Guide To Preparing For Examinations Part Iii

Guide to preparing for examinations: Part III: During examination -Nitin D Parekh, CA, CFA, MBA (IIM, A) Executive Director, Ashima Limited

The preparation for examination requires dedicated and concentrated efforts coloured with burning desire to achieve something of interest. We have seen that a well chartered out plan and different action strategies are required for effective preparation for examinations. There are a number of tips to be applied for exam preparation. Some students have asked me whether such tips really benefit the students. My response is that you would not get benefited form them if you do not have patience to read and understand them and also tenacity to follow them religiously. The preparation for examinations during examinations is discussed in the following paragraphs. During examinations At home: The students who have worked hard through out the year also get little nervous during the days of exam as there is so much to read in so little time available for revision. Some important issues cropping up during this period are discussed as under: 1. What to read?: We have already discussed earlier about the type of material to be read. During the days of exams it is never possible to read everything and none should aspire to do that. However this does not mean that you should not glance through everything. The students are advised to read completely answers to most expected questions and go through highlights or main points of all other questions. It is especially important to go through all formulas for mathematics, statistics, physics and other subjects involving formulas or rules. Don’t try any new reading material during the exams which you have not read earlier unless it is must. Don’t get into cramming anything at this last hour unless something is absolutely must. Use the techniques of speed reading during exam days. 2. What to do if you feel sleepy?: You are at the most critical time and cannot afford to sleep when you are yet to go through your study materials. Certain techniques which are all employed by me in my career are: a. Read while standing. You would find this little uncomfortable but don’t worry about the same. When you stand, stand in the middle of the room with out any support of walls. b. Read while walking: You may find this even more taxing but you need to do whatever required to get you out of sleepiness. For sometime you may not be able to concentrate on your reading. However after 15

minutes or so you would be alright and will be in a position to read and remember. c. If you fail in both these methods then you may ask your brother/sister or friend to read for you and you should listen to the same. You should sit on a chair which is not very comfortable one and advise the reader to keep an eye on you every ten minutes. In my studies my brother Dilip and sister Varsha have helped me in this strenuous task. d. Listen to the recorded tapes if you have prepared the same. Please make sure that the recoded tape must have the same information which you would have otherwise read. e. You may also start writing something relevant to your exams rather than only reading as writing will keep you awake. 3. Other points: a. You should be very clear on the venue and structure of exam, duration of exam and coverage of syllabus for exam on hand. b. Make doubly sure as to which is the subject of exam on a particular day. Make it a point to affix the timetable opposite your reading desk. Keep others in your family informed about the same. c. The parents are advised not to create unnecessary tension by constantly asking their children to study hard and take a lot of care in the exams. Now allow the students to be on their own and don’t create last minute tension. d. The family members should help the students in collecting together all material supplies for the exams like pen, pencil, eraser etc. My wife Rupa had helped me a lot in my CFA exam in this respect. e. The parents should take special care of health of students. The students should not eat outside food. Overeating is not advisable. Take a balanced meal in days of exams. f. The students should not pass the days without proper food. They should take at least 7-8 hours of sleep everyday. g. When you come back after one exam paper, don’t spend time in deciding how you performed. You should concentrate on next day’s exam paper. h. Ensure that you will wake up at the target time in the morning especially when you have early exam or you intend to wake up early to complete some revision. Use two alarm clocks with five minute difference in timings. Ask your family members or friends to call you up to ensure that you don’t fail to wake up at the required time. i. You must be able to willingly and enthusiastically ready to face the exams. If you bored and in the haste to finish the same as fast as possible, you are not likely to put up your best performance. j. Wear clothes which suit the climate at a point in time. Do not wear clothes where the same will interfere in your speed or concentration. k. Before you go to the test centre tell yourself that you have prepared well for the exam and you would do well in the exam.

