Exam question techniques
On the iMedia exam there is always a couple of questions worth between 6 and 12 marks each (out of a total of 60). These questions follow a similar format and there is a method or approach you can use to answer them that will help you get good marks for the question.
The question format is:
An image of a pre production document for you to look at,a nd then the question itself, eg:
- Discuss the suitability of this storyboard / script / mind map / moodboard / visualisation diagram and how it could be improved? with
- or How suitable is this particular pre production document for its stated purpose, and what improvements would you suggest?
The way to structure your answer is to look at the document and state:
- What you would expect to see for the pre-production document
- What expected content has been included
- What content has been done well
- What expected content has been missed out
- What content has been done badly
- How it could be improved (add in the missed bits and fix the bad content)
- Draw a conclusion on its overall suitabilty
How to build this answer - using the mind map above.
1) Think about the expected content
This is what should be there. There should be a main idea, nodes, sub nodes, lines joining them together, a logical structure (so subnodes come off the most relevant node, similar ideas grouped together). Write this down as you first sentence."In a mind map I would expect to see the main topic in the center with nodes joined to it by lines. Some of these nodes will have subnodes connected to them. The subnodes should all be related to the node."
2) a) Compare what is there to the expected content
Write it down... "Looking at this mind map the author has included ... a main idea (petshop website), some connecting lines to the nodes (dogs, accessories, design), and two subnodes (colours, logo )"
b)State what has been done well.
"The mind map is generally well laid out, and most of the content is relevant and well organised"
3) a) Identify what is missing
"However, they have not included enough sub nodes for example colour doesn't have any specific colours, and they could have included design subnodes for navigation, pages, font choices, user interaction"
b) Identify what has been done less well
"They have also includes a node that doesn't fit with the theme (Car) , and isn't connected. They have also mispelled accessories." (You are fairly unlikely to get a spelling error to comment on but you never know)
4 Identify Improvements (pull the points from 3 together)
"To improve they could include the things they have missed i.e. sub nodes such as red, green, blue for colours mentioned above, they could include additional nodes for naviagtion,pages, fonts, choices, user interaction to give the site designer more ideas and structure for the website, and they could remove the car node as it is not relevant, renamed so it is clearer what it means (collections service) or be connected and given have subnodes that make it more obvious what it is for"
5) Conclude
"So overall I think the mind map is partially suitable as it includes some good ideas and would let the designer start to design the site but it is more unsuitable due to the missing nodes and subnodes I discussed earlier, and the inclusion of the irrelevant "car" node."
This approach work for all the different pre-production documents.