Basic English Language Skills
Developed for Oxbridge Academy
9. Use correct grammar and spelling.  
This will contribute to the clarity of your answers, and will prevent the 
person marking your paper from having to guess what you mean.
10. For longer questions and essay-style questions: plan your answers be-
fore you start writing.  
This will help you to formulate logical arguments, as well as to structure 
your answers clearly. In essay questions, you will get marks for using 
the correct format, which includes making sure that you have an intro -
duction, sub-headings and paragraphs, and a conclusion.
11. Where relevant, give examples.  
This will help to demonstrate that you understand the topic.
12. If you are writing an open-book exam, keep in mind that you won’t have 
enough time to look up all the answers.  
Make sure that you know your work, and that you know where to look 
for key information. These types of exams are more focused on testing 
your understanding than on testing your knowledge, which means that 
you need to have a thorough grasp of the work.
13. If you have to answer multiple-choice questions, make sure that you read 
the  questions very carefully.  
Try to think of the correct answer before you read through the options, 
as you are less likely to become confused. When in  doubt, go with your 
first instinct. If there is more than one correct answer, go with the an-
swer that appears to be most correct.
14. If you start running out of time towards the end of the exam, write short 
notes as answers to each of the remaining questions, instead of trying 
to answer each question perfectly. 
This way, you should still earn some marks for writing down the most 
important points.
15. If you have time left at the end of the exam, go back and read through 
your answers to make sure that you are happy with them.
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