What You Must Know About Exams As Students

Hello Friends,

Hope you are boosting your preparation with renewed vigour and intensity? Time is ticking, each day becomes weeks, weeks become months, and then post utme date is staring at your face! Time is one phenomenon in life that still fascinates even the least philomath of us (that’s another topic for another day) .

Normally, During Exam period, you might feel either of these  –

1. You feel confident and calm because you started preparing weeks in advance

2. You’re freaking out doing last minute cramming

3. You’re not doing anything because you’ve given up

You might feel like a glutton or a foodie , the only difference being you’re not cramming a dish of eba into your body, but facts. plenty and plenty of facts.

Regardless of whatever the situation seems like, it’s important that you remain calm and learn from this experience.

Because, being calm promotes clear and refined thought and which will allow you reflect on the things that have worked and the things that haven’t worked so well for you.

When I failed my first examination at law faculty, it wasn’t until I had calmed down that I was able to reflect on what went wrong and make improvements and adjustments for the subsequent exams.

Here are five things you must Know About Exams As Students.

 Stress makes you stupid

The worse thing you can do is panic and get stressed in an exam. Why?

When you panic, your mind usually goes blank and things can down hill very quickly.

You need to be able to think clearly so you can retrieve the information you need. So if you come across a question you don’t know how to answer, take a deep breathe in, tell yourself “There will be other questions I will be able to answer” and move onto another question.

[Read: How To Beat Exam Anxiety ]

Never study on the morning of an exam

It’s too late to absorb new information on the morning of an exam, so put away your textbooks. At this point you want to just look over the main ideas of the subject Or review.

You don’t feel like you know everything, that’s OK. What you need to do is focus on all the things you do know. Tell yourself thoughts such as “I will be able to answer a lot of the questions” and “I know a lot more than I did before”.

If you’ve been going to classes and have done some revision, chances are you will be able to answer many of the questions. By telling yourself these positive thoughts you can remain calm, clear headed and focused.

[Get original Uniuyo Post UTME Past Questions and Answers HERE!]

Set concrete tasks for yourself

Telling yourself that you have to study for exams is just too overwhelming and unclear for your brain.

“Study what?” your brain will say.

You see, your brain hates blurry and unclear things and tends to procrastinate unless it knows exactly what it needs to do.

Instead of saying you’re going to study, set a task that has a clear end point. You could read a chapter, create one mind map or solve 10 equations.

[Read: How to Stop Procrastinating Now ]

Work like a sprinter

You’ll get more done in less time if you complete your concrete tasks in focused intense, short bursts. Grab a timer, set it for 20 to 30 minutes and complete a concrete task during this time. But here’s the thing: You can’t get distracted by facebook, your computer, your mobile or TV during this time. You need to give 100% of your attention to the task at hand.

Then once the time is up, go have a break. Rest and recover for 10 minutes. Then set the timer for another 20 minutes and go!

Doing a few short sprints each day a few weeks before exams is much better than doing long study sessions a few days just before exams. It’s a lot less stressful too.

The alternative is to multitask but the problem with multitasking is it slows you down (you become up to 40% slower) and you don’t learn information as effectively. You also experience a drop in IQ and a low IQ is not conducive to good exam revision.

[Read:Top 10 Secrets of Highly Successful Students ]

After the exam, don’t talk about it

Have you ever walked out of an exam and asked your friends what they put as answers for certain questions?

Doing this can seriously backfire and throw you off your game.

Is there really any point dwelling on what you put for certain answers when you can’t change anything about it?

No. That exam is done and dusted and you can’t change the result. Save your precious time and energy for improving how yourself.

So my advice is simple – don’t talk about the exam.

Here’s the thing: the exams you’re about to take probably aren’t your first and last set of exams so learn from this experience.

For instance, if you typically only start studying a few days before exams, perhaps consider giving yourself a few extra weeks to study for the next lot of exams. If your study notes are boring, then test out taking some visual notes.

The tips above sets out some simple yet effective strategies for preparing exams. Check it out and acknowledge yourself for the things you’re already doing well. If there are some things you don’t do, that’s OK. Take note of them and make sure you incorporate these strategies into your study plan for your next set of exams.

Oh! and make sure you practice with your past question booklets and good luck in your preparations.