The expectations of an accountant have changed over recent years. It is no longer acceptable just to be able to crunch the numbers. You need to be able to advise, plan, interpret, drive and motivate. The key skill that binds all of these is communication and great communication skills start right now in your examination answers. Let’s have a look at the ways that you can be sure you communicate properly with the examiner and give yourself the best possible chance at nailing these challenging exams. Read on for 5 tips for professional exams.
Read the Question
Ah this old chestnut! How many times have people answered the question that they thought they were asked, or the question they wanted to be asked? How often have people not turned over a page or simply overlooked one of the sections of a question? Remember you are in a demanding situation and it is easy to make rookie mistakes. Reading the question includes taking note of the format the examiner requires. If he asks for a report don’t give him a memo.
Communications requires a message to be sent and received. Make sure that you receive the message from your examiner.
Signpost Your Workings
Don’t expect the examiner to do the slog for your marks. Tell him where your workings are and mark them up clearly. You may be under pressure for time, but you can get marks in longer questions for workings even when your ultimate answer is incorrect. However, if your workings are a maze of random numbers that would challenge Alan Turing, how will the examiner know how very close you were? Plan for how you are going to physically layout your workings on exam day and guarantee that you secure every possible mark.
As an aside to this point, labelling workings also includes labelling any mind maps you might use to plan long question answers. You very well may gain some marks from a good mind map even if you do not actually get time to write up the answer itself. Mind maps are also a great way to keep your communications on point.
Verbs are key
If you were in your driving test and the tester asked you to turn left and you reversed instead I don’t think you would really expect to pass that test. Likewise, you need to know what you are expected to do to give the examiner the answer he wants. Have a look at this link from ACCA which clearly lays out what each of the common assessment verbs mean.
http://www.accaglobal.com/gb/en/student/sa/study-skills/questions.html
Waffles are for Breakfast
Do you know a guy who refuses to give back the mike at Karaoke night? Don’t be that guy! If you have said your piece on a topic, move along. You cannot squeeze extra marks out of a point by saying it twice or dragging it out. Likewise, don’t try to disguise the fact that you know nothing about a topic by beating around the bush. The examiner has seen it all and he has a finely calibrated waffle-meter.
Great communications are concise and unambiguous: try for quality not quantity.
Success occurs when opportunity meets preparation.
– Zig Ziglar
Practice, Practice, Practice.
Zig Ziglar says “Success Occurs When Opportunity Meets Preparation”. Communications is just like any other skill: you need to get in lots of practice. At StudyOnline.ie we provide a mock exam for every module so that can be a perfect piece of practice for objective feedback. Also, use a mentor or trusted colleague to review your discursive answers. Ask them to be frank and constructive in their comments and take what they say on board for future attempts.
We communicate every day, but that is not to say that we do it as well as we can. Flex your communications muscle with these tips and you will reap the rewards.
