How to Prepare for Final Examinations - Article Example

 How to Prepare for Final Examinations? It has been said that preparations of final examinations are important in the life of a student. Whatever the knowledge acquired by a student will become useless if the student fails to express it in the final examinations. Final exams are supposed to be the next stage of many exams that are conducted throughout the year. But procrastination by students turns this into a demon which scares them by showing the possibility of fear. There are many ways to assess the abilities and knowledge of a student; however final examination seems to be most important one in analysing the academic levels of a student. “Preparing for final exams differs from studying for tests and hour exams. For finals you need to shift perspective from a local/subject view to a global/term view” (Preparing for final exams) Before, the beginning of examinations, the student should set certain goals which he likes to achieve or reflect in the examination results. Subsequently, all the efforts should be made to attain those predetermined goals. The goals should be realistic ones. In other words, the student should never set goals which are beyond his capabilities. There are many students who struggle to get even the desired grades in the final examinations because of the unrealistic goals just before the examinations. It is difficult for an average student to achieve first grade even if he tries extremely hard during the final examinations. If he wants to achieve first grade he should begin his preparations at the beginning of the course itself. When it comes to preparations of final examinations, different students opt for different ways. However, there are some general principles which are followed by majority of the students while they prepare for their final examinations. First, it is better to start examination preparations as early as possible in order to avoid problems later. Early preparations help the student to avoid stress and anxiety with respect to final examinations. Majority of the students fail to perform well in final examinations because of their anxiety and stress related to the outcomes of the examination. Self-assessment of level of knowledge in each subject is the second step in the preparations of final examinations. Before the beginning of the preparations, the student should decide which subjects need more attention and which subjects need less attention since he is the only one who knows his mastery in different subjects very well. One of the major dangers while preparing for exams is that students stay in their ‘comfort zone. ’ They study only those topics about which they feel confident. While revision is vitally important, it is equally essential to study those topics and solve those problems which create fear in one’s mind. Many times it is observed that the subjects or topics that one was afraid of weren’t that difficult. This shift increases the total area of the student’s preparation. Time management is the third and most important step in the preparations of final examinations. More time should be allocated to difficult subjects and less time should be allocated to easy subjects. The student should prepare a time schedule for his activities until the final examinations are over. He should divide his day time and night time into different time segments prior to the final examinations. Meanwhile, the student may find difficulties in learning a particular topic. Under such circumstances, group study may help him. So, he should allocate sufficient time for group study while preparing time schedules for the preparations of his final examinations. Lengthy activities should be reduced as much as possible during this period. Spending too much time on a difficult topic just before the examination is not advisable. Such habits will prevent the student from learning other topics. Difficult topics should be learned well before the commencement of examinations so that tensions and frustrations can be avoided later. Division of the contents into small capsules is the fourth step in the preparations of examinations. It is difficult for a student to understand complicated things, if he tries to learn it at a stretch. Knowledge is digestible only if it is swallowed as capsules. “When it comes to studying, start early and start small. Begin reviewing several days out from the final exam and do only short reviews that are meant to refamiliarize you with material you haven’t seen in a while” (How to prepare for final exams). “Learning material in smaller “chunks” will be more effective and far less stressful than cramming a few days before” (Mrs. Mazzullo) One more method which is successfully applied by students all around the world is the practice of past years papers. Many times the syllabi of the courses don’t change and even if they change then that change isn’t dramatic. It is very beneficial to contact senior students or even teachers to obtain past years’ question papers. The questions asked in previous years give a direction to the student. The questions may not get repeated but the student can certainly understand the trend or pattern of questions that are asked. The student should also ask himself/herself the question as to whether he has the best material to prepare for examinations. A lot depends on the kind of books and journals one studies from. Utmost care must be taken obtaining quality study material. One aspect which is most of the times neglected is the diet during the preparation. Many students experience lethargy and indulge in procrastination during that period. At that time an unbalanced and unhealthy diet can exacerbate the problem. The food consumed should be easily digestible. Students should avoid over-eating also because it induces laziness in the body and student spends up valuable preparation time in sleeping. After the initial preparations and the scheduling are over, the fifth step in the preparations of final examinations, is the strict observance of time schedule. The possibility of unexpected events cannot be ruled during the period of preparations for final examinations. The success of examination preparations lies in the abilities of the student in overcoming the challenges raised by these unexpected events. Unfavourable or challenging experiences can take place during the preparation period. For example, during the period of preparations of final examinations, it is quite possible that some of the beloved ones of the student might have passed away. Under such circumstances, it is difficult for the student to strictly adhere with the time schedule he prepared for the examinations. He has to make judicious changes in his time schedule so that his preparations might not be affected much. The sixth step is the avoidance of insignificant things. “Ramp yourself up into a rigorous review of material gradually but intentionally. By 3-4 days before the final, you ought to be spending significant amounts of time doing significant things each day” (How to prepare for final exams). It is difficult for a student to go through the entire syllabus just before the final examinations or during the period of final examinations. Prioritising of the content based on the importance is vital in the preparations of examinations. Last, but not least, avoidance of study in the evening before the examination is so vital. Better sleep is necessary to recollect the entire things at the time of writing the examinations. Better sleep prepares the student physically and mentally fit to write the final examinations. Even brilliant students cannot attend the examinations properly if they fail to sleep well in the night prior to the examinations. Mental faculties need some rest and relaxation for efficient functioning, which can be provided only through proper sleep. There are many students who don’t study throughout the year. Although this is unfortunate but many students go through immense stress while preparing for final exams. They have various kinds of thoughts ranging from self-doubt to self-pity. This situation requires stress management. The word may be very heavy but the practices are pretty simple. It is futile to recommend stress busters to students because they themselves know what works best for them. Instead care should be taken about avoiding over-indulgence in pleasures. Television, internet, food and drinks can provide a welcome break. But indulging in them can waste valuable time. These pleasures are responsible for turning those short breaks into long spells of zilch productivity. Writing of the examination is as important as the preparations of examinations. Many people fail to attend the full questions because of poor time management skills during the examination. For example, some students spend too much time for answering difficult questions and subsequently they fail to attend the entire questions within the stipulated time. In other words, they will fail to answer questions which were familiar to them. Immediately before beginning of the examination, the student should divide the entire questions as difficult, somewhat difficult and easy, based on the difficulty level of each question. All the easy questions should be answered in the first phase itself. During the second phase, the somewhat difficult questions should be answered. Difficult questions should be attended only during the third and final phase of writing the examination. Thus student can make sure that none of the easy questions left out by him because of poor time management in writing the examinations. To conclude, preparations prior/during the period of final examinations are important in securing a good grade for a student. The student should start his preparations as early as possible so that he may not face any problems later at the time of examination. He should set realistic goals with respect to the intended examination results and use his remaining time judiciously for achieving those set goals. Division of the long contents into small capsules will help the student to grasp the topics well. Marathon study will never help the student in achieving the intended results. On the other hand, better managed study will help the student in getting the results he intended. Avoidance of study, complete rest and proper sleep just before the evening prior to the examination day will help the student in his preparations for the examination. It is better to avoid last minute hard works and concentrate more on early preparations. Works Cited 1. “How To Prepare For Final Exams”. 2007. Web. 04 October 2011. 2. Mrs. Mazzullo. “How to Prepare for Your Midterm or Final Exam”. Web. 04 October 2011. 3. “Preparing for Final Exams”. Web. 04 October 2011. Read More