TAFEM ENCG common mistakes
TAFEM ENCG · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
Spending more than about 90 seconds on a single arithmetic or percentage question, then rushing the last ten questions and losing easy points.
The TAFEM is a timed multiple-choice test where every question carries the same weight; candidates often get pulled into a long calculation because they feel they have already invested time in it, and they underestimate how much time the final questions need.
What to do instead
Practise with a strict timer and a fixed rule: if a question is not solved after 90 seconds, mark a provisional answer, move on, and return only if time remains. Do ten full timed mini-sets of 20 questions and record the time per question so you learn which question types are worth skipping.
Answering a percentage-change question by adding or subtracting the two percentages instead of chaining the multipliers (for example treating a 20% rise followed by a 25% fall as a 5% fall).
Successive percentage changes feel additive in everyday language, and candidates who are under time pressure skip writing the multipliers (1.20 × 0.75).
What to do instead
Always convert each change to a multiplier and multiply them before interpreting the result. Drill ten chained-change problems (successive increases, discounts, then a tax) and write the multiplier line explicitly, even when the answer seems obvious.
Treating a rate or ratio question as a simple division without checking the base: for example computing a margin on the selling price when the question asks for a markup on the cost price.
The words marge, taux de marque and taux de marge look interchangeable in French, and candidates transpose a memorised formula without identifying which base the question names.
What to do instead
Before calculating, write down which quantity is the base (cost, selling price, total population) and label it. Build a one-page formula sheet that pairs each French term with its base, and redo five margin and markup exercises until the distinction is automatic.
Choosing the first plausible-looking answer in a reading-comprehension item because it repeats words from the passage, without checking whether the passage actually supports the whole statement.
The French section rewards close reading, but candidates skim the text once and then match keywords; distractors are deliberately built from vocabulary lifted from the text.
What to do instead
Read the questions first, then read the passage once carefully, underlining the sentence that justifies each answer. For each option, ask whether the passage states it, contradicts it, or never mentions it, and reject options that go beyond the text even if they sound true.
Confusing the connecteur logique in a sentence-completion item: choosing 'en revanche' where the sentence expresses a cause, or 'par conséquent' where it expresses a concession.
Candidates translate the connector into their own mental logic instead of identifying the explicit relationship (opposition, cause, consequence, addition) between the two clauses.
What to do instead
Classify each connector into one of five families (addition, cause, consequence, opposition, concession) and memorise two examples per family. For each exercise, name the relationship before looking at the options, then eliminate any option from the wrong family.
Mixing up stock and flow variables, or counting an intermediate good in GDP because it was bought by a firm.
National-accounting definitions are learned as vocabulary lists, so candidates recognise the term 'GDP' but do not apply the rule that only final goods and value added are counted, and that a stock is measured at a date while a flow is measured over a period.
What to do instead
Work through a small numerical example: a firm buys inputs for 100 and sells for 250, so value added is 150. Then classify ten given variables (debt, deficit, capital, investment, income) as stock or flow and justify each in one line.
Assuming that a price ceiling set below equilibrium creates a surplus, or that any price control is neutral because 'the market adjusts'.
Candidates memorise the graph shapes but not the direction of the effect, and they confuse a ceiling (maximum price) with a floor (minimum price).
What to do instead
Draw the supply and demand graph for every price-control question and mark the controlled price relative to equilibrium before answering. State in words whether the result is excess demand or excess supply, and practise with the minimum wage as a floor and rent control as a ceiling.
Answering a logic or series question by guessing the next term from the visible differences without testing a second rule (alternating operations, two interleaved sequences, or a multiplicative pattern).
The first difference often looks regular for two or three terms, so candidates stop testing too early; the TAFEM-style series frequently alternate between two rules.
What to do instead
For every series, compute the first differences and the ratios, and check whether odd and even positions form separate sequences. Only answer after writing at least two candidate rules and confirming one of them on all given terms.
Reading an organisation-theory question as everyday common sense ('a good manager is close to the team') and choosing the human-relations-sounding option when the question describes a bureaucratic or contingency situation.
Management questions use classical authors and models (Taylor, Fayol, Weber, Mayo, Mintzberg, contingency theory) whose names and claims are not part of general culture, so candidates substitute intuition for the model.
What to do instead
Build a table with one row per author or school: key concept, typical phrase used in questions, and one counter-example. When a question names a situation, identify which model explicitly addresses it before reading the options, then eliminate options that belong to another school.
Leaving blanks on the answer sheet because of the penalty for wrong answers, or filling in answers in the wrong row after skipping a question.
Candidates are unsure whether the TAFEM penalises incorrect answers and, under stress, lose track of the question number when they skip; misalignment then costs several points at once.
What to do instead
Check the official instructions for the current session on scoring, and if there is no penalty, answer every question. In practice, always mark the skipped number on the sheet, fill answers block by block, and verify the alignment every ten questions.