Avoiding Pitfalls When Answering Questions

Always be sure you are focussed on what your key topic is and what the instruction and scope words are. Avoid GOING OFF HALF COCK and other pitfalls. Let's take a look at Section B of the Mid-Semester Exam.

Choose TWO of the following groups and discuss how your approach to negotiating with them in a business context would differ: [a] Indians [b] South Koreans [c] Australians [d] Brazillians and [e] Germans.

Don't fall into the trap of only describing [or contrasting] cultural matters and forgetting to discuss how these differences affect your approach to the nationalities in question. This question is about how you would respond to cultural differences rather than identifying what those cultural differences are. Having made sure you have done this, you must not forget to discuss how your two approaches [to the two groups you choose] differ from each other. Be sure to choose two nationalities that will offer you plenty of contrasts in terms of culturally appropriate negotiating.

Using the “Thoughts About The Future” series of blog articles [on Beauty, Health, Market Research, Travel and Cyber Crime] as a reference, make three predictions about the future and briefly discuss their positive and negative aspects.

This question is not about science fiction or speculation; you need to make "predictions". You also need to refer to the things mentioned and discussed in the “Thoughts About The Future” articles. Even if you enjoy talking about the future, if you cannot remember specific things from those five articles, do not attempt to answer this question.

“A growing body of research suggests that paying attention to the body clock, and its effects on energy and alertness, can help pinpoint the different times of day when most of us perform our best at specific tasks, from resolving conflicts to thinking creatively.” Describe some specific, practical ways that you could use this research to help organise yourself and your time.

One possible pitfall here is to waste words on restating the concept or theory that is mentioned in the long quote in the question. Your answer should be a series of practical and realistic suggestions about the way you manage your time and live your life.  [2016 Note: the main mistake you might have made with this question would have been to try to answer it at all... because it WASN'T on the exam paper. It was on last year's paper. You should never answer questions that are not actually on the exam paper!]

Describe at least FOUR things that, according to psychological experts, indicate that someone might have a Narcissistic Personality Disorder.

Be careful. If you cannot remember the specific symptoms that psychologists look for when they diagnose "NPD", don't attempt to answer this question. It doesn't matter how much you like talking about narcissism or identifying it in yourself or in your friends, this is not what this question is looking for. 
[2016 Note: This question wasn't on the exam paper either. It was on 2015's paper.]

"Two of the so called ‘Golden Rules’ of marketing we saw in class were ‘Marketing is a Science’ and ‘Marketing is an Art’. Describe the meaning of each of these briefly and then explain which of them is closer to your own view?

This question might be a good one to answer if you've given it thought prior to sitting down for the exam and if marketing is an area of interest for you. The question of whether it is an "art" or a "science" is referring to technical matters relating to how the marketing (and advertising) process is carried out and your answer needs to be rooted in this. So, while this question looks like 'an opinion question', it's really 'a knowledge question'. Having said that, if you do tackle this question, don't forget to state clearly what your view is and your reasons for it.

 

If you were a parent of teenagers, what would be your approach to parenting in the event of them having emotional or behavioural problems?

Beware of going into great detail about emotional or behavioural problems of teenagers and being vague about what your approach to these problems would be. Don't be tempted to say things like 'I will always love them, come what may' without being specific.

“English will one day be replaced by Mandarin as the global language.”  Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Explain your answer.

A pitfall here is waffling on about the size and importance of the Chinese economy and therefore the importance of more and more people being able to speak Mandarin. This is all well and good, but the key word is "replaced". What function does English currently have as "the global language"? Is this function going to end one day? The question is asking about THAT and not whether China and Chinese are growing in significance. Think of it this way; if you think Mandarin will replace English as the global language one day, do you imagine Germans talking to Arabic speakers in Chinese? Do you imagine Indonesians talking to Brazillians in Chinese? ...because that is the kind of thing this question is getting at.

Consider the article entitled “Our year of living dangerously:  A mum takes her two young sons on the road in Asia for a year”. In terms of her two children’s education, was the woman in the article, in your view,  being reckless or wise? Explain your answer.

A possible pitfall here is that you spend your time describing the mother's trip around Asia with her two children and [1] forget to focus on their education, and/or [2] forget to express your own views on this issue. It is, I think, acceptable to give a mixed response [e.g. this and this was "reckless" but this and this was "wise"] but you must evaluate things and justify your views.

“For social media industry insiders, the most exciting statistic in Indonesia is not how many people use social media, but how many still don’t.” What do you understand by this statement?

Hopefully, what you understand by this statement is that the writer of the question wants you to talk about the future potential of social media in Indonesia, perhaps with reference to things like the rapidly expanding middle class and the increase in credit card ownership. A pitfall here is you finding yourself waffling on about how excited and obsessed Indonesians are with social media. This question is about the future of social media, not about describing its popularity at the current time.

What are the arguments against installing backward facing seats in passenger aircraft?

This is pretty much a "Knowledge" question where you need to recall the points made against changing the seating arrangement. If you find yourself discussing the entire for & against debate, or making your own judgements about the issue, then you are missing the point and wasting words. 

“Asians are marrying later, and less, than in the past.  This has profound implications for women, traditional family life and Asian politics”. Briefly discuss what these implications are?

The danger here is that you spend time discussing the reasons for marrying later instead of discussing the consequences of this trend. Also, these "implications" are in terms of women, changing families, and the response of politicians. If you don't know much about these three aspects of society and only know a lot about the reasons why women are marrying later, you should probably avoid this question.

[I wrote this]