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Taking and Passing Transport Examinations

5th May 1961, Page 99
5th May 1961
Page 99
Page 100
Page 99, 5th May 1961 — Taking and Passing Transport Examinations
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Some Practical, Common-sense Advice for Those Now or in The Future Attempting to Gain Transport Industry Qualifications by A Special Correspondent

DURING the course of the next few days, some 2,000 employees of transport undertakings in many parts of the world will be sitting either for the examinations of the Institute of Transport, or for the Royal Society of Arts examinations in road transport subjects. It is the aim of this article to offer these candidates some practical and common-sense advice which they can take with them into the examination room—and which. if followed, could well make just that difference between ' an honours pass and an ordinary pass, or between a border-line pass and a narrow failure.

Although no amount of "examination strategy" can make up for a lack of knowledge of the subject to be taken, attention to a few simple rules in the approach to an examination and in attempting the papers is certainly worth vital marks to a candidate. It is for this reason that it is so important to take into account, as part of the final revision, all those little factors which may stand between the candidate's knowledge of the subject and the answers he writes down.

Overcoming Tension Right at the outset, a candidate's ability to overcome the tension of the occasion is essential if he is to do justice to the efforts which he has made in preparing himself for the examination. Even if no promotion or monetary awards are at stake to make the occasion an even snore formidable one, there may yet be the memory of the late journey home from evening classes, or the cost of tuition, or of work carried out under difficult circumstances at home. These and many other factors will often •give rise to anxiety and nervous strain, yet it must be remembered that ability to overcome this ordeal is an essential part of an examination. The person who fails because the occasion is too much for him cannot rate highly his chances of succeeding in the more exacting tasks which a senior appointment would bring.

Before turning to the problems to be faced inside the examination room, a warning must be given not to overdo the final revision. The majority of candidates will, of course, want to work fairly steadily right up to the last minute. but the work of the final few days prior to the examination should be restricted to reading through notes and re-reading written work. Certainly no attempt should he made, at this stage, to absOrb any new knowledge. Above all, candidates should remember that taking an examination is an exhausting process and that if they can start the papers with a fresh, clear mind, .they will avoid the feeling of indifference which has been known to overtake candidates during the last hour of an examination— often with disastrous consequences.

Best Application

Just as the best equipped and most courageous army is unlikely to succeed unless its efforts are well directed to the appropriate task, so the examination candidate, however knowledgeable and confident, will find himself unable to measure up to the occasion unless his skill and ability arc applied to the best possible advantage.

The immediate problem in the examination room is to deal sensibly with the question paper, and here is essentially a time to keep cool. Candidates would do well to avoid upsetting their composure by a hasty scanning of the paper. It is much wiser deliberately to sit back and to read through the paper slowly and carefully.

Particular note must be taken of the instructions on the top of the paper about the number of questions to be answered. It by no means follows, because "six questions to be attempted" has been the requirement in previous years, that the same will apply in this instance. Looking through some of the Institute of Transport papers over the years, changes in the instructions can certainly be noticed— although admittedly these are not frequent.

Read More Carefully

Nevertheless, to take an example, in one paper candidates were asked to answer all the 10 questions set, against a requirement of six out of 10 questions in the previous year. However, whatever, the examination, the first step to success can be taken during the initial reading of the paper, and candidates would do well to keep firmly in mind that, year after year, in the reports of the examining bodies, there is a strong plea that the questions should he read more carefully and more accurately.

Whilst reading slowly through the questions, some candidates may like to tick off those which they feel they will probably attempt. Others may prefer to select just one question at a time. The eltoiee of method here is individual. It is vital that candidates should be quite certain they have read the question correctly, and they might well find it worth while to read it not just once but two or three times, weighing each word carefully. Then, in the full understanding of what the question is about and the kind of answer that is called for, the ' writing can begin—possibly a good five or more minutes after the start of the examination.

The candidate will now be considering two further points—the time factor and the content of his answer. After allowing for five or more minutes to read the paper through at the start, and 10 minutes at the end of the examination to study what has been written, the remainder of the time can be allocated appropriately. Certainly, no candidate should fail to attempt the full number of questions asked for, as an answer of even a few words might earn just those vital extra marks which could tip the scales in his favour.

Keep to the Subject

It hardly needs to be said that time must not be spent in writing about something for which the examiner has not asked, as this will certainly earn no extra marks and may well incur the examiner's displeasure and the loss of the odd mark or two sometimes allocated for presentation and neatness.

