Exams are the absolute worst, no matter what class or institute you are in. Whether you are in school or in college, in a lower class or a senior class.
It seems as if the second you get a hang of exams and feel that, alright, maybe you can do it, bam, the year is over and you move on to newer problems, newer difficulties and newer exam syllabus.
Sometimes and in some classes, it just feels as if no matter how much you study, you are not fully prepared. The reasons can vary from not understanding the subject, being busy with extra-curricular or sports activities or just being plain lazy.
However, that does not stop the exam time from finally arriving and it sure comes with a bang. That is precisely why the preparation time is the most important to keep in mind.
Even if you might not have studied a lick of anything during the classes, proper and diligent studying during the preparation time, can not just ensure a passing grade but even go beyond that to an actually good score.
So here are a couple of tips that come from personal experience, observations and research on how to ace your preparation period:
1. Don’t Make A Time-Table:
I know, I know. Making a timetable is pretty much no. 1 on any good list that deals with studying, exams and whatnot.
But I’m telling you, do not make a timetable. Just don’t. Why you ask, because well psychology.
The minute you make a timetable, the task becomes a nuisance, something that you feel like you have to slog through and that in turn will make you even more reluctant to actually start studying.
So don’t divide your day into small brackets, don’t assign yourself ‘small’ breaks, which are never really that small, and don’t write down what you will study and when.
But on the other hand, I would suggest you make an outline of all the problematic areas that you experience. Tackle those first, since during the beginning you have more time and thus can get done with the doubts and questions you will have with those topics.
So instead of making a timetable, make an outline of subjects you are weak in, the reasons you are weak in those, and then just pick the one that interests you the most from that list and start studying.
2. Listen Only To Instrumental Music:
Now, some of you might think that we can study very well while listening to lyrical music too, however can you really?
See, the lyrics of the music can interfere with what you are reading and in turn create a lot of confusion for your brain on what information to intake. The lyrics from the music or the text that you are studying.
Instrumental music on the other hand, mellows down the brain and makes it more susceptible to better absorb information without any conflict.
3. Learn To Elaborate:
Wait, let me elaborate here on how important this point this.
Too many times I’ve seen people trying to cram in vast amount of data into their brains in a very short period of time.
Unfortunately, not all of us are super geniuses with photographic or eidetic memory, ala Sheldon Cooper or Sherlock Holmes.
That is why it becomes even more important that we learn to elaborate and extend the point properly without doing rote memorization.
A good thing for this would be to understand the main topic that is being talked about in that section or part or point and just keep that in mind.
Try not to memorise all the examples, and the extra information given along with it during this period but instead when closer to the exam just brush up on any important facts like names, numbers, places and such.
4. Give More Importance To Your Stronger Subjects:
In my earlier point, I said to make an outline of you weak subjects and to devote time to them in the beginning of the preparation period.
But if you were not able to do so, and have started to study much closer to the exams, then throw that point out the window.
Because seriously, it will do you more harm than good, instead opt to study and strengthen your already strong subjects such that you are 100% confident in them.
Say you have a social science paper, and while you are good in history and political science, geography is a weak area for you. Then in that case, make sure you have complete knowledge of the other subjects, enough that you can get a passing mark.
If you have started preparation closer to exams then it would be in your best interest to be just perfect in your strong areas instead of wasting time on your weak ones.
So those were some of the tips I had for the exam preparation time, let me know in the comments below if I missed out on any.
Image Credits: Google Images
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