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Advice please on written answers
#1
I have just read through some past paper exam questions and am a little bewildered where to start in answering them as I feel I do not have the experience to give a competent answer. What I would like to do is perhaps have a go at a question and see from there what happens but am a little tentative in submitting as for some I dont have a clue where to start. I just want to build up my experience in answering these questions from the 2002 aper and onwards. what is the best way to attack these questionsthrough the forum if you are severly lacking the knowledge to answer them without draining the resources here in the forum. does any body have a clear strategy for answering them and the format expected?
Many thanks
Ian
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#2
(18-06-2010, 03:08 PM)merlin89 Wrote: I have just read through some past paper exam questions and am a little bewildered where to start in answering them as I feel I do not have the experience to give a competent answer. What I would like to do is perhaps have a go at a question and see from there what happens but am a little tentative in submitting as for some I dont have a clue where to start. I just want to build up my experience in answering these questions from the 2002 aper and onwards. what is the best way to attack these questionsthrough the forum if you are severly lacking the knowledge to answer them without draining the resources here in the forum. does any body have a clear strategy for answering them and the format expected?
Many thanks
Ian
There is no fixed format. Answer in a way that you are comfortable with and that is used appropriately - diagrams, bulleted lists, tables, sentences and paragraphs.

If you are that unsure, just start off with a list of the key points that you think are relevant, or even with a description of what you think the question is asking for.

You have hit one important nail right on the head thought which is that experience is very important - you cannot "learn" a format to pass the exam - it is all about demonstrating to the examiner that you can apply sound engineering judgement to a situation that demands a good underpinning knowledge of signalling to understand.

Try putting a skeleton answer up and get feedback on that, and then flesh it out a bit.

Not sure if that helps.
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#3
(18-06-2010, 08:45 PM)Peter Wrote:
(18-06-2010, 03:08 PM)merlin89 Wrote: I have just read through some past paper exam questions and am a little bewildered where to start in answering them as I feel I do not have the experience to give a competent answer. What I would like to do is perhaps have a go at a question and see from there what happens but am a little tentative in submitting as for some I dont have a clue where to start. I just want to build up my experience in answering these questions from the 2002 aper and onwards. what is the best way to attack these questions through the forum if you are severly lacking the knowledge to answer them without draining the resources here in the forum. does any body have a clear strategy for answering them and the format expected?
Many thanks
Ian
There is no fixed format. Answer in a way that you are comfortable with and that is used appropriately - diagrams, bulleted lists, tables, sentences and paragraphs.

If you are that unsure, just start off with a list of the key points that you think are relevant, or even with a description of what you think the question is asking for.

You have hit one important nail right on the head thought which is that experience is very important - you cannot "learn" a format to pass the exam - it is all about demonstrating to the examiner that you can apply sound engineering judgement to a situation that demands a good underpinning knowledge of signalling to understand.

Try putting a skeleton answer up and get feedback on that, and then flesh it out a bit.

Not sure if that helps.

Getting started is a problem that many people face.
To tackle a question well:
a) you need to have sufficient general domain knowledge to properly understand what is being asked
b) you need to have the specific (but possibly not always extremely detailed) knowledge that the question seeks from you
c) you need to read very carefully the nuances of the question and "explore" its scope- make it as wide as possible without straying off topic
d) you need to gather a host of pertinent relevant facts and sift through them to select the best fit to the question, taking into account the mark allocation per sub section
e) you need to present your answer legibly and clearly
f) you must achieve the above in 30 minutes
SIMPLES!
Apart from its not and that's why you need much practice.

I think where it often goes wrong is at the very beginning at {a}.
However many people also don't know enough about the subject itself {b} I don't mean chunks of text that you can recall serially in "parrot fashion"; I mean the sort of familiarity where you can "ranom access" a fact out of here, jump somewhere different and select a fact from somewhere else and then make the conection between them.
That's where the "signalling" stops and the "exam" kicks in; recent students tend to have the advantage from here-on in as they are still "exam passing machines", whereas the initial elements are easier for those who have a few more years relevant experience to their credit.

