Exam 6-Canada Intro

How Exam 6 is Different

Many of you have already taken Exam 5 so you're familiar with an upper level exam, but Exam 6 is different:

• As with Exam 5, it's an essay-style exam (versus multiple choice)
• Unlike Exam 5, the emphasis is on memorization vs calculation
• People generally find that Exam 6 takes about 15% more study time than Exam 5
• You have to have a well-rehearsed, time management strategy for the day of the exam

The BattleActs Philosophy

Our recommended approach to studying for Exam 6 differs from what you might expect. Here are a few things you should keep in mind:

• There's no way you can memorize the vast amount of material (roughly 2,500 pages)
• We analyzed prior exams and have identified many topics and specific questions that are repeated from year to year. This material is your fundamental base. We’ve highlighted it for you and you need to know it REALLY, REALLY well.
• Once you feel confident with this fundamental base, you can move on to less frequently tested material (time permitting.)

This is all just common sense.

Getting the Most of out BattleActs

You may want to jump right in and start studying. Tip: Don’t do this. Take a little extra time up front to get organized and you will save yourself a lot of time.

1. Understand our ranking table. This table ranks readings based (primarily) on points-per-reading across recent exams. You should study the readings in rank order, and allocate time and effort accordingly.
   • The top 24 readings on the syllabus (out of 60+) account for about 80% of the points on the exam.

      → Spend 80% of your time on these top 24 readings. (Learn them thoroughly).

      → Spend 20% of your time on the rest.

2. Look at a calendar.See how much time you have until exam day. Based on the study tip above, draw up a study schedule. Leave the last few weeks for review and practice exams. See an example of a study schedule below with the last 20 days left for review and practice.

   readings #1-6: 35 days for a 4-month study schedule (45 days for a 5-month schedule)

   readings #7-12: 25 days for a 4-month study schedule (30 days for a 5-month schedule)

   readings #13-18: 10 days for a 4-month study schedule (15 days for a 5-month schedule)

   readings #19-24: 10 days for a 4-month study schedule (15 days for a 5-month schedule)

   readings #25-60+: 20 days for a 4-month study schedule (25 days for a 5-month schedule)

   → review and practice exams: 20 days

3. Start studying. Most people will want to start with the #1 ranked paper, which is OSFI.MCT. That's a great idea and here's what we recommend:

   Read the wiki article first

   • Many of the source readings are long, boring, and hard to understand. Our wiki articles are short and sweet. They are also are written in plain English, and will help you grasp the main ideas much more quickly.

   Scan the source reading.

   • The time you spend on the source reading will be more efficient if you already have a basic understanding.

   Go back to the wiki article:

   • Do the quizzes, begin memorizing, work the practice templates for the calculation problems. (This is the longest step and you will likely will switching between the wiki article, the source reading, and the examiner's reports.)

4. Battle Table and Top Questions Button. These features tell you explicitly what is most important based on past exams. Remember – you can’t memorize everything, but you must know the answers to these frequently tested exam questions, and you must know them really well. Practice writing out clear, concise answers so that on exam day, the answers will come to you quickly and automatically. You won’t have the time on exam day to figure out appropriate answers.
5. Quizzes: These are flash cards, but we call them Battle Cards (just to maintain the fun Battle theme!) And this is how you memorize. Read the question, memorize the answer. As you work through the quizzes, note your BRQ (Battle-Readiness Quotient) in the navbar next to your name. This provides you with an objective measure of how well you know the material. It starts at 0% and rises as you work through the quizzes. Keep track of your weak areas.
6. Leaderboard: This page is in the main part of the BattleActs website (not a wiki page) and is part of how BattleActs keeps you motivated. It's a ranked listing of everyone's BRQ so you can see how you're progressing versus everyone else. Crush your friends! (You can appear anonymously if you wish.)

A Few Helpful Facts

• When you're doing the quizzes, your retention is improved by writing out the answers. For details on this, see | Common Reasons for not Passing.

• Note that some BattleCards are actually old exam questions. Anywhere you see a yellow E, you can click to see just that exam question and examiner's report answer.

• There is more information on how the BattleCards work that you should read at least once. It's short.

• Combat Score vs BRQ: You may notice your Combat Score is different than your BRQ. Your Combat score is your score from the quizzes in the wiki articles. Your BRQ scores includes extra low-probability questions included in the Battlecard filtering function.