Candidates may sometimes find that the time allowed is insufficient to enable them to set down all they know about the question asked. Their task must then be to select the most relevant, pertinent and cogent points, to assemble them in logical order, to preface them by a good opening paragraph and to terminate them by a brief and careful summing up.

Certainly, some well-chosen appropriate remarks at the beginning of an answer will impress the examiner and favourably dispose him towards what is to follow.

Any spare minutes can be spent most profitably in dealing fully with a least satisfactory answer, or, if that is not possible, in simply writing more clearly and in reading through more slowly all that has been written.

In their answers, candidates might well avoid facetious or controversial comments. They should remember that the examiner will probably he working under pressure to complete the marking, and that a candidate's humour at the time of the examination may not appear quite so apt to an examiner some weeks later in the small hours of the morning. Additionally. candidates should realize that examiners may well have their own prejudices, and it is therefore probably prudent not to be dogmatic about controversial matters, however much they might feel inclined to let themselves go. It is wiser to stick simply to the arguments for and against the question under consideration.

Order of Importance

If the question seems merely to call for a list of points, these should be assembled in order of importance with an appropriate introduction and conclusion.

An apt quotation will, of course, always add value to an answer but, except in the law subjects, it is doubtful whether a candidate would be wise to try to memorize more than a small number of definitions. In dealing with the law papers, candidates should bear in mind that it is of little or no value to cite a case without being able to show clearly its relevance to the answer. Certainly, no marks would be lost by a candidate who knows the appropriate case but cannot recall its name; and it is therefore much better to keep in mind the fact of law rather than a series of cases or Sections of an Act.

In essence, the candidate should aim to be brief and yet complete; stimulating and yet moderate in tone; critical and yet non-controversial.

Matters of handwriting, neatness, spelling and punctuation—all figure prominently in the comments made by examiners, although their importance must, of course, be kept in perspective. Except in the Subject of English language, it seems unlikely that examiners would place any great emphasis on them in

marking. But it cannot be too highly stressed that an examiner cannot mark what he cannot read, and cases are even known where an examiner has returned. unmarked, to an examining body, a script with the single word " unreadable" written at the top.

A well-written, neat, correctly punctuated piece of work is bound to impress an examiner and may in fact cause an unduly favourable eye to be cast on that particular candidate's answers. On the other hand, the candidate who, for example, cannot even spell correctly words printed in the question paper (another frequent criticism in examiners' reports) is not likely to be regarded as a person suitakle to secure the particular qualification being attempted.

The final task is to read over what has been written. No matter how carefully the answers have been dealt with, slips can so easily arise under the pressure of the occasion. The inadvertent omission of the word " not " is likely to be vital, but other less vital errors may leave the examiner with an overall impression of a slip-shod and untidy mind.

Not Funny for Candidate One or two examples of such carelessness which have actually occurred in candidates' scripts and which, incidentally, have a humorous twist, are selected from various examinations' reports. One candidate, describing the equipment carried by motor vehicles, referred to the necessity of having a wench in the back of every lorry! Another wrote "English women want to look attractive like American women by wearing nothing but nylon stockings," and a third wrote "from

1920_ to 1930 motor-buses went forward by leaps and bounds."

Candidates are strongly advised to keep abreast of current developments in the industry by reading the technical transport journals. Transport is a dynamic industry, constantly changing, continually improving, and no textbook and no correspondence course can be sufficiently up to date to reflect all the many problems with which the industry is faced and which it continues to surmount. Over the past few months for instance, we have witnessed the White Paper on Transport, the Merchandise licensing case, and the report of the Jack Committee on the Rural Bus, any one of which might well be seized upon by an examiner to form the basis of a question.

Always Hope

In conclusion, candidates, having done their best in difficult circumstances, have then the added worry of a lengthy wait for results. The fact must be accepted that little comfort can be derived from the statistics published by the examining bodies. For example, in the Graduateship Examination of the Institute of Transport, some 60 per cent. of candidates are unsuccessful, and in one or two subjects of the Royal Society of Arts examinations in Road Transport subjects, the picture is not much brighter. In such circumstances, it might be wise to hope for the best but prepare for the worst. There are, however, certainly worse things in life than failing an examination, and although "hope deferred maketh the heart sick," there is nearly always the consolation that one might be able to turn failure into triumph on some future occasion.


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