YOU CAN ACE THE PAPERS; JUST PREPARE WELL

“You can never guarantee you'll be the smartest person in the room, but there is no excuse for not being the most prepared." 

Brendan Paddick

It will be quite heart breaking to spend countless hours in your studies and then to be robbed of victory in your exams because of ill-preparation. That is why at the cost of making this book longer than I had planned it to be, I am compelled to add a chapter on how to prepare adequately for your examinations

Practical Tips and Strategies For Preparing For Your Exams

There are three main stages where you have to prepare yourself as far as examinations are concerned; the very few days before the examination, during the examination and then after the examination.

Before the exams

1. Create an exam timetable/schedule. Even though a lot of your performance in your exams depends on how studious you were from the beginning of the semester, your last-minute preparations can make a lot of difference. As we learnt in the chapter on planning, you should always draw a different timetable for your exams.  I hope you still remember all the tips about drawing timetables. You should find out how much time you have before the actual exam begins, identify your strengths and weaknesses and allocate time to each subject based on that information. Having drawn a comprehensive timetable, you should endeavour to follow it to the letter. If you do not discipline yourself to stick to your exam timetable, you will have quite a big price to pay. Therefore, make sure the timetable is realistic enough for you to be able to follow it.

2. Prepare well before the exams. Examinations do not just pop out of the blue. You will usually know of them way back. Hence, you should not be caught unawares by them. It will not help to leave everything to the last minute. Therefore, throughout the semester, you should take your studies and lectures seriously. That way, by the time exams pops up, you will be all ready to get your distinctions.

3. This is the time to utilise your notebooks. The exam period is the period to review and memorise your notes; it is not the time to read fat textbooks. The reason is simple; if during exams you find yourself still reading textbooks, you will most probably run out of time. It does not mean you should not read textbooks at all. In fact, if you have enough time to read all that you have to in your textbook, you should go ahead. But this is most likely not going to be the case. Therefore, make sure you write comprehensive notes for use when you are preparing for your exams.

4. Create flashcards or summary sheets. As you do your final preparations, summarising the information on flashcards may make studying certain facts easier and even exciting. A flashcard is basically a small rectangular piece of paper with a question on one side and the answer on the other side. You could even go online to create your own flashcards on websites such as www.quizlet.com. You could also condense the essential facts onto sheets of papers for quick reference. Do not try to put every piece of information into the flashcards or summary sheets. You should concentrate on the easily forgettable facts/factoids.

5. Get into the mind of the examiner. As you study for your exams, you should occasionally put yourself in the shoes of the examiner. Think like him. Ask yourself, what question will I have asked in this section if I were an examiner? Write down the questions as you study and try to answer them. Sometimes, you will be surprised to find the same questions in your exams. After all, the examiner is a human like you, and so you can think alike.

Apart from forming your own questions, you should also pay attention to points that were emphasised by the lecturer. Teachers always characteristically repeat concepts that they would like to test students on. So, take note when you observe a teacher stressing on a point over and over again.

6. Make every second and minute count. If there is any other time you should make sure you use time judiciously, it is during your preparations for your exams. As we learnt earlier, this is the time to carry your jotter/flashcards/summary sheets with you everywhere you go. That way, you can revise even as you stand in queues or as you are in traffic.

7. Attempt sample questions to get an idea of the nature of the exam. Fortunately, there are a lot of sample questions available for you to use. Some lecturers even give out sample questions for students to try their hands on. You will be putting yourself at an unnecessary disadvantage if you do not try to answer sample questions. If you find problems answering them, it may mean you did not really understand the concepts and will need to go through them again. If it is possible, you can seek help from a colleague.

8. Undertake regular exercise and eat well. More than anything, you will need a sound mind to concentrate on your studies. Therefore, even as you prepare for your examinations, do well to still exercise even if it is for a few minutes. You should also avoid depriving yourself of sleep as this will affect the storage of information that you have learnt. Apart from exercise, you should also eat well to preserve your health and provide you with energy.

9. Know your exam timetable very well. In the university where you have so many students writing examinations on the same day in different examination halls, it is important to know exactly where you are writing your paper and at what time. It is not unusual to find students in the morning running up and down, because they cannot locate their exam halls. It will take nothing from you if you even go to check out the examination hall a day before the exam if the location is not familiar to you.

10. Send all the materials that you will need to the exam hall. A day before the exam, you should make a checklist of all the materials that you will need for the exam and put all of them in your bag. Before you leave for the examination grounds, do well to check again, just to make sure that you have all that you need. Precious time will be wasted should you walk into the exam hall without your pen, compass or other materials. If possible, get additional pens and pencils, just in case your pen/pencil stops working.

