D39TA: Construction Technology 3 (Undergraduate) Aug 2012
Exam Preparation
This note is intended to help structure and provide a framework for your revision for
the exam. The undernoted topic labels can be used as core headline areas at the
centre of your reading, revision and preparation. There are of course many
surrounding and related issues that can be embraced in the preparation. It is the
level of commitment, extent of preparation and application to the module that will
largely determine performance in the exam.
The better exam solutions tend to demonstrate a sound understanding of the
subject matter, generally through diversity and depth of related reading undertaken.
The core and supplementary reading indicated in the module provides guidance in
this. A greater grasp of the subject matter is usually apparent in discursive and
balanced solutions, which addresses the question well. Top quality students, will
show a deep theoretical understanding and practically apply the understanding in
writing with supporting sketches.
Basic answers tend to be those that suggest a more limited range of reading has
been undertaken, with solutions which often appear superficial. You are required to
support or base your answers on reasoned argument.
Good answers should take an analytical approach by highlighting the benefits and
challenges of the construction method, offering clear client advice where it is
required by the question. Solutions that are less than satisfactory show neither
knowledge nor understanding of the construction method, or fail to address the
question posed.
Clearly annotated sketches will be awarded with marks, students should ensure that
each component of their sketches are clearly labelled, any specification details that
can be provided as examples of the components will be positively marked. Good
answers should provide fully annotated sketches with a clear description of the
construction process that the sketch refers to.
You will be expected to answer all three exam questions in 2 Hours, all questions
are compulsory. Please note that this is a change from the previous exam format
where three exam questions were chosen from five.
Understand…
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Issues concerning off site construction, basement design and construction,
foundation systems and foundation engineering reports.
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Practical Tips for Exams
Here is a list of practical tips for you to use, the list offers some guidance for you in
planning your exam strategy, it offers tips of things that you can do during the exam,
the list aims to offer practical ways to help you manage your exam experience and
improve your exam technique, the list is not exhaustive and is only mean to act as a
guidance note, you should read the list carefully and plan your exam strategy to suit
your individual .
Read the Questions and Choose you Exam Questions Carefully
 Always read all of the questions properly.
 Ensure that you are clear about the question posed and that you can answer
the specific requirements of the question.
 Students that attempt questions that they have not read and understood
properly or have a poor level of subject knowledge about can provide poor
quality responses as they responses are often not directed at the question
set.
Plan your exam time properly
 Every minute counts!
 Students often under perform in exams as they do not manage their time
well and can often run out of time. This may mean that whole exam
questions are not attempted or responses to exam questions are incomplete
and the opportunity to gain large numbers of marks can be missed.
 Ensure that you spend the appropriate amount of time answering the
required number of questions required for the exam.
 Research shows that the easiest exam marks to obtain are the marks
awarded initially, to gain more marks the quality of your answer must
increase, this is achieved through more detailed discussion of the key points
and /or a wider number of discussion points.
 In simple terms avoid spending all your time answering one question really
well at the detriment to the other questions that you need to answer.
 Plan you time, a good example would be if the exam requires you to answer
three questions, allow yourself approximately the same amount of time for
each question.
 A good idea can be to complete in your opinion your best question first, i.e.
the one you have the most subject knowledge about. This will help you over
come any nervousness that you are feeling and help you to focus your mind
and increase your confidence levels. As opposed to attempting a question
that you may have less subject knowledge or understanding of and feeling
unsure or unclear about how to approach the question posed.
Plan your written response
 Don’t waste time copying out the question posed, use you exam paper as a
reference point for the question, a good idea could be to write a very short
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plan of your response, bullet point the key issues you are going to discuss and
then cross them off as you complete each one, this can act as an aid to
jogging your memory and ensure that you do not miss out any important
discussion points.
Always leave space between each of your exam question responses, this
means that during the exam if you remember a new point you can go back
easily to your response and add in new points or ideas.
More marks are awarded when the response to the exam question shows the
application of the subject knowledge to the questioned posed i.e. refer you
answer to the scenario provided in the question and make direct links to it.
Exam answers that provide generic lists of information from the course notes
that do not apply directly to the questions posed will gain limited marks.
At this stage in your studies you should be able to discuss the subject
material and apply it to the exact question set.
Please avoid bullet point lists in your exam responses, at this level of study
more marks are awarded for discussion demonstrated through clear
comprehension and full sentences. Only resort to bullet points if you are
running out of time, as anything that you write will be positively marked if it
is applicable to the exam question posed.
Check your responses
 Use all the time allocated to you, if you have time, read through and review
your answers, at this point you may remember something that is relevant
that you want to add to your answer to enhance your over all response to the
question.
Finally
GOOD LUCK!
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