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Preparing For

18th September 1982
Page 45
Page 45, 18th September 1982 — Preparing For
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Keywords : Standardized Tests

Organising for transport studies

SUCCESSFUL studies leading to the passing of examinations require organisation and discipline. Your study programme should be planned carefully, and your time should be effectively used. Useful thoughts or creative ideas cannot arise in other than a disciplined mind. Discipline, especially of yourself, should include the habit of cheerfully undertaking imposed tasks, the obedience to rules whether made by others or by yourself, and objectivity in approaching contentious matters.

Your "work load" will depend on your method of study and the type of course you are undertaking. But in any case it is essential to allocate time for reading on a regular basis. You will have many books to read and so a number of hours each day or week must be, to use the modern idiom, "programmed".

Later in your course your notes will have to include comparative exercises and summaries. Then early in the New Year you should begin to test yourself with past examination questions.

If you have not already done so, you should now begin to build up your own library and information bank. While you can borrow from either the college or local library there are some books which you need to have in your possession so that, as Sir Winston Churchill said: "If they cannot be your friends, let them at any rate be your acquaintances. Peer into them. Let them fall open where they will. Read on from the first sentence that arrests the eye. Then turn to another. Make a voyage of discovery, take soundings of unchartered seas."

Because of the swiftness of change in road transport and physical distribution you also need to keep appropriate press cuttings from the daily and technical press and take note of various transport developments as published. Company annual reports, such as those of the National Freight Consortium, the Transport Development-Group, TNT, the Ocean Group and Powell Duff ryn, can also be of value in keeping up to date.

You should read books describing the lives of great transport men. Learn from their example and develop your own character; adopt your own "transport heroes". For a ministerial view of things, Lord Boyd-Carpenter's recent book Way of Life (Sledgwick & Jackson, London 1980) is good value. He served as Minister of Transport & Civil Aviation 1954/5, and saw the beginning of the motorway era.

For a chief executive's point of view in bus transport, have a look at The Man Who Built London Transport, a biography of Frank Pick, by C. Barman (David & Charles, Newton Abbot 1979). For a road haulage case, study Professor Theo Barker's The Transport Contractors of Rye: John Jempson and Son (Athlone Press, London 1982).

Read some transport classics. Though Mark Twain did say "A classic is something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read," the word "classic" really means that which has worn best. The consent of the ages has marked certain books out for all time. You might begin with the four transport classics listed in appendix A.

Two recent books which have considerable importance in setting the scene for you as you begin your task are given in appendix B. As I have previously mentioned, you should refer frequently to national official published transport statistics. It is important to see road transport within the broad framework of transport as a whole; keep a note of trends and forecasts too.

At this stage you should.adopt a positive attitude to the examinations that you will be taking next year. Do not scorn them. They provide you with an incentive to learning and check on how you are getting along; and they show your lecturers or tutors where you need special attention to strengthen your weak points.

Levels and standards of examinations are usually determined by the number of hours required for study and by the rigour of the examination.

Two quite different examples illustrate this. For the test of professional competence for entry to the occupations of either road haulage or passenger transport under the European Community directive, the Department of Transport prescribes objective tests of one and a half hours for National operations in Great Britain, and an additional test of one hour for International operations.

For the C1T professional Qualifying Examination for MCIT, on the other hand, nine papers, each of three hours, have to be taken, in 27 hours of examinations.

Not less than 540 hours of directed study plus considerable reading is necessary in order to be hopeful of success. Thus, the former is simple and limited in scope; the later rigorous and far reaching.

In the final analysis, passing examinations means answering in writing the questions asked. During your course of study and general preparation you must constantly practise answering past set questions so as to build up confidence based on your learning. Most examination failures are caused by three main reasons: (i) Failure to read the examination questions correctly.

(ii) Lack of wide reading in the appropriate subjects.

(iii) Failure to read through answers at the end of the examination — remember the Examiners and Assessors can only award marks on what you have written.

So make sure you learn this vital lesson from the experience of others.

Your studies are a vital part of your self development and you should strive to cultivate longterm plans and aims backed by positive, forward-looking attitudes. Do not be parochial in your job — learn the next job above you, and know the jobs below you. Seek the wider and bigger aspects of road transport outside your own company and type of business. Be interested in policy issues and compare operating and managerial practices and styles wherever possible. And, most of all, study and experience the human relations aspects of your firm and industry. This is a key area.

Finally, in organising yourself for your studies, seek the help and advice of your family and colleagues. A quiet room in the home for study is highly desirable, while colleagues can help you master aspects of transport not directly concerned with your present job. Help them to help you by being enthusiastic and looking forward to a more exciting future.

Appendix A

1. The Principles of Transport, R. W. Faulks. Ian Allan, London 1973. 2nd edition 1977.

2. The Economics of Transport, M. R. Bonavia. First published 1936; 1960 Cambridge University Press.

3. British Transport, H. J. Dyos and D. H. Aldcroft. Leicester University Press 1969. Penguin 1974.

4. An Economic History of Transport in Britain, T. C. Barker and C. I. Savage. Hutchinson, London 1969. 3rd edition 1974.

Appendix B

1. Geography of Transport, H. Robinson and C. G. Bamford. Macdonald Evans, London 1978.

2. The Theory and Practice of

Transport, D. H. Stewart-David.

Heinemann, London 1980. Appehdix C

How to study, Harry Maddox. Pan Books (paperback) 1967, and later printings.


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