1.  Personal Insights; Questions & Answers: Mentors  Before the Exam: Revision Strategies  What type of learner are you?  In the Exam:  What to do first  Type of Questions  Analysing Questions  Time Allocation  Review  Being prepared – overcoming nerves

2.  Discuss with another student: In what ways has your past approach to revision and your actual strategies helped or “hindered” your exam success?  Q & A with mentors

3.  20% of what we read  30% of what we hear  40% of what we see  50% of what we say  60% of what we do  90% of what we read, hear, see, say and do  Implications for revision?  (Flanagan 1997, cited in Cottrell, 2003 p 254)

5.  Your understanding of key concepts and theories  Your ability to apply knowledge  Your understanding of the requirements of the exam question  Your ability to be critical and analytical  Your ability to present a supported argument With these objectives in mind…

6.  Set up a conducive work station: comfortable, well equipped  Plot dates: be sure of time and place of each exam  Draw up a revision timetable: more general to more focused  Organise notes: lectures, tuts, assignments…Choose systems  Themes e.g. main ideas; concepts; topics  Use colours for similar (e.g.) topics  Reduce – notes to phrases to key words; cue cards; colours/highlight/etc  Link similar ideas, etc…use mind maps  Night before exam, revise mind maps and cue cards!!!  Prioritise: main concepts and theories – practical implications  Identify gaps: turn headings into questions – can you answer them?  Revisit course outline: basis for content to be assessed  Consult past exams: how are they usually formatted – typical Qs?

7.  Reduce your notes to make a set of revision notes; use your own words to summarise & represent content in a new way.  ReflectAnalyse Evaluate  Create concept maps, diagrams, use colour, post-it notes  Look for connections – between & within topics, real examples  Use mnemonics/flash cards/cue cards to assist with specifics  Work with others – discuss, teach, test  Rehearse responding to questions  Orally & in writing  With and without notes  Analyse your responses

8.  Are you a visual learner?  Do you prefer to be verbal and talk about ideas?  Are you more active – you like to do/write/etc?  Do you prefer to be reflective and think?  Are you more sensing – concrete examples/facts?  Do you learn creatively/intuitively?  Do you learn best in detail and in order i.e. sequentially?  Do you like the big picture first i.e. you are global?

9.  Don’t panic…You DO know the answers!  How long is the exam…2 hours? 3 hours?  Use the Reading Time wisely  make decisions…make a plan  Questions  How many?  What type?  What are they worth?  Approx time allocation for each?  Where to start? Easiest? More heavily weighted?

10.  Multiple Choice  Read carefully  Not always ‘C’  Does the answer read grammatically?  Take note of particular words e.g. ‘not’  How many marks for the question?  If there are 5 marks, make sure there is scope for 5 ‘ticks’ from the marker.  What is the format of the answer?  Is it a long or short answer? ‘Briefly explain…Argue with evidence’  Allocate time according to the mark

11.  Content words:  Background, topic, scope  Directive words:  What to do, how to answer  Scope:  The boundaries of the question  Content words tell you WHAT area to write about  Directives tell you HOW to answer  Scope tells you WHICH aspects to include

12.  Accounting:  Define the term “an asset” (2 marks)  Finance:  Explain the relationship between the price of a debenture and its rate of return (4 marks)  Business law:  Compare and contrast a contractual and non- contractual promise (4 marks)  Management:  Outline the purpose of an organisational chart (3 marks)

13.  Accounting:  Define the term “an asset” (2 marks)  Finance:  Explain the relationship between the price of a debenture and its rate of return (4 marks)  Business law:  Compare and contrast a contractual and non-contractual promise (4 marks)  Management:  Outline the purpose of an organisational chart (3 marks)

14.  Discuss the conditions under which cash accounting provides useful financial information  Underlying questions:  What is cash accounting?  What is it used for?  In what conditions is it limited in its usefulness?  In what conditions does it give valuable information? – what characterises this situation? Expectations of Answers:  the question is fully and relevantly answered  the answer shows how key concepts apply  The answer is logical and concise

15. INTRODUCTION Establishing sentence including Point of view. Cash accounting provides useful financial information only under restrictive conditions. ARGUMENT What (definition) Pure cash accounting maintains records of an entities cash flow. It ignores all liabilities and recognises only one asset – cash. Modified cash accounting methods keep the daily records on a cash basis, but augment the end-of period results for a few significant non-cash items such as inventories or equipment. What (explanation) The main aim of accounting is to provide financial information for use in making economic decisions. The accountant normally presents this information in terms of an entity’s financial position and changes therein as represented by assets, liabilities and owner’s equity

16. Why (implications of the facts) When non-cash assets and liabilities are a significant part of an entity’s operation, then the cash accounting method will not provide the information needed for economic decisions Why (implications of the facts) It follows that the cash accounting method will provide useful financial information when an entity’s operations are conducted mainly in cash terms, with relatively small or constant carry-overs of inventory and equipment from one period to the next. CONCLUSION (restates argument given what has been presented) Thus, under such conditions, cash accounting is an effective means of input information in economic decisions.

17.  Ensure  A clear point is presented  The content answers all parts of the question  The ideas are organised logically with appropriate use of signal words and phrases  Both ‘what’ and ‘why’ are explained  Terminology is used and spelled correctly  If you finish early, go back and critique all your answers

18.  The better your revision – the less nervous you will be!  Find out as much as you can about the exam format beforehand  Be sure about WHEN and WHERE…if needed, go to the venue, do a ‘dry run’…better to be early than late  Ensure you have everything you need: ample pens/pencils/sharpeners/calculators/water/gum/etc  No last minute ‘cramming’…you will only panic  Final review of cue cards…Eat…Sleep…Relax

19.  I know what is expected of me in exams  I know what topics will be covered and how they relate to each other  I can anticipate the kinds of questions on each topic  I have devised a personally effective revision timetable  I approach exams as an opportunity to demonstrate my knowledge ability to apply that knowledge

20. professionslearning.centre@adelaide.edu.au Isabella Slevin isabella.slevin@adelaide.edu.au