ARE YOU FACING STRESS ON HOW TO COPE WITH YOUR EXAMS?

noreply@blogger.com (Wilson Rayanutala) — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 08:18:48 PDT

– Wilson David

We all know what the aims of exams are. They are supposed to show who has studied and who has not. This statement works in general – the people who pass have studied, and the people who failed have not. Of course, there is always an exception to the rule. There is always somebody who studied hard but failed, or the person who hardly studied but got a very high percentage.

Sometimes people do not do as well as they could because they are not well prepared to handle the pre-examination anxieties or they did not understand what the examiners were asking for, or they were so nervous that they could not remember what they had studied.

TIPS TO GAIN CONFIDENCE AND PROFICIENCY FOR THE EXAMINATION
1 . ATTITUDE:
Before you start studying, it is important to have a positive attitude. The most important question in managing your stress is "who is in control of your learning?" You have to see yourself in control – which, let’s face it, you really are and so you need to take active steps to make sure that you are learning effectively. Try eliminating the words "I can’t do it" from your vocabulary and see what happens, look for ways that you might be able to do something about it.

Gloomy thoughts don’t help your stress levels either. The more you concentrate on how bad things are, the worse they will seem and the more your stress levels grow. It is a vicious circle. Each time something bad happens, deliberately look for a positive benefit or side – effect which might be a result. This might be childish when you first start, but it has a very definite effect.

2. VISUALIZING SUCCESS :
It has been a very predominant practice amongst sports persons to spend most of their time mentally envisaging themselves doing things right, and this has yielded positive results. Ironically, for exams we do the opposite! Students spend most of their time visualizing failure instead of success. They feel they don’t know enough, they imagine going into the examination hall and not knowing about how little they know. All of which is terribly destructive.

There are 5 golden rules to success.

a. REGULAR AND CONSISTENT STUDY: There is no substitute for hard work. Success is 90% perspiration and 10% inspiration. The motivation must come from within: I can, I will, I must. Set aside regular hours for going over what was taught to you that day. Cash in on weekends, public holidays and vacation time for revision.
b. CONTENT MASTERY IS A MUST: Master the core concepts in each content-based subject. Master the fundamental operations in subjects like Maths and aim at understanding and not just learning by heart.

c. TIME & TASK MANAGEMENT ARE ESSENTIAL: Have all your notes and study material in order. Plan how you will spend your time and frame a timetable for each day. Concentrate on the subjects you are weak in or dislike, do not concentrate only on certain subjects, at the expense of other equally important ones.

d. SOLVE PREVIOUS YEARS BOARD PAPERS IN WRITING: This helps to develop writing skills like speed, good hand-writing, spelling, grammar and punctuation. It also helps to make you aware of the kind of questions to expect.

e. SELECTIVE STUDY IS NOT FOR THOSE WHO WISH TO DO REALLY WELL!!: A student who does chance or selective study, enters the examination hall under great stress. This has psychological consequences which affect speed, expression and clarity of thought and results in errors in spelling, grammar and punctuation.

Where to Study?
Choose a place where there is reasonable quiet i.e. minimum disturbances, both inside and outside your home; adequate light (tube light gives the best light for studying) and a continuous supply of fresh, oxygenated air which helps the brain to concentrate and remember.

What do you need to Study?
You basically need a suitable worktable or desk and a comfortable chair, which gives support to your shoulders and back. Remember to occupy a comfortable posture, but avoid too comfortable a posture. Lying down while studying is not conducive to effective study. Also avoid piling all your books on your desk or table, it can be distracting. Only keep those books concerning the subject you are studying.

Diet and Dress also Affect Studying
Avoid a heavy lunch if you wish to study in the afternoon and a heavy dinner if you wish to study at night, instead eat light, nutritious foods like sandwiches, fruits or fruit juices, green salads and vegetables or curds and dals. Drink plenty of water while studying. Avoid tight, ill-fitting clothing and use light, loose, comfortable clothes instead.

Adequate Sleep and Rest
Sleep for 6-7 hours at night. You need to have a good night’s sleep before papers that involve reasoning, thinking and the application of knowledge like Maths and Science. Sleep late on days when you have no exam.

When to Study
All students fall into one of two categories:
They are either early morning students or late night students. Whatever your preference, the mind requires a time when there is minimum disturbance and maximum quiet. The rule is: If you wake up early, you need to go to bed early. If you keep up late, you need to wake up late. But you cannot burn the candle at both ends. This can have serious consequences.

When you cannot concentrate or feel lethargic, then remember movement and oral work are the best antidotes. Get up, walk up and down and read or study aloud. Change the place of your studying, splash cold water on your eyes or better still have a quick shower and change into fresh clothes. Do something manual for a change. Above all you must take breaks between your studying. Use this time to have a quick snack or a cool drink, to watch some TV, browse through a magazine or just relax, but not for too long. The rule is to come back to your books as quickly as possible.

Time-wasters
Avoid long telephone calls, TV watching, loitering around after school / tuition classes or attending parties, weddings and social functions.

Time Savers
Frame a written timetable for each day of study. Plan it the night before and review it at the end of each day. Vary the memory and skill subjects. Take memory subjects when you are fresh and skill subjects when you are tired. Fit in time for meals, rest, tuitions etc.

