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Hi Jon,
I’m not sure I can add much to what’s already been said, but thought I’d have a go!
I only had one month to prepare for the exam since I only decided to do it at the last minute (and was working full-time, doing the final course for my OU International Studies degree and volunteering 2-3 times a week), but still did OK. My main focus was section 3 because I hadn’t studied science in about 10 years and had more recent experience writing essays and studying both humanities and social sciences. However I’ve grouped my advice by section.
Section 1:
As has already been said, this is difficult to prepare for, but it helps if you are widely read – newspapers, novels, plays and poetry. I’m afraid that and having a look at the sample and practice questions are as much as I can recommend for this section!
Section 2:
Practice writing practice essays if you don’t have recent experience. I think given the short amount of time that you need to have a framework in mind before going in (I chose intro, 3 points in 3 paragraphs and a conclusion) and don’t spend longer than 5 minutes on planning per essay. There are a variety of approaches, but I found it easiest to write an essay on the themes of the quotes provided and didn’t refer to any of the quotes directly in my essays.
Section 3:
It is a test of reasoning and not knowledge, and all the information you need to answer a question is provided (at least that’s what I found in September), but a familiarity with the concepts and ideas (and having done practice questions in the subjects) definitely helps with speed (which is vital because time can be tight). I bought A-level revision books for biology, chemistry & physics, but only actually finished the chemistry one (and only did a very quick run-through of the others) and found that enough.
For all three sections timing is important – know how much time you have to do each 10 questions or so in the multiple choice (since I think micromanaging by question is difficult and takes time by itself) – in section 3 I found the questions took longer as I moved further through the paper. Even if you aren’t 100% sure of the answer but have to move on I'd recommend that you put your best guess on the answer sheet (but mark it on the question sheet) – there isn’t negative marking and so any answer is better than none (and you may not have time to go back at the end - but if you do you can change it if necessary). Spend the last minute or so randomly guessing any questions you haven’t had time to answer for the same reason.
Ultimately where you focus your preparation will depend on your background. You are definitely doing the right thing by starting now and I think that given the time you have you should be able to do all the preparation you need.
All the Best,
Stephen
Last edited by Imhotep; 22-02-2008 at 09:40 PM.
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