Sunday 12 April 2015

Psychological Tips For Effective Examination Techniques

One of the inevitabilities of University life is the examination. It is your opportunity to demonstrate your new knowledge and to reap the rewards. Examination remains one of the most common forms of assessment in higher education. It is vitally important to prepare well in advance to give yourself the best chance of success.
The written examination is the most prevalent means of evaluating student learning at the University. SO BE PREPARED.
In examinations many candidates do not do justice to their abilities.
There are two requirements for success in any examination: 
  • The first is knowing the content.
  • Second is demonstrating the knowledge.
PREPARING FOR EXAMINATIONS
Target your studying
Figure out what is important and will likely to appear on the exam by looking at old exams and analyzing what the teachers emphasizes in their class. This includes not only content but also level of learning.
Practice appropriate activities
Studying for an exam should be seen as practicing the activities you will have to perform in the exam, under exam conditions. For example if you will have to do problems, practice doing problems from memory, with in a time limit. Or, if you will have to write essays, practice writing essays from memory within a time limit.
Keep up through out the term
Review regularly through out the term. Without regular review you may have to re-learn a large portion of the course in the week or two before the final... when you are most likely to be finishing up major assignments, practicals etc.
Getting started 
  • Plan a revision timetable and start planning well before exams begin. Take your teachers or parents to help to do so. Jump starts and cramming madly just before exams put too much pressure. Many last minute crammers end up falling ill on the day of exam.
  • Make your books, notes, etc. easier to use by preparing summaries, headings subheadings, and highlighting and revision cards. Attend the revision classes with out fail. Get more revision tips from teachers and friends. Essentially you must do what suits you best.
  • Make notes on important topic as you revise. This will be helpful during future revision, or when you need clarification from a teacher. One of the best methods to develop confidence is to attempt previous papers.
  • If you do not understand something, ask help from a teacher or someone who knows the subject.
  • If you feel stressed, talk to someone. Getting worried off your chest will make you more willing to take in what you learn.
  • Last minute revision is better avoided, as it makes you nervous. Besides last minute cramming is not conducive, if you wish to understand certain topics. Mechanical learning keeps you where you were-definitely at the starting point.
  • Subjects you are not fond of require a lot of revision. Do not keep them for the last minutes. Constant revising will make tough subjects easier to understand.
  • Overnight cramming tires your body and brain. You can only do well when your body and mind are healthy.
  • It is important to eat and sleep well. Do not skip meals or eat in a hurry. Small meals (like snacks) at regular intervals will make you less sluggish. And most importantly, get you adequate sleep. A six to seven hour sleep will freshen your mind and body.
  • Put yourself first-It is an important time for you. Talk your family and find out how they can make studying easier far you. If you feel disturbed due to loud music or television, you should tell your families to keep volumes low. A personal room during exams will keep your mind from wandering.
  • Finally don't revise all the time. Take breaks to do things you enjoy and help you relax. Don't forget there is a life beyond revision and exams.
PANIC AND ANXIETY DURING EXAMINATIONS
The night before
Panic and anxiety are really the outburst of uncertainties regarding one's preparation.
Panic sets in the night before or on the day of exam, but you can cope once you are in the examination room.
Spend the last hours calmly reviewing what you have learned. Try not to tackle new materials then.
Avoid staying up all night. The shorter you are on sleep the less clearly you will be able to think and reproduce what you know.
Cram selectively-It is very difficult to study intensively or prepare rapidly for an examination, just on the eve of the examination.
The night before an exam when you are more anxious than usual is one of the least effective times for study. Your ability to deal with concepts and synthesize material is greatly reduced; even your ability to memorize is impaired by marked anxiety. Cramming only help you to be more frantic about the exam and less prepared to do your best. If you do come to the exam time unprepared, use your last minute study as a review of key concepts, instead of trying to learn it all. It is very important to stay calm.
Anxiety- Keep in check 
  • Please understand and accept that exam time is particularly stressful, for all.
  • It is only normal to have stress, it happens to everybody.
  • Little anxiety is sure to help you to heighten your awareness and can enhance your performance. Beyond certain limit, it may be a cause of distress.
Now let us see how one can overcome this: 
  • Carry your notebook to the exam but don't open it. It provides a feeling of security (because you could check a question if you really need to, before the test) and your ability to avoid looking in it increases your feeling of confidence.
  • Panic is contagious. Stay away from the source of contagion.
  • Admit to yourself that you will not know all the answers.
You should assume "Some of it I won't know... and some of it I will." Thus when you read the first question and don't know the answer, you will respond not with the conclusion that you know nothing, not be clutching, but by saying "That is the one I don't know". At this stage please note that whatever is your level of preparation, your task is to do the very best you can.
