Exam Advice from Tony Whelan, Quantitative Study Adviser for the TLC

In the third and final guest post from LSE’s Teaching and Learning Centre this term, Tony Whelan, quantitative study adviser, will share some of his top exam tips. He is one of three of the TLC’s learning developers who will be sharing some helpful advice on exam preparation. 

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“Quantitative” exams have distinctive features that make them different from essay-based exams (though some quantitative exams include essay questions). The following tips focus on the non-essay aspects, but there are good ideas about essay-intensive subjects that in fact apply to all exams.

1. Make a plan quite early on of the topics that you want to revise for each exam, and roughly how much time to spend on them each week before the exam. Like all plans, it will need revision (say every two or three weeks) as you think over what you have achieved, and what areas you do (or don’t) need to emphasise.

2. Practice a lot, using course materials and past exams: in quantitative subjects there are lots of “small” things – algebraic manipulation, differentiation, integration, interpreting indifference curves, how to use dummy variables, etc .  – that you want to be second nature when it comes to using them to tackle “big” things.

3. Use past exam papers for specific topics on which you need practice, to identify subject areas that need more work, and in other ways (see links to the presentation and recording of March’s Quantitative exam preparation event. One special skill this can give you is being able to recognise, at the start of an exam, what each question wants, whether you can provide it, and hence what questions to attempt in which order (see the link to Notes on using past exam papers). 

The Teaching and Learning Centre’s Learning World has many more ideas and tips for exam preparation and learning development in general. And its Learning development programme this term includes several events on last minute revision and stress management. 

For more information, assistance, tips and advice, visit the Teaching and Learning Centre in KSW 5.07, email tlc@lse.ac.uk, or contact Reception at 020 7852 3627.