How to approach a question.

Let us start with a nice little exercise. How will you approach the following two questions, which will both be considered to be fair in the upcoming examination? The marks allocated to each question are indicated in brackets.




1. List the important haematological changes in normal pregnancy. [10]

2. Discuss the haematological changes in normal pregnancy. [40].

The blog as source of learning

The aim of this blog is to create a collaborative learning space for candidates who want to attempt the FCOG part 1 examination.  Constructivism is the learning theory mostly applied to ADULT LEARNING.  This implies that knowledge is constructed through collaboration.  Seeing connections between fields, ideas, and concepts is a core skill of modern adult learning which has to provide for appreciation of multiple perspectives.  Simply, you have to know your work well, but mastering the work does not simply mean gluing yourself to a chair for hours.  You construct your knowledge based on your previous experiences and that of others.

Although this blog is not a formal part of a course, you may be interested in the aspects which would be considered to assess your “performance” on the blog (abbreviation for weblog). In some MPhil courses four aspects will be taken into account, each on scale of zero to ten – the weight of will depend on the exact purpose of the blog.

1. Participation -- (inconsistent through to consistent == depends largely on number of posts)
2. Written communication (very poor, poor, average, good excellent)
3. Interaction (No interaction; simply posting own contributions through to Adds to discussion; some interpretation through to New/original ideas; interacts with others)
4. Cognitive quality  (Prestructural (information unconnected; no organisation or overall sense) through to Unistructural (simple & obvious connections, significance of connections not demonstrate) through to Multistructural (a number of connections, significance of relationship not demonstrated) through to Relational level (demonstrate relationship between connections, and between connections and the whole) through to Extended abstract level (make connections beyond immediate subject area, generalise and transfer principles from the specific to the abstract.)

Go for it.