This is a short post for students preparing for exams. Below are 10 quick tips you must follow to ensure you succeed in any exam. These tips are based on unfailing principles. Ignore them to your peril. Here we go...
1. DON'T TRY TO LEARN SOMETHING ENTIRELY NEW
Exam periods are not periods of learning
entirely new facts. This should be done during the course of the semester.
Trying to learn new stuff will likely throw you off balance, reduce your
confidence levels and make you ineffective and inefficient both in what you're
trying to learn and what you already know. However, putting other factors into
consideration, if you failed to know all you were expected to know before the
exam, the most effective way to get to know them is to engage someone who knows
to explain them concisely to you.
2. LEARN
& USE THE ART OF INTERVAL STUDYING
Interval studying, as the name implies, means
studying in blocks of time. Research showed that people who study in intervals
of say 30 minutes, with 5 minute breaks, perform better in exams than their
counterparts who study for hours without any break. Interval studying,
according to conclusions drawn from the study, gives your brain some time to
internalize and store in your long term memory, what you just studied. You also get to have more beginnings and endings where most of the learning process takes place.
3. DO
NOT READ HOLISTICALLY
What you're actually doing is
revision, not ‘re-reading’. In revision, you scan and skim. Your intention now is
to get the main points of the topic or course and ensuring you can reproduce them all on demand. Trying to read everything as
though you've not read them before is counterproductive considering time and
the exam situation on ground. Also you end up forgetting rapidly what you read.
4.
REVISE WITH THE TYPE OF EXAM IN VIEW
Exams come in various sorts- essays,
multiple choice questions, practical, oral, etc. In revising, work with this in
mind. If it's an essay exam, for example, write several essays as practice,
preferably from past questions, during revision; if it's an oral exam, practice alone or with your friends on how to answer anticipated questions. Never assume you know it. Try
yourself outside the hall first.
5.
TRY TO KEEP COOL
It's quite normal to feel tense while
preparing for an exam. You sometimes feel as if the topics you haven't touched
are going to show up and make you fail. Your fears are even multiplied when you
find out something you don't know. This makes you wonder what else you must
have forgotten or how little you know. The best way of avoiding this is to get
busy and productive. Stop panicking, it doesn't help. Fear & anxiety, in
fact, inhibit comprehension and memorization. Try to grab as much as you can at
any instant and be sure you keep making progress.
6. LEARN
& USE THE ART OF SUMMARIZATION
If you are in the habit of
summarizing your notes or textbooks at the margins as you read them, then this
is the time to use them. If you've not learnt how to summarize your notes &
texts, you have to do so, because it is a very important tool in exam
preparation and success. The major purpose of summarizing is to extract the
main points from a piece of material. Use your textbooks and whole notes this
time for reference purposes. Use your summaries all through, refining and
making them more concise & useful. Procure an exercise book per course for
this purpose.
7.
LEAVE YOUR COMFORT ZONE
This does not in any way mean that you should
be uncomfortable while studying; far from it. In fact, being uncomfortable
while studying will significantly reduce your chances of comprehension and
memorization. What we’re saying is that you must have a place set aside for
studying. It may be a classroom, a study, or anywhere with as little
distraction as possible. The aim is to avoid distraction and set your
psychology in the ‘study mode’. When you’re in your comfort zone, you’re most
likely to be distracted by anything at all, & you’ll also easily get tired
or bored.
8.
DON'T OVERDO IT
Stressing yourself above limits
during revision in exams is counterproductive. Don't deny yourself adequate
food and rest. These actually help you retain more information and perform
better.
9.
PRACTICE, PRACTICE, AND PRACTICE
The importance of practice cannot be over
emphasized.
·
Write out important points over and over again.
·
Practice writing out full essay answers to old exam
questions or even questions of your own.
·
Practice reading aloud, the answers to the questions.
·
Practice thinking through how you would answer questions.
·
Practice with a friend.
10.
PREPARE AND USE A TIME TABLE
Don't just read anything, anyhow at
anytime. Prepare a time table involving all the courses and try to stick to it
no matter what. It saves you time and effort and makes you cover much ground in
each course by increasing your concentration and devotion. The way to make a
time table work for you is to resolve to use it & keep it in a place where
you’ll be seeing it daily.
If you stick to the above tips, it's quite certain that
you won't have problems with revision, preparation and success in your exams.
WISHING YOU EXCELLENCE!
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