Joaquín
5th Dec 2001, 17:45
I would like to invite trainers from all Ground Schools to express their opinion about the value of feedback questions, and the use they make of them.
In my opinion, there is too much emphasis put in these by students, when they should be only used AFTER the students know the different subjects. At the end of the day, the final goal is not just passing an exam, but to know certain things.
;)
Keith.Williams.
5th Dec 2001, 23:36
No student should ever attempt to pass the JAR ATPL exams by simply learning the answers to a lot of feedback questions. It was possible to do this with the CAA exams but it is not possible with the JAR exams. But feedback questions can play a very important part in both the learning and examination preparation processes.
Many students have gone into the examination room totally unprepared for the kind of questions they would be asked. This fact is reflected in previous strings in which students have stated things like " well it looks like they've just opened a whole new question bank". In many cases the "whole new question bank" covered material which they had studied and knew, but the questions were worded in an unusual manner. For anyone struggling with exam nerves, this can often be enough to push them over the edge.
Accurate feedback questions can make students better prepared by giving them a very good idea of what they will face in the real examination. More importantly, by practicing with a very large number of diverse questions, students can improve their ability to deal with those really nasty ones that come up every now and again.
I believe feedback questions should be used in three ways; In the classroom, during evening study periods and in the final consolidation period.
Instructors should use the first and last few minutes of each period to give students question and answer practice using feedback questions on material previously taught. This will reinforce the learning process and develop question answering skills.
When consolidating at the end of each day, students should use more feedback questions to test and improve their knowledge. If a question cannot be answered the relevant section of the course notes should be reviewed, until the problem is resolved.
During the last couple of weeks of preparation, still more feedback questions should be used, both to sort out those last few problem areas and to sharpen up response rates ready for the exams.
For the above process to be successful it is essential that the feedback questions used are sufficient in number and of a realistic standard, and that the correct answers and explanations are available. There is of course also a need for a great deal of very hard work.