The most common way to fail a written test is not lack of knowledge. It is starting to write Question 1 the second the paper arrives, writing too much, and reaching Question 3, the one with the most points, with eight minutes left. The five minutes you spend planning are the best-paid minutes of the morning.
- 1Read every question once, to the end, before you write a word. Underline the verbs: draft, analyse, explain, list. “Analyse” with no numbers scores low; “list” with three pages scores no higher than a list.
- 2Split the time by points. Sixty minutes and 100 points: take five minutes to plan and five to check, and give each question half a minute per point. A 30-point question gets 15 minutes. Write the finishing time next to each question.
- 3For each answer, write three to five headings in the margin before the sentences. Headings are your plan and, if time runs out, they are your answer.
- 4Start with the question that carries the most points while you are fresh, unless Question 1 is very short. Nobody checks the order you answered in.
- 5Keep the last five minutes for checking: names, dates, totals, and that every question has something written under it.
Write for a tired marker. The person marking reads twenty papers in an afternoon with a list of expected points beside them. Help them find your points: a heading, then two or three short sentences, then the next heading. One idea per paragraph. Bullet points and small tables are welcome in memos, plans and analysis; they are not lazy, they are clear. Leave a line between paragraphs and write legibly; a point the marker cannot read does not exist.
When time runs out, which it will one day, do not write faster and worse. With three minutes left and a question untouched, write its headings and one line under each: “Cause: … Effect: … Action: …”. A clear skeleton earns a third to a half of the marks; a blank page earns nothing, and a half-finished paragraph on the previous question earns almost nothing extra.