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Missing out Qs and making marks on the answer sheet

Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2015 1:48 pm
by MrsGrylls
I'm hoping some of the CEM experts can help me out with this. My DC is struggling with the two step mathematical problems in the test papers they're doing (amongst other things). Their tutor has said that in the real test, in a specific section, they should leave any questions they're struggling with and come back to them once they've done the ones that they can do.

My understanding of what I've read on this forum is that it's best not to leave any blanks, guess anything you don't know/can't do and that it's highly unlikely there will be any time to come back and re-try any questions because of the tight time constraints. My DC is also a prime candidate for getting themselves in a right old muddle if they start leaving any blanks on the answer paper :) . Before I go back and query this with the tutor, I'd appreciate any advice from anyone in the know. Would advising my DC as follows make sense?

- If you come across a Q you can't do, make a guess and mark your guessed answer on the answer sheet
- Make a mark on the question paper (e.g. ring the question) so you know this is one that you need to re-visit if you have time once you've answered anything else

My only other query would be what would happen if they put a pencil ring or other mark around the question number on the answer paper - would that ruin it's "readability" by computer - this would obviously make it easier to know which Qs need to be re-looked at and stop the potential for changing another answer by mistake but I don't want to suggest this if it's going to muck up the answer paper/be against the rules.

Am I overthinking this a bit :oops:

Thanks very much!

Re: Missing out Qs and making marks on the answer sheet

Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2015 2:13 pm
by Marylou
MrsGrylls wrote: My understanding of what I've read on this forum is that it's best not to leave any blanks, guess anything you don't know/can't do and that it's highly unlikely there will be any time to come back and re-try any questions because of the tight time constraints.
This is absolutely correct and is what I always advise.
MrsGrylls wrote:My DC is also a prime candidate for getting themselves in a right old muddle if they start leaving any blanks on the answer paper :)
My DD did precisely this with the comprehension section. Making sure there's a mark against every question helps to avoid it.
MrsGrylls wrote: - If you come across a Q you can't do, make a guess and mark your guessed answer on the answer sheet
- Make a mark on the question paper (e.g. ring the question) so you know this is one that you need to re-visit if you have time once you've answered anything else
Yes, this makes sense.
MrsGrylls wrote: My only other query would be what would happen if they put a pencil ring or other mark around the question number on the answer paper - would that ruin it's "readability" by computer - this would obviously make it easier to know which Qs need to be re-looked at and stop the potential for changing another answer by mistake but I don't want to suggest this if it's going to muck up the answer paper/be against the rules.
I would advise against this as there might not be time to rub out the marking, and the additional marking might cause the answer to be disqualified altogether. In practice, there is unlikely to be any time to go back and correct answers so it's best to have something in there that at least might stand a chance of being correct.

HTH.

Re: Missing out Qs and making marks on the answer sheet

Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2015 2:16 pm
by MrsGrylls
Thank you so much Marylou that does help