How to Study Effectively:
Learning takes place through a cycle of learning, revising, repeating. Follow the SQ3R Method:
S – Survey the topic or chapter. Go through the text or your notes & be aware of
the main points it covers
Q – Go through the questions and ask yourself questions on the topic.
R – Read and understand the text and learn the matter
R – Revise what you have learnt within 1 to 2 hours of learning it for the first
time (immediate recall)
R- Review or repeat the matter at increasing intervals (frequent recall).

Aids to Remembering: Writing is nine-tenths remembering. Study something especially difficult, just before you go to bed at night and revise it immediately after you wake up. Make a list of definitions, formulas, abbreviations etc. and give them up daily to someone as you do your tables. Use code words and mnemonics they help you to remember facts and to revise them quickly, just before your exams. Frame a sentence with words beginning with each of these letters e.g. it is very easy to remember the names of the planets, in sequence, by the sentence "My (Mercury) very (Venus) elegant (Earth) Mother (Mars) just (Jupiter) served (Saturn) us (Uranus) nine (Neptune) pies (Pluto)".

Try associating the sentence with a picture too – it helps.

Other well-tested methods for improving memory are:
• Repetition is the easiest and the most common way to put information into
our memory. Keep reading and revising the chapter that seems difficult, so
that you can even recite it in your sleep.
• Use rhyming and / or rhythm techniques to help remember phrases.

3. DISTRACTION:
It is easy to get distracted while studying. Make a firm decision to settle down and study and stick to it. Don’t worry about how much you have to do (it happens looking at the mountain of course material in front of you). Don’t let your friends sweep you away to a movie or party. Those are short-term pleasures that will not help you at this time.

NOW, THE BACKUP
Old exam papers : Time and again it has been proved that looking at or going through old exam papers is one of the most effective ways of preparing for an exam. They enable you to become familiar with the format of the paper (the number of sections, number of questions, which questions are mandatory, which are often repeated…). It gives you a prelude to the way exam papers are worded and practice at writing proper answers. Sometimes it may even give you a clue as to what to revise, as some topics are tested every year.

Revision
Going through the past exam papers is one of the best ways of revising. Revision should be done well before exams. First you need to go through your notes and list the topics that need to be covered. You should divide these topics into two categories – topics of which you are confident about and those of which you are not. Your task is now to convert topics from the second column to the first.

Set realistic number of hours for revision each week. Plan to work through each topic in the period up to the exam. Set aside at least 4 weeks for the final revision. When you work through each topic make some brief notes, these will be useful in the final month of revision.

The worst way of revising is the "staring (looking) – at – your – notes – and – trying – to burn – them – into – your brain" method, simply because it leaves your mind free for a lot of distracting thoughts to pop up. It is much better to revise actively – summarizing your notes, converting the information into flow charts, diagrams, engaging in revision quizzes with your friends and so on. E.g. While studying the types of reproduction, a flow chart is helpful. Learning about Endocrine glands, their hormones and functions- can be remembered by making a table. Best way to remember the laboratory preparations of hydrogen/ Ammonia is to write down the chemical reaction.

Allow large blocks of time for studying and short periods for review. Use the odd moments when you are taking a bath, or eating, walking across your garden for recall and review. Run through the information frequently, this will ensure that you remember it. Always vary what you study. Don’t study for two similar courses, it is better to break the pattern. For example, don’t study chemistry and then study physics, instead study Hindi, or English. The most important thing to remember is: respect your concentration. If you have not studied much through out the year, it may be difficult to study at a stretch for several hours. You are not superhuman. Starting your exam period with impossibly long study hours is likely to leave you exhausted before it is all over. Stick to your normal daily routine as much as possible. If you do not get off your routine and need extra time, avoid staying up all-night; go to bed at your regular time, to continue studying. You will be able to understand and remember more when you are rested than you would if you postpone rest.

THE NIGHT BEFORE EXAMINATION:
You may want to look at some work the night before. Read over notes, check some formulae, do basic revision but do not attempt to learn anything new. You will only make yourself nervous. It is much better to concentrate upon what you do know. Spend your last hours studying selectively. Your ability to deal with concepts and synthesize material is greatly reduced; even your ability to memorize is impaired by marked anxiety. Have everything ready: Pens, pencils, ruler, handkerchief, watch, anything you think you might need. Make sure this is organized the night before. Check the timetable once again for the subject. Don’t work too late – have a fairly early night, and get plenty of rest. Avoid staying up all night. The shorter you are on sleep the less clearly you will be able to think. So, Review and Relax.

Wilson Tutorial Vision

noreply@blogger.com (Wilson Rayanutala) — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 07:24:14 PDT

Wilson Tutorials started by Rayanutala Wilson David with the vision to create an environment that encourages learners to be self motivated and empowers them to take ownership over their own learning.

Getting into a tutorials would be more than just rote learning or finishing pending school assignments from now on.

The newly launched Wilson Tutorials, has come up with special tutorials for private school students who are about to give their board examinations.

Apart from regular lessons on different subjects and mock tests, students here would be exposed to several psychosomatic tests and other psychological counselling which will help them to deal with the mounting academic pressure.