Some suggestions:
1. Read the questions, answers and comments that are available on this website for ANY MODULE featuring written answers, because there are very many common elements. This will include all sorts of variety of presentation so you can evaluate their advantages / disadvantages in various scenarios- its partly some questions lend themselves to different approaches, but also partly some approaches suit different people better.
For example look at feedback on four attempts at the same module 1 question ; this should give you some ideas re how an examiner perceives.

2.Have a look at the range of answers I posted for the Signet event earlier in the year; in particular:
a) there are some for the student to put themselves in the place of the examiner and judge how they would mark against the question set- some are considerably better than others deliberately.
b) there is one which is not actually an answer but basically a host of bullets. The idea is that this is a bit like a listing of links as per a Google search on a subject- it brings forth a long list, some are valuable stuff, some may be on the correct topic but quality of content is laking being of questionable accuracy, then some are nearly or completely irrelevant. This allows you to have a go at {c} and {d} without being too hampered by being weak for {b}.

These were an idea that I felt may help- what I don't know is whether it actually does, but it'd be good for someone to try and see if it does for them.

I made a presntation re answering written questions which I don't think I have yet posted here; I'll find and see what size it is and perhaps post it later if reasonable.
PJW
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#4
great advice thanks a lot will make a start today
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#5
(18-06-2010, 11:28 PM)PJW Wrote: I made a presentation re answering written questions which I don't think I have yet posted here; I'll find and see what size it is and perhaps post it later if reasonable.

Here is the pdf version of it

Also do have a look at the notes I have made on the various Exam Reviews held such as on the 2009 paper

Similarly for presentational techniques look at posts such as these mod 5 questions


Attached Files
.pdf   Tackling written questions.pdf (Size: 340.47 KB / Downloads: 181)
PJW
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#6
(19-06-2010, 02:04 PM)PJW Wrote:
(18-06-2010, 11:28 PM)PJW Wrote: I made a presentation re answering written questions which I don't think I have yet posted here; I'll find and see what size it is and perhaps post it later if reasonable.

Here is the pdf version of it

Also do have a look at the notes I have made on the various Exam Reviews held such as on the 2009 paper

Similarly for presentational techniques look at posts such as these mod 5 questions


Quetion 1. Testing of signalling system before installation & commissioning

Answer:- testing of signalling system before commissioning are given below
1. one wire and two wire bell testing
2. locking test
3.route locking table testing
4.point control table testing
5.all emergency operation testing
6.track locking of point testing
7.indication locking of point testing
8.aspect control chart testing
9.cascading of signal aspect testing
10.red lamp protection testing
11.locking of gate circuit testing if available
12.locking of slot testing if provid
13. approch locking testing
14. squar sheet testing if provide:- squar sheet test for parallel/conflicting/simultaneuos movement for carried out for all installation of signalling gears

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#7
Not sure if you are answering a specific past question or one you have set yourself. Also don't comprehend "testing before installation".

If this were an IRSE question, you would need to explain briefly each separate test; although I have been a tester for the est part of 30 years I do not understand all your terms and ther is nothing else to help me.

A context statement describing scenario at the beginning would have been good. Without it, I am having to guess that you are describing a signalbox with levers which are mechanically interlocked but with electric locks perhaps for some track circuit controls. Point operated by electric point motor operated from the levers and with levers unable to complete their full stroke until site detection has been achieved; am I right?

1. I know what bell testing is, but it only makes sense to do this one wire at a time to prove continuity between two places; therefore do not understand 2 wire bell testing.

2. I am guessing that this is mechanical locking between levers to check that 1 locks 2, 2 locks 1; 3 release 4, 4 released by 3, perhaps conditional locking involving the position of a third lever, or sequential (no-reciprocal) locking.

3. I do not know this term; perhaps you have a specific Control Table for cascaded route locking (NR has recently introduce sub-route / sub-overlap CTs for SSI) and tets against that. However unusual for a type of signalbox that I am assuming from the rest of your answer to have much route locking. Perhaps you mean testing of each route, but again this sounds more like a route setting panel than my assumption re your scenario.

