To think that they need more information regarding an exam at uni?

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So, if you sat a 30 credit university module and you were told "you will be given a 45 minute multiple choice test" this is to be satin 2 months time.

Would that be enough information for you to adequately prepare?

Are there any past papers available?

If not you know what you need to revise, what else is it that you're looking for?

What more information do you need?

That is all it says in the course booklet? No content outline or suggested readings?

What has been discussed in lectures and seminars? No handouts or power point slides?

Doesn’t the library have past exams from the course?

You just learn all the material surely...?

University students take multiple choice tests these days?

Whatever happened to three hour written papers taken perched on hard chairs in stuffy examination halls sitting behind someone with BO and a post nasal drip issue? Shuffles way to dust graduation photograph and framed certificate.

Most universities are pretty clear and upfront when describing course content about how assessment is made during a course and for final assessment. If the university have suddenly changed the goalposts re assessment then the students need to bring this up at both a student representation level and at a higher administrative level.

No past papers and Lecturer won't give any examples of questions.

Have little idea of what will be asked, as the topic is very broad.

Imagine.. you did a course on cooking, which included how to cook, how to write recipes, where to buy food for different situations, how to cater for different diets, how to plate the food, how to write the menu,how to set the table, also what the waiters might be wearing, food hygiene, etc.

And now you had a test that was multiple choice and that's all you know... Would you be happy to sit that exam which is worth 25% of your grade?

Well, I don't see the problem here. Of course you will have to know everything that's been covered in the course. That's the point of the course!

Tbh I think that's ok. When you sit a university course, you're meant to learn what's taught. You'd use the course materials, recommended reading, tutorials etc to remind you what was covered, and you need to make sure you have a good understanding of it.

Without knowing the topic, it's hard to draw a reliable comparison, but I'm thinking of when I did an anatomy module at university. We had a face-to-face question and answer assessment worth 40% of the grade, and could be asked any question at all about any part of any bone, muscle, nerve, joint, fascia, blood vessel etc. The only way to prepare was to make sure we knew it all.

So how do you prepare?

"So how do you prepare?"

By learning what's been covered in the course.

By going over your course notes, the set reading and any other materials the module has covered. Make note cards condensing down everything.

Lets be honest, multiple choice is not exactly intellectually taxing, is it? So just learn the whole course, and tick the correct answer. Isn't that the whole point of going to university in the first place, to learn things?

Most important in a multiple choice is to find out if there are penalties for the wrong answer!
But yes, as pp said, you need to learn it all.

When I was at university, the syllabus for our exams was things like 'Inorganic Chemistry'. That's it. For which you would get a 3 hour, non-multiple choice paper.

So, YABU. That's what university is about. Learning things. Look at the syllabus (I bet it's more detailed than mine were). Look at your lecture notes and indicative bibliography. And then learn it.

Make your own mock test either by making general flash cards but ideally start by getting someone to pick pages from your course book and ask a broad range of questions.

Figure out what your weakest subjects are and make flash cards whilst highlighting the. Corresponding sections in book/notes etc

While learning the information you are weakest on revise the subjects your are more confident in, reading outloud and highlighting.

Look online and see if there are online practice tests on the subject and review what grade you may get if there is none go back to step one and asses your weak points

Repeat until test....really just learn the subject

I don't understand who you mean by "they" in your thread title?

You prepare by learning the material. That's the point of university.

I don’t get this.

Is it a multiple choice test for one module?

Does the module cover the entire year or one term?

I had similar in my final year - I had 2 essay based exams on specific courses, plus a multiple choice exam on “physiology” (my degree course) covering anything we’d learned in the previous two years. My experience of that was that the questions were on fairly high level concepts rather than minutia.

I would assume you had to revise everything on the module. It is only 25% of the grade though - what is the rest of the assessment? Because that counts for three times as much.

I think you need a copy of the syllabus then you make sure you’ve covered it.

Multiple choice has been around for a while, and is part used in my professional exams also. It can be really tricky actually, and usually involves working out the answer rather than guessing (although if running out of time guess away)

@viques Yes MCQs are really popular at Universities now. I endured a fuck tonne of them as a Biology Undergrad. Mine in particular knocks a % off as a correction for guessing.

I’d have preferred a written exam.

I didn't go to university but it seems logical to me that how you prepare is by learning what you have been taught from lecture notes and other course materials. Isn't that the whole point of education? To have a wide knowledge of a subject? No-one is going to tell you the questions so you only need to learn what's needed to answer them.

That's all we were ever given. When we questioned it they just said the questions could be a mixture of anything learnt during the module.