At the examination centre: The following points should be remembered: 1. Go to your exam centre the previous day and inspect your seating place in terms of comfort, ventilation and availability of air depending on season. Check whether there is any clock in the exam room and if yes, verify the correctness of the timings as compared to your watch. 2. Depending on the season and temperature you should wear the clothes which would be comfortable. The annual exams are normally conducted in summer and thus it would make sense to wear cotton clothes. 3. Reach to the exam centre well in advance. Start from home early keeping at least 30 minutes of contingency time if anything goes wrong with your vehicle or you encounter much hectic traffic than expected by you. 4. You may not carry any reading materials with you for reading between your home and exam centre if you are satisfied with your preparation and do not want to have last minute tension. 5. Don’t reach at exam centre too early otherwise you will become more anxious or nervous. 6. At the exam centre outside the class you may find some students engrossed in reading or discussing what would be there in the question paper etc. Avoid talking to them as they would create anxiety and stress in your mind. 7. Don’t get into discussions with your friends and colleagues as to what you have prepared and what they have prepared, till what time you read and they read and what do you think would be level of difficulty in question paper. More specifically avoid talking to those students who are considered to be very intelligent and hard working as you may unnecessarily get disappointed thinking that you have not prepared well for the exams. You may try to relax and remain cool in this most trying period. In the examination centre: The tips for exams in the centre may be divided in general tips and specific tips. The general tips are discussed in this article and specific tips will be discussed in the next article: General tips: 1. Go confidently to your examination room and visualize yourself confidently answering all the questions in an excellent manner. 2. Take your seat well in time. Avoid thinking about what will be asked in the test paper. 3. Relax and don’t think about the exam. Take deep breaths and relax your hands by stretching. Perform some religious ‘Mantra’ if you have faith in religion or at least to be away from the exam anxiety. I used to speak ‘Navkar Mantra’ which is the most powerful mantra for the Jains. 4. When the test papers are being distributed maintain cool and calm position with out getting nervous or anxious. 5. Read all instructions of the test paper carefully before starting any answer.

6. Read entire question paper before starting any answer. While you read the questions also judge the question paper in terms of length, difficulty level, type of questions etc. 7. While reading all questions of the test paper also analyse the type of test paper in terms of essay type questions, short-notes, fill in the blanks, truefalse, multiple choice questions, reading comprehension, charts etc. 8. While glancing through the entire test paper start paying attention to the total number of questions and the amount of time which will be required to complete the same. 9. Read directions for all questions and understand what are the optional questions, if any. One of the biggest causes of loss of marks is not reading instructions or not interpreting the instructions correctly. Pay special attention to words like ‘and’, ‘or’ etc. to understand the options. Many students have wrong habit of staring the answers without complete reading of question paper. 10. If your supervisor gives any instructions at the beginning of the test in terms of any corrections in the questions or marks etc., pay special attention to the same and immediately make the necessary corrections in your question paper. 11. While going through test paper, if you are provided options, mark with pencil the questions which you would like to attempt. 12. It is necessary to make correct interpretation of options given to you. For example if you are given question number (1) with sub questions (a) and (b) and the alternative question number (1) with sub questions (a), (b) and (c ), you may get confused about sub question (c ). In such case look at the marks allotted to each of the sub questions to understand whether (c) is to be attempted only for alternative question (1) or for both the alternatives. 13. If you are not specifically told about how many questions are to be answered, you should assume that all questions are to be answered. 14. If you do not understand a particular question you may ask the supervisor or instructor to explain you. It should not be assumed that the supervisor would really do it. This is only to attempt the interpretation. 15. Decide the order in which you would like to attempt the questions. While deciding this you may keep in mind how well you are prepared to answer the questions, what is the time allocation required and what are the marks allotted to them. 16. You may also circle the questions which are most difficult and you would like to attempt at the end. 17. You should break-up the difficult or complicated directions into smaller sentences to make correct meaning out of them. Underline the specific words which are important in making interpretation so that you do not forget the same when you attempt to answer the same. 18. For multiple choice questions, understand how the answers are to be marked. Whether you have to make tick mark or you have to circle the correct answer must be understood clearly.

