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Hong KongLookup questions against recall questions
A lookup question asks for a specific figure or provision. A recall question asks whether you understand a principle. Recognizing which is which in five seconds is what makes the two-pass strategy work.
The two-pass strategy only works if you can sort questions quickly. Here is how they differ.
Lookup questions
Ask for a specific figure, dimension, deadline or provision. "What is the minimum scaffold platform width?" "How far must a ladder extend above a landing?"
The answer is a number in a book. If you know it, answer immediately; if you do not, mark it and come back.
Recall and comprehension questions
Ask whether you understand something. "Which contract type places overrun risk on the contractor?" "A subcontractor is unpaid on a public project - what is their remedy?"
No book will answer those in a sentence. You either understand the principle or you are reasoning it out, and the reasoning is faster than the searching.
You open the business and law guide looking for a sentence about contract risk allocation and read four pages. The question wanted you to know that lump sum puts overrun risk on the contractor, which is a concept rather than a line.
The five-second sort
Read the question. If it names a specific quantity, dimension or timeframe, it is a lookup. If it describes a situation and asks what applies, it is comprehension.
That sort is what your first pass is doing, and it gets faster with practice.
The hybrid
Some questions need both: understand which rule applies, then look up its figure. Those are the expensive ones, and they are why the OSHA standards deserve the finest tabbing.
What to practice
Sorting, deliberately. Take 25 questions and classify each before answering any. Then check whether your classification was right.
Two sessions of that and the sorting becomes automatic, which is the point.
Common questions
What is a lookup question?
One asking for a specific figure, dimension, deadline or provision, where the answer is a number in a book.
What is a comprehension question?
One describing a situation and asking what applies. No book answers it in a sentence.
How do I tell them apart?
If the question names a specific quantity or timeframe, it is a lookup. If it describes a situation, it is comprehension.
What is the classic time sink?
Searching a book for a comprehension question, which has no single sentence to find.
How do I practice this?
Take 25 questions and classify each before answering any, then check your classifications.