I have been doing some research into why people fail multiple choice exams when my knowledge of them would make me assume they would pass.
The first issue is knowing your subject and the second biggest issue is the strategies used to take the exam. There is no substitute for knowing the subject fully but when faced with a question that has no correct answer or many correct answers when the paper is looking for just one correct answer, what do you do?
I’m beginning to notice a trend and I think you could all do better in the area of Exam Strategy.
If you take multiple choice tests as part of your career, such as teaching or computing, you will almost certainly do well or very well in such tests when the questions are ambiguous.
However, if you have never been exposed to or are rusty at this type of test, then you will probably do less well or always get the answer wrong.
Even people who have passed the exam have lost marks answering ambiguous questions incorrectly, when I’m sure they know the answer and have just applied poor Exam Strategy.
Below are two education based websites where there are pages dedicated to the subject so please read them and understand the task you have.
http://www.uwec.edu/geography/ivogeler/multiple.htm
http://www.uleth.ca/edu/runte/tests/take/mc/how.html
The reason for this message is that the RSGB has made a shift in their question pool to a question style of most correct from one correct. The questions seem to have a ambiguity factor. I have seen this type of question in exams I have taken in the past. As a club we will be taking this up with the RSGB but it is not going to change overnight and we need to get our current trainees through the exams – so learn Exam Strategy now!
It will give you the two to three marks you might need to pass. Remember, there are only two marks that matter – PASS or FAIL. One mark over the bar mean you get a new license, many over the bar just inflates the ego.
As part of future revision sessions we will discuss and work on Exam Strategy.