Preparing for an open-book exam
- Compile a study plan which shows the hours/days you
want to spend preparing for each exam.
- Determine which books, lecture notes, handwritten notes you
want to take with you to the exam.
- Write a table of contents for any notes that don't have an index.
- Have a look through the lecture notes. Keep in mind that you will not
be asked factual questions in the exam. Instead, you will be presented with
problems or tasks that require a solution.
- Reflect on the topics presented in the lecture notes: what are
implementation tasks and challenges for each topic?
- Write an exam question for each week of the lecture notes.
- Work through the past papers, user questions
and revision questions.
- If you have a question while preparing for the exam, send an
email to u.priss. But, please, be specific with your questions (e.g. "on the 5th
slide in week, why is ..." or "why is the sample solution to Exam 4, question 4 ...").
- If you have, in the past, experienced any problems with exams (not
enough time to finish, problems concentrating, panic attack), you should
address these before you go to the exam. There are exercises you can do
to overcome these problems (time management, mental preparation for
exam situations). Have a look at
Napier's Study Skills
website or do a search on the web for '"exam preparation" "study skills"'.
In severe cases, contact the Academic Support Adviser for advice.
During the exam
- Don't leave any answers blank! Even if you don't know
the answer, make a guess, write something which relates to the question.
You might still get some partial points for it.
- Short answer questions means: keep your answers short. Focus
on the main points.
- Be confident! You spent a lot of time with Server-Side
Web Languages during the coursework. You will have learned a lot during this
class. Many exam questions just require a bit of common sense in addition
to some basic knowledge that you will have acquired this semester.