An examination is a formal assessment of your knowledge or abilities in a particular subject. When you take a scientific test to assess how well you understand science, this is an example of an examination. It consists of written exercises, oral questions, or practical assignments that are designed to assess a candidate's knowledge and abilities. Life is made up of two aspects: success and failure. The method in which examination tactics are developed is the cause for some people's success and some people's failure (Dutta, 2009). According to Dutta (2009), there are three essential tactics for test and life success:-
i. Planning: Planning is the first and most crucial step in achieving success. The act of planning is deciding on a goal and formulating a strategy to achieve it. This phase involves deciding on a goal and a strategy for achieving it. Your plans should be adaptable so that they may be adjusted in the event of unfavorable circumstances or whenever necessary.
ii. Execution: Planning is just the predetermination of how the job will be carried out. As a result, when the strategy has been developed, the following stage is to put it into action. Only after the strategy is correctly implemented will you be able to reach your goal.
iii. Control: Under this step we should compare the existing situation and desired situation and if we find any deviation then we must improve upon it as soon as possible.
The above mentioned are the steps that contribute greatly for preparing the strategy for examination. Being sincere is not enough, it is also important to do smart hard work as well.
Preparation Strategies to Tackle Examination
According to Dutta (2009), an effective approach to examination technique allows students to enter the examination room with a clear idea of the skills they want to demonstrate, a realistic expectation of the questions, and the goal of using the questions to demonstrate as much knowledge as possible. Students may take charge of the situation with an active approach to examination procedure. Exams are approached by some students with a fatalistic mentality, as if they are helpless captives being tortured. They provide a passive response to the queries and hope for the best. It's crucial to remember that mastering your information is required to answer an examination question correctly (lsc.sas.cornell.edu/Sidebars/Study Skills Resources/exam.pdf).
Here are some pointers on how to prepare for your exam:-
i. Manage your time—estimate how much time you can devote to each question in order to complete the exam. Always begin with the most basic queries.
ii. Carefully read the guidelines and questions - exam instructions sometimes provide explicit instructions for answering the questions. Write down any words or phrases that spring to mind while you read the questions in the margin. These may assist you in organizing your response.
iii. Make a mental strategy, including mnemonics and spider diagrams - note down some of your mnemonics or spider diagrams before beginning to answer any question (Dutta, 2009). As a result, you won't forget what you were going to write next if you refer back to your strategy while composing your answer.
iv. Consider how to structure your essay - use a recognizable pattern to organize your essay. The pattern of decreasing importance begins with the most general and vital information and gradually narrows in scope.
v. Create an outline for your response - once you've grasped the question, create an outline for your response. This will ensure that your essay covers all aspects of the issue and follows a logical format. This will also assist your lecturer in understanding your thoughts.
vii. Back up your claims with proof - the solution is frequently found in the first/topic phrase of a well-written essay. The evidence that supports your response should take up the majority of your essay. All broad opinions should be backed up with logical or factual evidence, and personal opinions should be avoided unless specifically requested.
viii. Finish with a summary - in one or two sentences, summarize your essay. This will connect all of your points.
ix. Express your knowledge and learn to connect concepts - it might be discouraging to spend a lot of time revising just to be given questions that don't represent what you've learnt. Exam questions do, on occasion, provide you with the opportunity to demonstrate your expertise.
How to pass examinations
Making excellent and useful notes, having a study direction, learning style, memorization, attention, confidence, and study-related extra-curricular activities are all variables that contribute to a student's test success. There are several things that a student might employ in order to pass the exam. According to my study, you should do the following in order to pass your exam: - i. Study effectively and strategically - study is more than simply reading; it is learning through reading. A student should be able to study efficiently, cramming as much information as possible into as little time as possible. The research should be focused. Directed study refers to studying in accordance with the nature of the test and how it should be learned. This may be accomplished by:-
a. Starting from the beginning, create a series of concise revision notes.
b. Experiment with conveying psychological concepts.
b. Make use of memory aids
c. Test yourself on a regular basis.
g. Make a revision schedule.
b. Be prepared on the day of the exam.
It's easy to feel stressed out about studying, especially when you're studying for hours on end. ii. Take frequent study breaks and get enough of sleep. However, keep in mind that you are not studying for this exam. Take a vacation from your brain! Get out and see a movie, catch up on TV series between classes, go out to eat with friends, and so on. You'll frequently feel re-motivated when you return to learning. Make it a point to take a little break every 3-4 hours, even if it's simply to go for a stroll. Sleep is also one of your allies. Make sure you get a decent night's sleep every night. A large number of pupils study till 3 or 4 a.m and then wake up at 8 a.m to try and keep studying .This is also dumb. Sleep is also incredibly important for memory consolidation (as you probably know), and you will need this to slowly assimilate all the knowledge your soaking up every day.
iii. Exam preparation - students should understand how to prepare for exams. Exam preparation is not a one-day or two-day effort; it needs regular study. Make the most of the days running up to the exam. In the two weeks going up to the exam, I would highly encourage starting to wake up at the same time you will get up on exam day, just studying items you have forgotten or fine-tuning what you already know.
iv. Taking good notes - Taking good notes is essential for test success. It enables one to learn quickly and accurately. Notes are utilized for exam revision in the future.
v. Test taking strategies - test taking strategies show you how to present your answer on answer sheet in befitting way so that the checker give you more marks for your answers. Test taking strategies tells you all the tactics for exam like time management for each question and how to tackle different question.
Learn to cope with exam stress - in examinations, people tend to be fairly highly aroused, and this often has positive effects. They think more clearly and quickly, and write more fluently. If you feel a little anxious before an examination, do not worry about it. Remember, it may improve your performance. However, a few people become so anxious about examinations that their high arousal level leads to a worsening of performance.
vii. Reread your notes - in order to have a complete understanding of a subject's theories, concepts, and applications, students must read their study notes numerous times. Writing essays requires practice, especially for students who have not written essays in a long time. Examiners understand that essays prepared under duress and stress do not have to be grammatically faultless, but they do expect some basic criteria and will punish students who do not present their work properly.
As a result, students should avoid making ambiguous, meaningless comments, endeavor to spell correctly, and strive to develop a straightforward, forthright style with short, concise words.
viii. Revise/Analyze past exams question papers - analysis of past examination papers provides a valuable insight into how the examiners feel about the subject. Often, the same questions reappear year after year, albeit written slightly differently. While it is obviously useful to predict questions, students should always remember that no question could ever be guaranteed to come up. Also, syllabuses and examiners change, each examiner has personal preferences regarding the content and style of questions that need to be asked.
ix. Read the questions carefully and ensure you fully understand what each question is asking. It is good idea to underline keywords and to break the question down into separate component parts.
x. Exam time management is critical; the first few minutes of each answer's allotted time should be utilized to write down the major ideas of the answer in an essay outline. Following that, the following rules must be followed:
a. The time allotted for each answer must be followed (a three-hour paper with five questions allows 36 minutes per question). The learner should move on to the following question as soon as the session is over.
b. Students should leave a gap at the conclusion of each question so that they can return to it if they have any extra time at the end of the test.
c. The easiest questions should come first. This boosts the student's confidence., assists concentration and establishes rhythm for tackling the rest of the paper.
Students should not, however, devote too much effort to simple and objective questions. To prevent bad grading, time is of the essence, and responses must be correct. Each response should be about the same length.