19. Understand the allocation of time to different questions based on total time available and time required to be allocated to some specific difficult or essay type questions. 20. You may do quick listing of some formulas or points related to questions asked while reading the questions if you apprehend that you may forget them. 21. If you are provided with any sample question-answer understand clearly from the sample as to what exactly you are supposed to do. In such cases it is hardly important that the sentences which may emerge are factually true or not. 22. Now do your own time budget for different questions and develop your choice of questions to be attempted, if you have any options. 23. The allocation of time need not be in proportion of marks only. For example you may allocate less time for objective type questions and more time for essay type questions in the tests of knowledge. If it is a test of accuracy like in the competitive exams you need to allocate more time for difficult questions. 24. After going through the entire test paper and before starting any answers, you may give rank numbers to questions in the order in which you would like to attempt. For example you may decide to attempt question number 5 which may be of multiple choice first, followed by question number 3 which may be on short-notes and you may decide to attempt question number 1 as the last which may be on essay. This would save time of making best choices every time you are through with one answer. 25. Fill in the necessary details in the question paper and in the answer book like your identity number, roll number or any other information which you may be required to write down. Never take chance that you would complete these details at the end. 26. Before you begin your first answer you may think of outline of all the answers which you are required to answer. 27. Start with the easiest but best answer first. You may decide to answer all objective type questions first. These may be completed in relatively lesser time so that you have enough time to answer other questions. 28. Your first answer should be well presented in a legible handwriting and must be the best possible from your side. Your first impression should work out well. This does not mean that you would not do better in other questions too. It only means that you at least do not spoil your impression from the first answer itself which may become detrimental. 29. It is quite common for many students to give disproportionately more time to first question. This happens as you have just started. To avoid this start with budget time adherence from the beginning by not concentrating too much on good handwriting. 30. Start every new question on a separate page of the answer book. If the question relates to a chart or graph it would be better to put chart on the left side of the answer book so that it becomes easy to write on the right side of the page without every now and then turning the page to understand and interpret the chart or graph.

31. Even if you have read the entire question paper at the beginning you are advised to read the question again thoroughly before you start answer to a particular question. 32. Constantly keep your eyes on the watch so that you don’t spend disproportionately more time on any questions. 33. Pay particular attention to the expected length of the answer. For example if you are asked to answer the question in 10 lines, do not give answer in 5 or 15 lines. This shows either inadequate knowledge or carelessness on the part of students. 34. Decide the length of the answer and time to be spent on the answer based on the allocation of marks to the question. 35. Use all supporting materials which are allowed to be used in exam. For example if you are allowed to use calculator you should use it for all difficult calculations rather than entirely relying on your mental calculations. When you can use your instruments for drawing a circle in geometry there is no need to try with your free hand drawing skills. 36. Mark or circle all the questions and sections of the questions which you have already attempted to make sure that you do not forget to attempt any one and also to avoid spending unnecessary time to check many times what is attempted and what is pending. 37. If you do not know the right or full answer to a particular question, make it a last choice to attempt. If the same happens to be a section of the question which you have already attempted, leave enough space to respond to the said section later after you can complete the entire test paper. It is not advisable to spend too much time on one difficult question at the cost of not being able to attempt some other questions where can score better marks. Do not forget to mark completed questions so that you are able to spot this uncompleted section later. 38. If you are not very clear about the answer and are in two minds, concentrate on the key words in the question to get some clues to the correct answer. This may be especially true for multiple choice questions, wherein you may look at the grammatical parts like tense, singular-plural or other clues to get the correct answer. 39. You may re-read the directions to ensure that you have attempted all the questions required to be attempted. 40. If you find the test paper very difficult genuinely or in comparison to your expectations do not get nervous. Do not think of quitting and do not spend time in looking at what others are doing. Collect yourself to the most important task of your career and bring all energies to make excellent attempt at producing best possible performance. You should think that if the test paper is really difficult it would be difficult for others also. In any case in most exams it is the relative performance which is more important than the absolute performance. 41. If at all you get diffident and find things not working out to your expectations, quickly gather your strengths, remember your career goals and get to the

