All of us wish to do well in our exam. Obviously, no one wants to fail in the exams. I believe that everyone has been searching for the best method of studying and minimize the level of stress. For your information, I did pretty well in my exams for the past few years and broke the records in school. I had scored a 100% in accounting, 96% in history and achieved an average of above 75%. After that, I took up a double degree program and graduated with an average of distinction. Right now, I do not intend to promote myself but to prove some of my study techniques that might be applicable to you. The below are my techniques to score well in exams.
Techniques to study effectively:
1) Understand – How well do you understand that particular subject? This is the most important first step. If you do not really understand the content, then most probably you will not able to get any further. I would advice you to read in advance before attending any lecture or class, so that you will at least have some ideas in mind before the class get started. It would also be easier for you to “absorb” or “digest” the information while attending the class. This technique prevents you from getting “loss” in class, meanwhile reducing the level of stress and nervous. Please make sure you fully understand the whole content either by read it yourself or seek help from your friends or tutors.
2) Remember – If you can understand but cannot remember it, then you will not be able to do well in your test. On the other hand, you can still score well in exams if you able to memorize all the facts and figures even without understanding them. However, this is clearly not an efficient or effective way of doing it. This technique consumes a lot of time and energy. There are few ways that can assist you in remembering the content:
a) Draw picture/graph/chart – Just draw a simple picture to illustrate the overall content of the passage. You will surely find out that remembering a picture is definitely easier than a lengthy text. You do not need to draw like an artist, because the picture is only served as your personal consumption.
b) Create simple notes – Extract the keywords or points from the passage and write them down on your notebook. You are not advisable to prolong the sentence. In fact, just draw out the keywords and main points will be good enough. Then, try to amend or rearrange your notes so that all the points can be linked together and forming back to its original content or actual result.
Cope with your stress before the exams
a) Fully prepared – you should study your own notes rather than reading the whole textbook, simply because you do not have much time to read it over again. You may just read your notes as they cover all the important facts and figures. Your notes will definitely help you to recall all the important points. So, if you are fully prepared, there is nothing to be afraid of.
b) Aim or target – What is your target? Base on current situation, do you have the ability to achieve what you have targeted? Of course, the higher you aim the higher will be the level of stress. So, adjust your target base on your current circumstance. Please do not over target as it will decrease your confidence and performance level.
c) Get support – You may want to get moral supports from your family members or friends, because they could provide some invaluable advice for you to stay calm.
d) Call your classmate – Do you realize that you can release your stress via talking over the phone? Sometimes, we would rather talk to our classmate than family members due to your classmate are having the exams too and they are in the same situation as you do. On the other hand, your family members are not going to sit for the exams after all. So, you may prefer to speak to your friend as both of you are sharing the same situation. In order to release stress before going to bed, you could just give a call to your classmate to talk about the issues of the coming exams and express your feelings. I am pretty sure that they will share their feelings with you too. So, the conversation over the phone will be quite interesting or exciting. Of course, you are not advisable to have a long conversation on the phone because you still need some time to do your revision.
Are the above methods known to you?
I sincerely wish the above techniques could help you to overcome your problems.
Good luck in your study!
