Planning for Examinations

What a grueling time Examinations are! An Examination assesses not only a student’s intelligence, but also his memory retention, organizational skills, and pressure management techniques. More often than not, students who ace the tests are the ones who have a healthy balance of all these qualities. Considering how important the examinations can be, it is well worth getting some lessons for.
Like most things in life, your performance in the assessment tests is determined largely by the amount of preparation you have done. So the planning part should start right from the preparation. Pareto Principle, the ever-green ever-applicable one, says 20% of efforts yield 80% of the results. I would extend it to say that 20% of the syllabus generates 80% of the questions. The trick is to identify this 20% and master it. Master it thoroughly so that is no chance of missing an iota of the 80% of marks. Then go on to the rest of the syllabus. Keep ample time for revision of key concepts before the examination. This will keep these ‘key concepts’ fresh in your mind, and greatly aid your performance. Take enough rest and sleep the night before your exam so that you are in good shape for the big day.
Group studies never worked for me. I always ended up chatting away the time intended for studies, mainly because the effort required to cope up with the disparity in two peoples’ study levels was too much. If you are lucky enough to find a study mate who is at par with you, and is willing to share her insights truthfully, great!! Otherwise, one’s own company is good enough to help.
The floor of the examination hall is the place where your nerves are checked. Proper planning can do wonders here. I have seen students who frantically write away supplementary copies after copies even after the last bell has rung. I have also observed students who spend a leisurely hour at first few questions, only to realize that no time is left for the last ones. I have also met students, who, no matter what the subject is, will always have last 2 minutes free for a quick revision of the answer sheet. How do they do that?
They realize from the beginning that time allotted is limited. Instead of dividing the available time equally among all the questions, they give each question a time proportionate to its value. So a 20 mark essay question in literature will get substantially more time period than a 1 mark multiple choice question. Difficult questions are invariably attempted at the end, so that they don’t steal the time of other questions. And lastly, they always keep a reasonable time for revision , so that any silly mistakes or errors can be given attention to.
That really is all that is needed for a good result from the time management angle. And this technique is, luckily, not tough to master. If you are not one of those lucky people who are born with the innate talent of time organization, just practice the above tips with your practice papers at home, and soon you’ll find this taking over your natural style of chaos.