work again. Believe that this is a necessary trying and testing period to reach your ultimate career goals. 42. If you feel nervous in the exams do small relaxation exercise like stretching your hands and legs and close your eyes for half a minute taking deep breaths. 43. You may take a glass of water during the exams. If allowed in the exams and you really feel like taking you may drink a small glass of fruit juice. 44. Keep full concentration on your test paper. Don’t look at or think about what others are doing or which question they are attempting or what part they would have completed. Tell your mind every time, ‘I am here to perform to the best of my abilities based on excellent preparation made by me’. 45. If you get stuck up in answering a particular question or get memory loss half way through your answer, try to recall your memory by taking deep breathing and relaxing for 30 seconds. If you do not succeed do not get panic, leave space for the answer and go to next question. Try to save time to come back to this question later on. While answering other questions you may keep on thinking subconsciously about the answer to the left question only if it does not come in the way of answering other questions. If it is not possible concentrate on all other questions for the time being without thinking at all about the left question and come back to the same at the end. You may also ask yourself if you were to answer the difficult question anyway what is the best possible answer you would have given. 46. If you find the situation where in spite of all best efforts, you have spent more than required time on some questions; you may re look at your choice of questions for remaining questions so as not to miss any question. 47. If you find that you are likely to miss one or more question for want of time, it is advisable to shorten your answers in terms of length rather than allow some questions unanswered. For example in any descriptive subject in case of two questions each of 5 marks, if you are faced with choice of one complete answer and one question to be missed vs. two half summary answers the second choice is better. It is obvious that this logic can not be applied to number problems. 48. If at all you are in a situation wherein you are going to miss answers to one or more questions you may only write the outline answer and mention that though you know the complete answer you have not been able to do the justice for want of time. It is not to convey that this will allow you to get full marks but it will definitely help in maintaining your good reputation and can work in your favour. 49. If you leave the space when you are not able to recall particular information at a point in time it is alright. However do not leave space for the sake of it as it creates bad impression. 50. When you use particular type of serial numbers and sub-serial numbers, use them uniformly in the entire test paper. For example, if you use 1,2,3 etc as the main points and a,b,c etc as the sub points follow the same pattern through out the test paper. This is also a testimony to your attribute of consistency in smallest things.

51. There are several ways of making a presentation of answers to create an impact. You may use the quotations of well known authorities on the relevant subject and create a strong positive reputation as a learned student with additional reading then a stereotype answer which can be found in the answer sheets of many students. 52. Whenever you intend to highlight the headings/titles of your answer you may use the system of putting the heading/titles in rectangular box to catch the attention of the examiner. 53. If you are allowed to use colour pen/pencils or highlighters, highlight the headings of your answers. In number problems highlight the final answer only. 54. Request for a supplementary sheet when you have at least one page to write down so that by the time you get the supplementary sheet in your hands you do not have to wait and waste your valuable time. 55. Don’t forget to write down all required particulars including supplementary number and your identification number and other details on all supplementary sheets. 56. Don’t forget to tie up main answer sheet and all supplementary sheets. You may use strings as well as stapler pin if allowed. 57. You must plan your test paper in such a way that you save at least 10 minutes to make complete revision of your answer book. 58. Make complete revision of your answer book. Be sure that you have written what you desired to write and have not forgotten anything and have not written anything incorrect to the best your knowledge. 59. Use total time available for exam. Even if you have completed entire test paper to your satisfaction there is not need to leave the exam room before total time is over. This is very crucial and important period and it is advisable that you make revision once again and you may find that some answers require correction. 60. As regards attempting optional questions I would advise that the same may be resorted only after making complete revision of all the answers given by you. Again you may attempt the same if at all you are less confident of your answers. 61. When you come out of exam room tell yourself that you have given best performance based on your capabilities and you should expect good results.