1. The first day to prepare for your exams is today. simply put, don’t wait for the last day to arrive to begin to study. Study your daily lessons. Every weekend revise your lessons of the week.
2. Before two weeks of your exams your immediate preparation begins. Plan your time then distributing well the time available. By now you should know the exact schedule of your exams.
3. Know what you are expected to know. That is, have clear in mind what is the portion for the exam. It is even helpful to make a list of lessons for each subject that you need to study. And as you finish the lesson make a tick mark. This would help you plan your study time as well.
4. Know also the model of the question paper that you will have to face. This would make you less nervous. It would be also profitable to know exactly how much time you would have for the exam and try an appropriate distribution of time for each section, according to the mark that they carry.
5. Study actively. While studying make use of pen/paper to jot down the main points in a separate sheet of paper.
6. Recalling & Revising is very vital. After studying a lesson close your notes/books. Try to recall what you’ve just studied. Recalling could be done when you are walking from your class room to the D.H. or to the Dorm as whatever free time you might get. Going through the old question papers (of the previous years) could be of great help to recall what you have studied. Old question papers are helpful especially for subjects like Mathematics.
7. Revise. It is good to revise what you study again and again from time to time. Each time you revise pay particular attention to those parts that you were not able to recall.
8. On days previous to exams don’t disturb your eating, sleeping and recreational habits. On the day previous to exam don’t study till late at night. Burning the mid-night oil does more harm than good. It makes you more tired and your mind less active, on the actual day of the exam.
9. On the day of exam, don’t panic. Be calm. Keep thinking and recalling the things you have studied.
10. Before the exam you may pray sincerely. But avoid superstitions about pen, dress etc. These are only psychological games.
FACING THE EXAM
1. Go in time to the examination hall. Avoid running around or doing other things that may distract you in the last minute before the exam.
2. Take all the stationery that is needed for the exam. Make sure that your pen is in order.
3. As soon as you receive the question paper, have a bird’s eye view of the whole paper. Read all the instructions carefully. Take note of the choices that you have. Don’t panic if there are many questions that you do not know. The mind always takes some time to recall. Perhaps after a few minutes you would be able to recall. But by panicking your concentration goes from the head to the heart.
4. Work out a proper time-sharing between questions according to the marks they carry.
5. What really matters in an exam is not how intelligent you are or how hard you had worked, but how much you are able to express what you do know. Let your answers be logical and well planned out. Write neatly and legibly.
6. Don’t copy from your neighbour during exam. This is not justice. This is against the whole aim of education.
7. Follow some good tricks to impress the examiner. Write neatly and make your answer sheet presentable. Remember that your examiner is a human being, s/he has her/his likes and dislikes too. However, don’t waste your precious time decorating your answer sheet. Sandwich not so good answers between good answers in each section. You need not answer the questions in the same order as they are in the question paper. In each section, begin with the question that you know best. But don’t forget to mark the answers with the appropriate question number.
8. Many “poor” students do not complete their exams in time. Don’t spend more time with what you know and less time with what you do not know. Have proper time-sharing according to the marks they carry. Unless asked, don’t waste your time rewriting questions.
9. Attempt all the required questions even if you do not know the answers well. Write something always. Something is better than nothing.
10. Before the exam concludes, have some time to go through your answer sheet. Have you obeyed all the instructions in the question paper? Have you marked all your answers with the proper question number? Read through your answer sheet, especially through the one word answers. By the way, check if you have written your name or the Identification number as required, in the answer sheet.
ORAL EXAMS (Viva voce)
1. It is natural that you will be extra nervous for the oral exams, especially when you are not used to it. But it is important to keep your cool. Being nervous would only ruin your exams.
2. What counts in an oral exam is not how hard you have worked or even how much you know, but how convincingly and clearly you able to express yourself.
3. Your appearance matters a lot. So dress appropriately and appear neat. Don’t rush into the room sweating all over. Avoid anything that may irritate the examiner. Greet him/her confidently when you enter. Be in time.
4. In an oral exam it is natural that as soon as the examiner puts forward a question, you may not remember the full answer immediately. But without much pause start with the point that you remember. That is why while preparing for an oral exam you need to do a lot of reciting and recalling and revising.
5. When you do not know the answer for a particular question, it is better to say for instance, “ I don’t remember it just now, I’m sorry.” Some say, “I have not studied this” or worst still, “You have not taught this,” and irritate the examiner. In an oral exam you gain nothing by justifying your ignorance. In an oral exam always the examiner is able to ask tricky questions, (or unannounced questions). For such questions whatever you answer gets credit, so don’t panic.
6. Sometimes the examiner would try to confuse you on purpose just to test you. Don’t be annoyed. It is okay to logically (not emotionally) argue with the examiner to defend your position.
7. In an examination what really matters is not whether the examiner was smiling or if he was serious. But whether you convinced him of the fact that you knew the subject. So let not the emotions of the examiner control you. Look cool. Be confident. What ultimately matters is how much mark you will get.
8. In oral exams, marks are not normally given based on how many questions you answered rightly. Rather it is the overall impression that you presented of your understanding of the subject.