1.

0 Examination Rubrics

Students fail in the examination due to many reasons.for instant students mental
approach towards study, how much a student is particular about his study,
attendance in lectures, method of preparing for exam, exam taking tactics and
strategies, etc (Pollitt, et al, 1985). Sometimes a student studies a lot but he gets less
mark in exam because he may not be aware of test taking strategies which tells him
how to express his learning in best way in exam or reproduce his learning in a good
way in exam to convince the examiner to give him more marks.

Exam taking tactics and strategies plays a vital role. Failure, just like abandoning
one’s studies ,is never due to a single cause but to an accumulation of reasons
(Pollitt, et al, 1985). It may be due to:-

i. Internal factors

a. educational project not properly thought out, hesitation between several study
choices.

b. lack of commitment and motivation, lack of maturity, low inclination for effort, lack
of self-confidence, fear of exams.

c. problems in learning how to be a student.

d. insufficient intellectual skills - school baggage, prerequisites, working methods

(taking notes, listening, memorizing, exam preparation).

e. inadequate personal skills - time management, concentration, emotional control.

f. Inadequate preparation.

g. Inappropriate Study Habits.

h. Subject -concept difficulties- if the subject is overly hard the student may fail to
grasp henceforth failing.

i. Process difficulties where a particular operation or sequence of operations

demands manipulation of data at a level beyond the recall of specific learned
items.
j. Question or stimulus difficulties where the guidance given to candidates in
directing their attention to a particular response or the support given in terms of
additional information or data is either minimal or non-specific.

ii. External factors

a. studying conditions, supervision by the professors or lecturers.

b. relevance of study plans, overloaded study programmes, ambiguous
requirements by the professors.

c. exam selectiveness.

d. cultural or geographical gap.

e. personal or financial problems.

1.2 Directional Words

The question or stimulus difficulty arises from the candidates failure to interpret what
directional words - guide words/examination rubrics are testing (Pollitt, et al, 1985).
Some of the commonly used examination rubrics are discussed here under:

i. Briefly outline

a. Briefly means shortly/in a few sentences

b. Outline means - a description of the main features without going into details.

i. Compare - means identify the similarities and differences and comment on them.

ii. Contrast - compare certain things by discussion of their main differences.

iii. Critically examine - critically means to weigh up/ look for faults.

iv. Examine means - to consider carefully/to investigate.

v. Define - state accurately the main characteristics of.

vi. Describe - give a step-by-step account.

vii. Discuss - identify both sides of a debate and support your point of view with
reasons.

viii. Distinguish - to make a distinction by separating.

ix. Explain- to make plain or understandable how something works.

x. Features - a distinct part of something.

xi. Form- to place in order/ to arrange.

xii. Functions - the approved duties of a person or organization

xiii. Relationship- the particular way in which one thing is thought of as being
connected or linked with another.

xiv. Relative - the extent or degree

xv. Role - the job or function a person or organization carries out.

1.3 How to pass examinations

Making good and helpful notes, having a direction of study, method of learning,
memorizing, concentration, confidence and study related extra-curricular activities
are the factors which make student succeedin exam .Examination test’s only ability
and if ones fail,he is judged to be weak and unsuccessful. There are a number of
factors that a student can implement so as to pass the examination.

According to (www.studyandexam.com, 2010), for you to pass your examination

you should do the following:

i. Have effective and directed study

study is not just reading, it is reading for learning. A student should know how to
study effectively, how to study more in little time. Study should be directed. Directed
study means that you study according to the nature of exam and according to the
way it should be learnt.
This can be done by:

a. Building up a set of clear condensed revision notes, right from the start.

b. Practice expressing psychological ideas.

c. Use memory aids

d. Self-test regularly.

e. Plan your revision ahead.

f. Know what to expect on exam day.

ii. Take study breaks often, and get plenty of sleep

It’s very easy to get super stressed out about studying, especially when you are
studying for hours on end. But remember that you are not cramming for this exam
(Herophilus, 2012). Give your brain a break! Get out and watch a movie, catch up on
TV shows in between study sessions, go get some food with friends, etc. You will
often come back to studying feeling re-motivated. Seriously, aim to take a small
break every 3-4 hours, even if it is just to take a walk somewhere (Herophilus, 2012).
Sleep is also your friend. Do not miss out on a good night's sleep, every night. Plenty
of students stay up until 3 or 4am studying, and then wake up at 8am to try and keep
studying (Herophilus, 2012).

iii. Preparation for exam

student should know how to make preparation for exam. Preparation for exam is not
a task of day or two, it needs daily study.

a. Spend the days leading up to the exam wisely.

I would highly recommend starting to wake up at the same time you will wake up on
exam day in the 2 weeks leading up to the exam. In the last week you should not be
learning too much new material, only reviewing things you have forgotten or fine-
tuning what you already know (Herophilus, 2012).

iv. Making good notes

making useful notes plays a vital role for success in exam. It helps one to learn easily
and with perfection. Notes are used for revision in futures for exam.

iv. Test taking strategies

test taking strategies show you how to present your answer on answer sheet in
befitting way so that the checker give you more marks for your answers. Test taking
strategies tells you all the tactics for exam like time management for each question
and how to tackle different question.

vi. Learn to cope with exam stress

In examinations, people tend to be fairly highly aroused, and this often has positive
effects. They think more clearly and quickly, and write more fluently. If you feel a little
anxious before an examination, do not worry about it. Remember, it may improve
your performance (Dutta, 2009).

vii. Revise your notes

students must read thoroughly their study notes several times to possess an
adequate grasp on theories, principles and applications of a subject. Practice in
writing essays is essential, especially for students who have not written essays for a
considerable time. Examiners recognize that essays written under hurried
circumstances and stress need not be grammatically perfect, but they do demand
certain minimum standards and will penalize students whose written presentation is
not up to a scratch.

viii. Revise/Analyze past exams question papers

analysis of past examination papers provides a valuable insight into how the
examiners feel about the subject. Often, the same questions reappear year after
year, albeit written slightly differently. While it is obviously useful to predict questions,
students should always remember that no question could ever be guaranteed to
come up. Also, syllabuses and examiners change, each examiner has personal
preferences regarding the content and style of questions that need to be asked.

ix. Read the questions carefully

Read the questions carefully and ensure you fully understand what each question is
asking. It is good idea to underline keywords and to break the question down into
separate component parts.

k. Time management is crucial while writing exam

the first few minutes of the time allocated to each answer should be used for jotting
down the main points of the answer in an essay plan. Thereafter the following rules
should be observed:

a. The time allowed for each answer (a three-hour paper demanding five answers
permits 36 minutes per question) must be adhered to. As soon as period is up
the student should move on to the next question.

b. Students should leave a space at the end of the question in order to be able to
come back to the question if they have any spare time at the end of the
examination.

c. Easy questions should be answered first. This increases the student's

confidence, assists concentration and establishes rhythm for tackling the rest of
the paper. However, students should not spend too much time on easy
questions and objective type questions.