If the examination requires that you bring your identity card, do well to send it. You may not be allowed to write the exams if you do not send your ID card. One important thing that you must send to the exam hall is a watch (a digital watch preferably). It will help you to keep track of your progress against the time that you have, so that you will know when to accelerate or decelerate.

11. You have to be positive about your capabilities. You need to psyche yourself up for the exam. Some students spend all the time they have snivelling about what they have not yet studied. You should avoid this! Throughout the semester, you have learnt a lot and should not be afraid or anxious. You cannot possibly know everything under the sun in a particular subject matter, but you can know just enough to come out with distinction. Therefore, do not be discouraged by how much you have not studied; be encouraged by how much you have studied.

12. Arrive as early as possible. Arriving early to the examination hall will give you ample time to relax and calm down. On the contrary, rushing in late into the exam hall will not only make you nervous, but also takes away your precious time.

13. Do a self-check before you step into the examination hall. During your preparation, it is possible to have left a summary sheet or a flashcard in your pocket. Therefore, check yourself to ensure that you have no foreign material on you even before the invigilator inspects you. Should you enter the examination hall with a foreign material unknowingly, raise your hand as soon as possible and report it to the invigilator and do not try to hide it.

 During the exams

1. It is normal to be a little nervous, but control it. It is normal that just before the exam, you will find your heart beating a little faster and probably a little perspiration here and there. Do not worry, that is just adrenaline doing its job and will pass away soon if you control it. What you have to do is to relax, take in deep breathes, and be positive about the exam.

2. Follow the instructions strictly. The examination is basically a set of instructions that you are expected to comply with. You should not be in a rush to supply answers to questions. What if the instruction is “do not attempt any question”? You would have deviated completely if you started answering the questions blindly. Therefore, read the instructions painstakingly and make it a point to comply with all of them.

3. Do a “brain dump.” You will agree with me that there are certain concepts that are just too elusive to keep in one’s memory. They can easily be forgotten as soon as they are learned. This is especially true for laws in the physical sciences or other formulas. For such, immediately they say start work, it will be convenient for you to quickly write them down so that you do not forget them. This is what I mean by you doing a “brain dump.” It is like dumping elusive information as soon as possible. However, let me be quick to add that doing this before the start of the paper may be considered a malpractice. Therefore, do wait until the exam has officially started.

4. Survey the entire question paper. Once the exam or test has started, the first thing to do is not to start writing your answers. You should preview the entire paper. Find out how many questions you are expected to answer; how much time you have and how many marks have been allocated to each section. That way, you will be able to allocate time to the different sections depending on the weight of marks and then work towards that goal. Doing this will help you to avoid the possibility of running out of time.

In some examinations, you are allowed some time to read through the question paper before officially starting the exam. In that case, you can use that time to survey the question paper and planning so that when the paper starts, you will be good to go.

4. Skip difficult questions and return to them later. If the questions carry equal marks, there is no need spending so much time on a question you honestly do not know. Skip such items and move on to the easy ones. You can always come back to the more difficult ones to try them out again.

5. Write legibly. Whether you are writing your index number, name or your answers, you should always write boldly and legibly. For the examiner to be able to mark, he/she will have to be able to read what you have written first of all. Therefore, if it is not legible enough, you are likely to lose some marks. In fact, the examiner is impressed by a neat, legible handwriting, but you should not be overly worried because your handwriting is not good enough. I am not oblivious of the fact that some students naturally do not have good handwriting. So the trick is, don't panic if that is the case. I have a tall list of “academic gurus” who do not have very good handwriting. So even if you do not have a good handwriting, be confident and try to write as legible as you can and make sure all the key facts are presented.

6. Go over the test when you are done. Do not be in a haste to go out of the exam hall; after all, there will be more time after the paper is officially over. If you are done, there is no harm in reading through your work to dot your “i’s” and cross your “t’s.” This will also afford you the opportunity to fish out mistakes and correct them before you hand over your answer sheets.

7. Ignore other test takers. Once the examination has started, you have to work as an individual. Focus mainly on your exam and not spend unnecessary time looking at other test takers. Focusing on other test takers may affect you negatively. For example, if you saw one of your colleagues sleeping in the exam room, you might be tempted to relax or even do same.

8. Do not cheat during the exam. All examinations that I have come across take a serious exception to cheating. Cheating does not only take away the sanctity of an examination, it also goes to demonstrate how low one’s morals are. No matter the situation, you should write the examination on your honour and not try to seek help or offer help to other people during the exam.