Patricia - help if DS runs out of time

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Bucks Mum
Posts: 51
Joined: Mon Feb 18, 2008 2:34 pm

Patricia - help if DS runs out of time

Post by Bucks Mum »

Patricia

I have just been re-reading your sticky on exam technique. If a child finds they have to guess the last questions because they are running out of time you say

'If you are running out of time you MUST guess ALL remaining answers. Guess in a straight line, not randomly.'

I'm not sure what this means. Do you mean tick all the first answers (or all second etc) for example rather than just randomly pick out answers?

Or am I being thick again?

BM
patricia
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Joined: Mon Jan 30, 2006 5:07 pm

Post by patricia »

Dear Bucks Mum

Yes, answer all first line, or all second line etc. This way they are 'bound' to get some right. This is only a last resort. Of course, I would prefer that the child finishes with time to check.

Patricia
Y
Posts: 463
Joined: Mon Mar 12, 2007 12:49 pm

Post by Y »

Not sure that probability theory entirely supports that (Guest55?), but it's got to be quicker to mark everything in a straight line rather than jumping about.
Marylou
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Joined: Sat Feb 25, 2006 2:21 am

Post by Marylou »

I think the idea is that, assuming the correct answers are randomly distributed among the letters, then you have a better chance of getting at least some of them right if you select in a straight line than if you just randomly mark anything. I suppose the thing to be careful of when pressed for time is that you mark the correct number of answers for each question. e.g. for compound words you have to select two answers.

We used to do the lottery each week and I had an ongoing argument with DH based on a similar principle- that it's better to choose the same lottery numbers every time rather than randomly selecting them. My theory was that if you have one set of numbers remaining constant whilst another set is always changing, the chances of the two coinciding at some point is likely to be higher. He said that was tosh and that there was no increased likelihood. He's the maths expert and we never won the big one, so perhaps my theory was flawed... :?
Marylou
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