How to minimize negative marking in banking exams
Minimizing the risks of negative marking can go a long way in getting you a decent score. There are some basic thumb rules of minimizing negative marking. Negative marking is a major hurdle in clearing banking papers be it clerical or probationary officer post. So while marking the multiple choice answers, the candidate must keep in mind that while he/she can score the full marks allotted for that particular question, he/she might also be penalized for choosing the wrong answer through negative marking that can range from 0.25 to 0.50 marks per question.
Some of the rules to follow:
Minimizing the risks of negative marking can go a long way in getting you a decent score. There are some basic thumb rules of minimizing negative marking. Negative marking is a major hurdle in clearing banking papers be it clerical or probationary officer post. So while marking the multiple choice answers, the candidate must keep in mind that while he/she can score the full marks allotted for that particular question, he/she might also be penalized for choosing the wrong answer through negative marking that can range from 0.25 to 0.50 marks per question.Some of the rules to follow:
- The first rule is to attempt the questions that you are absolutely sure of. No point taking risk and wasting time guessing answers.
- The candidates need to read the questions very carefully before ticking the correct answer. Sometimes the questions can be tricky and misleading.
- Time management is very important to avoid hurried ticking of probable answers.
- A lot of practice is needed from the previous years’ question papers and model test papers.
- Solving previous years’ papers repeatedly gives a fair idea of the question pattern that might help in the exam hall.
- A lot of practice is advised as practice helps in time management and decreases chances of incurring negative marking.
- It is also an additional advantage if you can master the shortcuts to choose the correct answer, especially for mathematical problems. To attempt around 120 to150 multiple choice questions in the exam in 3 hours needs a lot of practice.
- Last minute preparation should include browsing over the formulas and theorems so as not to waste time in the exam hall trying to recollect them.
- The aim should be to answer the questions that the candidate is confident of getting correct. The aim should not be to attempt maximum number of questions. Calculated risk can be taken but very discretionally depending on how confident you are of getting your response correct.
- While marking or ticking the questions, the candidates should be careful about overwriting or erasing responses. In fact, it should be avoided as computers sometimes mark responses with erased answers as doubly marked and hence it can lead to negative marking.
- As a study of time allocation reveals that usually a candidate gets less than 40 seconds to read, understand and respond to each question, it is wise to skip the questions the answers to which you are not absolutely sure of and come back to them if there is time after completing the paper.
