Hey, wasup, how're yall doing? A couple of months ago, a friend who has more illusions about me than me Mom asked me to write out how I prepare for exams. Since I am preparing for another tedious exam anyways, I figured why not. Then a study partner took a look and said put it on facebook so I put it on my blog. Now before you read this, I want to put out the disclaimer that these are my thoughts, this is my modus operandi. These are observations that I have made on my study habits and patterns and may or may not work for you. As usual, it is important that you find your personal style and work with it. This is a general theme that you can vary as you wish. Oh, it also makes liberal use of the pronoun "you". Forgive me. So..
1. Set a target score.
2. Give yourself time – Do not over-estimate your abilities. Afford yourself as much time as you can to study for the exam. This should take into account the fact that you are likely to burn out at some point and will need a few days rest before you begin again. Pace yourself appropriately so you remain interested in what you study. And set aside days of the week (it can be a night per week) when you can relax, with no studying and stick to them.
3. Study hard – There are two stages of studying, intense studying and review.
i) Months before your exam, study hard and study detailed material. This period is for understanding the fundamental concepts of the field, the threads that run through every other topic. You can then build upon that as you go. Begin memorizing factoids if these are needed in your exam so you can go through the cycle a couple of times before the exam. At this point, read the concepts you are more likely to remember; the ones that are easier to take in. If you are stumped by a concept, an advanced concept or one which is not essential to further studying, write it down and move on. This is the time to experiment with study habits. Work with one at a time. If it does not work, switch to another. Do not be married to one study habit but do not also follow all and sundry’s suggestions. Choose the book that works best for you and the study materials that do and stick to them. Switching between things gets you confused and nowhere.
ii) Review stage – this depends on the amount of material you need to cover for your exam. Again, pacing and realism on time needed is the most important factor. This is not the time for detailed reading. This time is for you to glance over material to make sure they are at the forefront of your mind going into the exam. You are unlikely to remember everything in detail but you will have an idea about most things. Towards the end of your review period, you should plan a time when you read and memorize the concepts you were stumped by in the study period. These can be chewed, poured, and forgotten after day of exam.
4. Keep a routine – the brain works best when it knows exactly what it needs to do at a particular time. Maintain exact study times, keep a good sleep hygiene/protocol – go to sleep at set times, go through the same routines before sleep, keep a 30min block when you do nothing but relax before sleep. In the weeks before your exam, do practice exams at the exact time of and of similar duration as your actual test. In this, try to simulate as much of the test day as possible – preparations, sleep and all that.
5. Two nights before the test day, wrap up your readings, go to sleep on schedule. This is particularly important as sleep deficits will generally catch up with you in 48hrs. This is probably the day to take a quick look again at all those hard things you never could get your head around
6. The day before the exam – this works differently for different people. Some prefer to look again over some high yield material, keep the brain going. Others prefer to take this day off and do activities they enjoy like read, shop etc. Do not watch TV or spend hours behind a computer. They will put your brain to sleep. If you haven’t already, take this day to visit the test center and plot your transportation details. Get all the documents you need ready, put your food, drink, calculator, money for transportation, pens, pencils, all logistics in one bag. Needless to say, get a good amount of sleep. Through this whole study period, it is advisable to maintain at least 8hrs of sleep per night. Do not change your schedule in the final week and certainly not on the last two days. More sleep in those days will only make you groggy on the day of the exam. Less sleep will make you high.
Throughout this period, it is important that you continue to exercise and engage in other activities that refresh you and get your mind outside of books. They are not only healthy for mind and body, they decrease your stress levels and you don’t want to be stressed at this time.
On the day of exam – sometimes it doesn’t come quickly enough; other times you want it to stay away.
- give yourself more than enough time to get to test center
- Choose/ask for a quiet area of the exam room.
- bring earplugs. You will likely need them
- For food, eat a good breakfast, lunch should not be heavy. The advice generally given is to bring dried fruits like raisins and nuts instead of sugary energy drinks which can make you crash really fast, and carbohydrates which will make you sleep.
Before the exam – PRAY
During the exam,
- As soon as you sit down, write down the formulae and other memory aids you will not remember and do not erase them. When a formula you do not know is given to you or you derive it on one question, write it down. Do not erase drawings you use for one question. You might need them later.
- Read the instructions carefully. You miss points if you do not answer the question being asked.
- Read the question at the end of the preamble/blurb to guide you on what you should be looking for in the preamble.
- Formulate your answer before you look at the options you have. Reason through the scenario and apply the concepts you have learnt.
- Even if you know the answer, humor me and read through all the options
- Do not get tripped by answers that are too obvious
- Do not get tripped by answers that are too complicated
- If an answer does not sound right to you, it’s probably wrong.
- Go with your instinct. Memory is fickle and the associations between concepts tenuous. You are more likely to reason yourself out of a correct answer than into a correct one.
- If a question is too hard, guess and move on. Most exams do not penalize for guessing (the SAT does) and this might be an experimental question anyway.
- If you have no idea about a question, use process of elimination. Cross out the answers you know cannot be right. Then guess on whatever’s left.
- On mathematical questions, if are asked to find x, plug the options in if that’s easier. There should only be one that fits. Remember plug and play.
- If you have no idea about a question or the options, choose an option you are familiar with or have vaguely heard of rather than one you have never encountered.
- Work deliberately, work fast, pace yourself. Do not spend too much time on one question. All questions are worth the same points on most exams. Computer Adaptive tests like the GMAT are different so read about the tests so you can strategize.
- Between sections, take a moment to breath. Do not carry baggage over from one session to the other.
- Thou shalt not panic. One question or run of questions will not ruin your exam. Breathe easy. I mean literally breathe. Look off from your question paper, think of the happiness at the end of the test. Then, continue.
At the end of the exam, pray, thank your God, get out of there and move on with life. Do not believe there will be a profound sense of relief/happiness. There, most likely, will not be but that is normal. Move on. Enjoy life and don’t think of the results until they return.
Prime
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This is the way I choose, the destiny I pursue
To help the unfit and the fit
To treat each according to his need
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Saturday, July 17, 2010
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