It clearly demonstrates more than a photographic memory (see below). Unlike in a 2.1, some misunderstandings may be expressed, provided the thrust is correct. Most, though not all, key points are covered.

Writing is reasonably good and the answer quite well organised.

For computational questions, the method should be basically right even if there are errors in the mathematics.

Third Class (40-49)

A grade at this level is awarded where a student demonstrates a basic knowledge of the facts, but shows little understanding of the subject. Sometimes, students will simply reproduce the lecture slides or notes more or less verbatim. On one famous occasion one student had all the points in a bullet list from one of my lectures, including the spelling mistake in the original slide. Major points may be overlooked.

This grade of answer shows no critical though, little by way of argument and little by way of a wider knowledge of the topic. In particular, although the theory may be known and there is some evidence of conceptual understanding, there is no evidence that the student knows how to connect these with practice.

Answers may be poorly written or somewhat incoherent, but are still understandable.

For computational questions, the method should be basically right even if there are errors in the mathematics.

Fail (below 40)

Students who fail provide poor answers with little factual content and/or serious factual errors. Answers show little understanding of the subject, a poor grasp of important concepts and little of no knowledge or theory or how it connects to practice.

For computational questions, the method is wrong whether or not the calculations are right. Answers may be hard to follow, incoherent or badly written.

An F2 is awarded for a really bad script.

_________________________________________________________________________________________How not to answer examination questions

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© Frank Bannister 2008 DRAFT