Nisha Khatana
Generally perceived as a hard task, right preparation in a relaxed and stress-free way can be a fruitful and gratifying experience. Seven skills important for excellence are persistence, self control, optimism, grit, curiosity, creativity and conscientiousness. Here are some handy preparation tips in order to locate and stimulate the genius in you, to develop balance of judgment and build self- confidence.
Start your preparation early: – In order to avoid any haste and stress you must start your examination preparation as early as possible. This will help you to develop topics of each subject and go through them easily and comfortably well in time. It will also enable you to give more time to all the topics and all the source material without any hassle.
Organize your study space: – Organize your sitting arrangement first and make enough space for keeping books. Remove all the distracting material from you room like games, mobile phone etc. Find for yourself a calm place to study.
Go through your syllabus: -You must review your whole syllabus and highlight the main topics that are to be studied. A syllabus is an outline of everything that you should have learned over the course of the class. This is a great place to start and understand major ideas and topics that you should be learning from the class. Review it and highlight the titles and subheads. Write down the major topics that you pulled out of the syllabus. Then go through your notes to see if you have any notes at all on those topics.
Understand the Exam pattern: -Try to understand the exam pattern prescribed by the Board or authority concerned with the exam you are going to appear. It will help you to know the various details like number and types of the marking schemes questions, time duration and modes of exam.
Make a regular Routine of studying: -During your preparation time have a proper timetable and follow it strictly. Plan your work and work your plan, success will be yours. It means that you must make a proper plan and follow it in a disciplined manner. The regular study plan must be prepared in such a way that covers all the topics selected to be studied for each day without any difficulty. Also, the regular routine must have regular intervals between the preparation periods. Set realistic goals and avoid disappointment. Set the goals which are easy to accomplish in order to feel confident and happy. Be careful about your weak areas.
Compile all your notes from various sources: -Exam preparation should be done from a good source study material. Collect it well in time from different sources (both online or offline) from your teachers, friends or from the market. First go through various books and then you can go for notes and online video tutorial. Review study guides and sections. In some books each chapter has a short review or summary. This is a great place to quickly review and get a gist of a concept. Consistently use both traditional and digital mode to broaden your perspective.
Get a good start in your class: – Pay attention in the class and take good study material. If you are paying full concentration in the class almost half of your preparation is complete. All that remain is to brush up facts and to revise the concepts. Teachers can provide you some guidance on what will and not be covered and can also tell you which text book is good to be read. Start with the most basic information. For example, if you are going to study any history unit on imperialism make sure you know what imperialism means and then all about it. Clear your concepts first and then you will be able to understand the rest. You can look up information online but the best information you can study you will get from the information presented to the class.
Rigorous goal setting: – Stop stressing. Take a deep breath. Tell yourself that everything will be okay. You can do this by setting a realistic goal. It is all about finding calm in the chaos. I shall quote here the saying of Mother Teresa who used to say “None of us can do great things, we can only do small things with great love every day.” This equally applies to our study and learning. Start out by building a bucket list of short time and long-term goals. Focus on your strengths and interests, build them out at the intersection of your goals and the requirement of a particular programme. Goal setting is not a onetime activity. Goals keep on evolving as the narrative gets built further. Once you have identified your existing position then set your goal set yourself on a path to bridge the gap between the two that is your existing position and future goal.
Revise your preparation a few weeks before the exam: -Be careful about your weak areas. If possible, take out your answer sheets of your pre-boards, class tests and reexamine your answers sheets.
Get a full night sleep one day before exam: -Your brain needs time to subconsciously digest everything you have put into it. If you started early, you do not have to stay up all night. Only you know how long it takes you to study or revise so you are the best judge of when to start studying. There is no need to copy blindly the study habits of your fellow classmates.
There is a popular saying ‘A stitch in time saves nine.” Same is true for timely and smart preparation for examinations. Constant practice makes for success and stress-free examinations.
Also, sometimes despite our best efforts fruits may not be visible in results. One should not lose heart and go down abyss of hopelessness. Failure and success are part of life and it is important to be confident, cool and clear headed at all times. Root out the fear complex lurking in your mind by combining self confidence with disciplined study and have faith in your own strengths and preparation. All the best for exams!!
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