Exams — the biggest nightmare for every student on the face of the earth! No matter how studious or nerdy a student is, as the day of the exam approaches, it seems like everything is just flying away from our brains and we have totally forgotten whatever we tried to study! Although each of us is going through the same situation, it has been observed that we all behave and react differently to exam pressure. Some students, while trying to study, will start eating a lot; especially chocolates and other junk food (which they shouldn’t) to overcome the pressure. Others become very temperamental and moody as their exams approach. Some even stop eating or doing any other activity except for locking themselves up in their rooms, with their heads plunged into their books all day long!
Beware of phobias
All these examples show that the students are going through an exam-phobia (the most commonly occurring phobia of all). Exam-phobia or exam-pressure is quite normal and there is nothing to worry about. But to get rid of it, the first thing to do is try to find out if it exists in you.
Look at the examples mentioned above and see if you find any of them in yourself (or anything similar, for that matter). Once you have done that, the next step is to know how to eliminate this problem and make studying and revising better and more effective. Having that feeling of “butterflies in your stomach” with the arriving of exams is quite normal but pressures such as those stated above can really hinder your performance and ultimately, have a bad effect on your grades.
I do agree that studying and revising for exams can be really tedious but if certain tips are followed, your performance can be improved to a great extent. But one thing you need to keep in mind is that studying and revising have to be a consistent, ongoing process. There is no magic pill available that will enable you to retain the material from you entire course at the very last moment, just the night before your exam. But this certainly doesn’t mean that you should tie yourself up with books several hours a day. The key to scoring well is extremely easy! Take my words. No matter, how difficult and impossible the course you are dealing with is, you can achieve satisfying and pleasing results just by following these simple tips.
Importance of planning
Firstly, set aside time for yourself — any time of the day that you are comfortable with. Assign only 15-20 minutes for each subject (not more). Quickly go through the topics you studied in class that day. The best way is to surf about that content online. Do the same with other subjects and keep practicing this every day. Make it a habit.
Then, as your exams approach; let’s say in a month’s time, start going through the course in chunks. Take three, four topics at a time. Go through them. Go through the same three, four topics after five days, then again after ten days and then again after fifteen days. This is the most effective revision technique suggested by educationists.
By the end of the month, you will have full grasp and command over those topics and retaining them will not be a problem anymore! Do the same with the rest of the topics and subjects. You will definitely feel the difference in how you have been able to retain your course effectively without any forced cramming or rote-learning!
Do you have a learning technique that will definitely be helpful for our readers? Feel free to share it with us by using the comment form below.
Image by Svein Halvor Halvorsen, Francesco Pappalardo, Steve McFarland
