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Dear Mr Ken,
Thank you for responding to my previous post “Should I take APM”. Eventually I decided to take up APM. I’ve finished the entire OT lectures (Thank you for the lectures) and made my own notes. In addition, I have looked up various exam techniques from Youtube and watched through the APM webinars as well as the Topic Explainer videos.
Right now, I’m practising past exam papers and I realized what you meant by having a commercial sense. The gap between textbook knowledge and the answers required for the exam is significant. I have done the MJ25 and SD24 papers and I often stumble at answering questions.
The biggest difficulty I have had so far, is trying to learn from the model answers and the examiner’s report. What I have noticed is that the model answers does have a nice structure, but not in a structure that will make it easier for the marker’s to mark, but also not in a clear manner for me to understand if they have made their point and are ready to move on to the next. The answers are often bunched up together.
The marking guidelines are also quite liberal. Compared to AAA or SBR, the marking guidelines are more detailed. It tells you the points that you have to make to score a mark. But not in APM, it generally states 5 relevant points. When it comes to debriefing my own answers, or trying to deconstruct the model answers, I am finding it a little difficult to know what should be my main takeaway.
So here are some questions
1) What should I be learning from the model answers? How much deviation is allowed from my answers to the model answers? Is it true that as long as I make a relevant point, I should be awarded marks? Could there be lots of alternative answers that are not included in the model answers?
2) After practicing exam questions, should I repeat the same question? Or should I attempt a different question?
3) How should I approach the technical articles. I have found them to be too lengthy. I am considering to use this time to just do more practice questions.
1 You should certainly read the model answers, but these will be much more detailed than you could ever achieve in an exam. If you make a relevant point it will receive appropriate marks so if you really think something is worth saying then say it but make sure you don’t begin to make rambling irrelevant points. Stick to the question data and requirements.
A structure that can work in many questions is: survey the data making calculation as necessary; analyse the data; draw conclusions as required.
2 Yes you can repeat questions but leave it a while so that you have to rediscover it. There’s no point in doing it within a day or so.
3 Yes, technical articles are often long. Perhaps dip in when you feel you need more material on a topic.
Thank you for the advice.
Just to reword my question #2. Assuming that I have completed the available past year papers on the Practice Platform, should I attempt different questions (such as from the exam kits or Studyhub) or should I be doing the same questions again?
I think this could be a preference thing but I’d still like to hear your thoughts from an experienced tutor. By attempting different questions I could really learn the many ways to approach a question. But there could be a risk that I forget what I have learned after weeks.
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