4. I think I know what this is, but I guess that it will primarily be the dead track locking and any route locking that there may be. I am still assuming that there will be no point calling except from the lever itself.

5. Perhaps this is a "Emergency Replacement of all the signals controlled from the signalbox"- again I can't really rationalise with the scenario I envisaged

6. This is clearly what I thought 4 would have been, so now I am unclear about 4.

7. This is what made me decide on assumption of scenario; to me this means point levers having an (NBDR) lock, so that having pulled lever from N some three quarters of the way to R and energised the point motor, it then need the EKR to pick to energise the lock again to get the lever fully R in order that the mechanically interlocked functions can now be released. Hence I understand this to be what we would call point correspondence.

8. I am guessing that the signals are colour lights driven from the signal lever and this element of testing proves all the track controls, perhaps also point detection and other miscellaneous controls.

9. I am guessing that this is what I'd call aspect sequence testing- checking that the signal in rear displays an aspect dependent on that displayed by the signal in advance to make sure driver given adequate warning of the need to stop or slow for a junction.

10. Not sure what this is; in the UK we often prove the TPWS train protection within the signal's red indication so perhaps this is what it means, but I don't think so.

11. I guess this is interlocking with a level crossing gate (where there is one)

12. I guess this may be a release given by the signalbox to release a ground frame for local operation of points, but only when no conflicting moves set at the signalbox.

13. I interpret this to mean the holding of the route in circumstances when a signal has been replaced to danger and the various potential releases (train passage, timer, perhaps comprehensive).

14. No real idea what square testing is. My guess is that it is a check that all the valid "operational moves" can be made and that there isn't inadvertent overlocking that unnecessarily restricts freedom of movements.

As you can see, I had to do a lot of guessing. As a list, your answer might have been quite good, but it needed flesh on the bones of the skeleton. Describe what that test is and explain why it is necessary, what it is seeking to prove annd it could have been the basis of a good answer. However as you wroye it, it was a list of some terms I thought I recognise and some I know I don't and therefore you wouldn't have got many marks for it in that form.


(16-08-2011, 02:18 PM)SARVESH KUMAR Wrote: Question 1. Testing of signalling system before installation & commissioning

Answer:- testing of signalling system before commissioning are given below
1. one wire and two wire bell testing
2. locking test
3. route locking table testing
4. point control table testing
5. all emergency operation testing
6. track locking of point testing
7. indication locking of point testing
8. aspect control chart testing
9. cascading of signal aspect testing
10. red lamp protection testing
11. locking of gate circuit testing if available
12. locking of slot testing if provided
13. approach locking testing
14. square sheet testing if provide:- square sheet test for parallel/conflicting/simultaneuos movement for carried out for all installation of signalling gears

PJW
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#8
Thanks for your view


with regards
Sarvesh kumar

(16-08-2011, 07:16 PM)PJW Wrote: As you can see, I had to do a lot of guessing. As a list, your answer might have been quite good, but it needed flesh on the bones of the skeleton. Describe what that test is and explain why it is necessary, what it is seeking to prove annd it could have been the basis of a good answer. However as you wrote it, it was a list of some terms I thought I recognise and some I know I don't and therefore you wouldn't have got many marks for it in that form.

(16-08-2011, 02:18 PM)SARVESH KUMAR Wrote: Question 1. Testing of signalling system before installation & commissioning

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#9
(17-08-2011, 12:54 PM)SARVESH KUMAR Wrote: Thanks for your view


with regards
Sarvesh kumar

(16-08-2011, 07:16 PM)PJW Wrote: As you can see, I had to do a lot of guessing. As a list, your answer might have been quite good, but it needed flesh on the bones of the skeleton. Describe what that test is and explain why it is necessary, what it is seeking to prove annd it could have been the basis of a good answer. However as you wrote it, it was a list of some terms I thought I recognise and some I know I don't and therefore you wouldn't have got many marks for it in that form.

(16-08-2011, 02:18 PM)SARVESH KUMAR Wrote: Question 1. Testing of signalling system before installation & commissioning

sir
thanks

with regards
sarvesh kumar
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