GUIDELINES FOR APPEARING FOR EXAMINATIONS
On the day of the exam
Focus your attention on what you do know rather than on what you don't know and be confident of what you know.
Don't study on the way to the exam hall or in the exam hall. Give your brain little rest. It will help you remember the answer when you write the exam.
Make yourself comfortable by wearing loose and comfortable clothing
Do what you need to do before the exam hall. Talk to friends, if it helps you to relax. Sit on your own, if the presence of other people are likely to rattle you.
  • Have a good breakfast. It will provide the energy and the nourishment you need. Ensure that you eat food that is not greasy or difficult to digest.
  • Leave for the exam hall well in advance.
  • Take everything you need, like for instance, extra pens, water, pencils erasers, stapler, calculators (if permitted) etc.
  • Go to the toilet before an exam. Going to the toilet during the exam is an embarrassment as well as it may break your concentration.
  • Finally you feel anxious, take a few deep breaths and exhale slowly. A wonderful way to bust anxiety is to inhale a deep breath and count to 20 and then slowly exhaling.
WRITING THE EXAMINATION
Getting started
Get as comfortable as you can in your seat.
First read the front cover of the answer paper. Ensure that you fill in the correct details of the Exam paper such as your Roll No., Exam Code, Centre Code, Subject Code, and Subject etc. Fill all the necessary details called for.
When you get the question paper 
  • Read the instructions in the question paper thoroughly. If anything is unclear do not panic. Ask the teacher or invigilator for clarification.
  • Read the question carefully twice if necessary. After that, give yourself a reasonable time frame to answer each question. There are many who write one answer for too long and end up with too little time for the others.
Read the instructions in the paper and make sure you fully understand them. If you don't, don't sit and agonize over the words- ask an invigilator.
Check what is required
How many questions must you answer, and how many from each section. Must you use separate answer books? Read through the whole paper.
Make sure you have read all parts of each question.
Check if the question goes on to the next page.
Have you read the back page of the question paper?
Before you start answering the question read it through at least twice.
Decide which question to answer, and in which order.
Pick out questions that relates well with your revision and come back to others.
Doing an answer easier one can boost your confidence and relax you. Just like that tackling a more difficult one while you are still alert may be best for you. You may decide upon this as per your choice, preparation and presence of mind.
Follow the instructions
Answer the correct number of questions. Do not answer extra questions in the hope that you will get extra marks. You won't. This is very important as the examination is aimed at our expertise and ability to present our knowledge only in relation to the questions that are asked, and not our expertise on the whole syllabus.
Manage your time
Don't save the best till the last. When you have read through all the questions on the paper a few times, work out which are likely to be your best questions, and answer those first. This will give you a few guaranteed marks, and also make you feel better. There is no point in struggling through difficult questions, and then finding that you don't have time to answer those that you know could do well on, if time permits.
Keep an eye on time, so that you will have enough time to answer all the questions that you have little awareness. If you don't have time, make a skeleton answer in note form. Or you may even bullet point answers, as a last resort in case of acute scarcity of time. At least you have put something down to which the examiner can go through to assess your basic knowledge on the subject in relation to the concerned question.
If you can't think of an answer to some part, leave space and move on to the next part. Don't write about something else if you do not know the correct answer. This is just a waste of your valuable time and as well as the examiners. Aim to attempt all parts of a question. This will of course maximize your potential marks.
Avoid perfectionism
Don't try to write down all the information you have learned. Avoid wasting time for perfection.
Relate the length of your answer to the marks for each question.
Is your answer book clean and legible?
Be neat- research has shown that when the same paper is written neatly or sloppily, the higher marks are given to the neatly presented paper than the sloppy paper. The answer books have lot of pages to use. There is no need to cram all your writing and diagrams into few pages. Spread things out and help the examiner to see everything clearly. Apart from knowing and understanding the course material that is being examined, the way that you answer the exam questions is very important, because your exam answers are going to be read and marked by the examiner...who is another human being (well...You do not know what kind of)
So, the clearer you make your answer, the easier it will be to make off and get the marks, you really deserve for your contents.
Try to help the examiner read your answers easily. It is in your interest, and it is in the examiner's interest. Remember although you will be answering only one exam paper per course, the examiner may have to mark hundreds of papers.
The well-organised, neat appearing individual will usually get the node over another equally capable person who is disorganised and careless in appearance.
Completed Essays
Apa Format Essay 

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