How to tackle multiple choice questions in the pre-exam

From EQE Wiki provided by the European Patent Academy

Introduction

Multiple-choice questions are new to EQE, but will be the only type of question presented in the pre-examination. It will be some time before the best techniques have been established for tackling the particular style of multiple-choice questions adopted for the pre-exam. Here are a few initial suggestions.

Preliminary matters

It is important for candidates to understand what is expected of them. That is, to know and understand the exam format and to practise similar questions to the extent that these are available.

There will be 20 questions in total, with 10 questions (Questions 1 to 10) relating to legal knowledge and 10 questions (Questions 11 to 20) relating to the analysis of claims.

Each question will outline a situation and provide 4 possible answers, each of which may either be “true” or “false”. Your task in the pre-exam is to identify whether each possible answer is “true” or “false”. This is different to many multiple-choice questions where it is necessary only to identify a single correct answer. You will lose marks if you do not provide an answer to each of the 4 possible answers to each of the 20 questions. You will also lose marks if you mark a possible answer both “true” and “false”.

In order to minimise the effect of guesswork, the marking scheme is biased in favour of candidates who get most or all of the 4 possible answers to a question correct. That is, if you get all the possible answers wrong, or only one of the four correct, you will score 0 marks. There is 1 mark if you have two of the four answers correct, 3 marks if you have three of the four answers correct, and 5 marks if you have all four answers correct. A pass is awarded to candidates scoring 50 marks or more.

During the examination

You have to answer all the questions, so there is no benefit in reading the entire paper before choosing your first question. Start with Question 1 and only move on to Question 2 if you cannot answer Question 1. Do not waste time on question selection.

Read the question you are tackling and make sure you understand it. Make sure you understand the question before moving on to the answers. Try to work out the likely answers to the question before you look at the four possible answers. Then read all the possible answers before marking any of them on the answer sheet either “true” or “false” – the answers may be inter-related and the answer to one of the choices may affect the way in which you answer one or more of the other choices.

Set yourself a time schedule and stick to it. There are 20 questions to answer in 4 hours. In principle this allows 12 minutes for each question. However, significantly more reading is required for Questions 11-20 than for Questions 1-10, so it would be prudent to allow additional time for Questions 11-20. For example, you may wish to allow 10 minutes for each of Questions 1-10, leaving 14 minutes for each of Questions 11-20.

You are advised to fill in the answer sheet using a black soft HB pencil, so ensure you take into the exam a supply of suitable pencils and an eraser. The eraser allows you to change your mind about an answer. If you erase an initial selection you must make sure the erasure is complete, otherwise there is a risk the answer will be marked as if both “true” and “false” have been selected.

When all else fails

Make sure you answer all parts of all questions, otherwise you will not score as well as you could. Here are some suggestions for when you are running out of time and have not completed all the questions:

Mark any obvious answers as either “true” or “false”.

Mark a more precise answer as “true” more often than a less precise answer.

Mark a longer answer as “true” more often than a shorter answer.

Make an educated guess.

Finally, bear in mind that the way in which the pre-exam is set requires the number of “true” and “false” answers to be balanced. Otherwise, guesswork could influence the outcome either in favour of candidates guessing “true” or in favour of candidates guessing “false”. This means there will be about 40 “true” answers and about 40 “false” answers. If you keep a count of the number of “true” and “false” answers you have chosen and if the number of either “true” or “false” answers significantly outweighs the other, then you may wish to revisit the type of answer that predominates and reconsider whether these answers are correct.