WRITE AN ARGUMENT

The great temptation in an exam is to 'splurge' - to put down all the revision you've done on your topics straight away.

Don't. Stop and spend five minutes planning each answer before you start. And use that time to plan what your argument will be. Organising your answer into an argument is just as important in an exam as it is in an essay. Maybe even more important. Remember that exam answers are much shorter than essays, so you're not going to impress the marker by writing a long, baggy answer which won't be all that long anyway.

How do you make it clear to the marker that you're making an argument? The best way to start is to write a strongly argumentative opening sentence. Let's invent a hypothetical exam question, 'In what ways did Britain become a more equal country under New Labour?' Here are some possible opening sentences to make it clear that you're arguing:

'The question of whether Britain became more equal under New Labour is a complex one, but some elements of an answer to it emerge clearly.'

'Greater equality, like modernity and efficiency, is a term which was very common in the rhetoric of New Labour. The question of whether or not greater equality was actually achieved is therefore an important one.'

'Equality is a complex concept. It can cover a very wide range of social, economic and cultural factors.'

All of these start to do something with the key terms of the question - they announce that they are part of an argument.