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BEST
EXAM ADVICE
So the exams have begun and prepared
or not, relaxed or tense, no matter how you're feeling, you've got
to go through with them. And you can!!! With all the expert advice
we've dredged up for you.
By
Ambica Sharma & Payal Anand
 "Coffee
is man's best friend".
Anand Vivek Taneja, New Delhi
For
Revision :
1.Keep the number of your various subject
teachers handy. If you have any doubts last minute,
call them to ask, rather than any friends who may only confuse
you more.
2.While revising, if you come across something you can't
understand, don't spend too much time on it. Note
all doubts on a notepad and clear them with your teach
later. If you try and clear doubts as you come across them, you'll
be too distracted to complete your revision.
3.While studying, note down formulae, important dates and
major points of every topic on a pad or loose
sheets. Exam day, carry only these with you to the exam
hall to avoid getting confused.
Check list
A checklist of things to carry with you to
the exam hall.
Hall ticket/roll number.
A photocopy of your hall ticket/roll number attested by your school
principal, just in case you lose the original.
Stationery-pens, pencils, eraser, sharpener, geometric instruments,
ruler etc.
No big books, but small, concise notes. We're not saying don't do
last-minute, outside-the-hall cramming; just keep it to the basics
like formulae, quotations, dates and so on.
Before exam day
1. Put up a copy of your exam
schedule in a prominent place at home. People have
been known to prepare for the wrong paper...
2. Arrange your stuff the night before. No clambering
around for tie or socks or belt last
minute. It only adds to the panic.
3. Get enough sleep! Even if that seems impossible.
You don't want to be so sleepy that you don't
remember even what you know!
On exam day
Keep a good margin of time when you leave
home for the exam. It may never have happened to you that there
was a traffic jam on the way, but there's always a first time.
Leave your attitude at home. Taking pangas with other people in
and around the exam hall will get you majorly into trouble because
no-one's feeling jolly or tolerant.
Stay away from pals who insist on treating the whole thing as a
picnic or a laugh. It's serious business: Treat it as such!
After exam day
Don't spend endless hours after a paper on
the phone or outside the exam hall discussing the entire paper.
Focus on the next one.
If you have some days between papers, make sure you don't waste
them. Come back from the first paper, unwind for a few hours, then
put the study material of the previous exam away and start on the
next one.
Before your last paper, make a conscious effort to stop thinking
about post-exam celebrations and focus on the last exam, otherwise
you'll regret it later.
Think SRK style... you're the best! You've done the best you could.
For the last minute, quit thinking of Hrithik's biceps and get down
to Newton's laws. Take a whole Kelvinator if necessary, but keep
your cool. And see March fly by.
Anjali J Koppal, 14, Kuwait
"Learn your Qs and As as if you are being
interviewed, like, 'Tell us about...' or, 'What is your opinion...'
before your Qs and prefixes like, 'You see...' and 'According to
me...' to make it all look a bit realistic. It sounds funny, but
is a great technique."
Raman, Bangalore
"I think you really shouldn't get tense...
and even if you are, then think about it like this-it's just another
exam... And when you're frustrated you could just scream or tear
your clothes off, like the books tear your brains; seriously speaking,
you could do with a break!"
Umme Aiman Sura, 17, Mumbai
"Don't
suppress your desires. If you've been wanting to see a particular
movie, go watch it. Add a bit of humour to your way of studying.
For eg, associate difficult paragraphs or answers to some kind of
joke or a funny incident." Varun Rajagopalan,
17, Bangalore
Score
More
Don,t leave out any questions.
If you know only part of an answer, write that down, as coherently
as you can. Also remember, two half-answered questions will often
get you more marks than one fully answered one.
"When
I have an exam I usually stay calm, getting nervous gets you nowhere.
I pretend that it's gonna be very easy! As about the missed portion,
even though it's the last minute, I go to the end of the chapter
and read the points to be remembered. And if you are lucky, it stays
in your head. Once inside the hall-stay calm and do what's to be
done."
Tashi Lhamo, 18, Bhutan
GET-UP-AND-GO
EXERCISES!
You've been sitting at your study table for
hours, reading, making notes, poring over your books. You're dead!
Here's how to unwind and recharge.
Eyes
Sit up, with your elbows resting on the table. Place your hands
in front of your face, cupped palms towards you. Close your eyes,
bend forward and rest your eyes in your palms for a few minutes.
Neck
Sit up straight. Slowly turn your neck to the left as far as it
can go, keeping it parallel to the ground at all times. Repeat,
turning to the right.
Fingers
Place the back of one hand in the palm of the other. Hold firmly
and press the thumb of the holding hand in a circular motion over
the palm of the other hand. Then change hands. Do the same exercise
for the other palm.
Forgot
a Chapter ? Panic not..
Read through the topic in your textbook very
carefully, just so you know what it contains. And read without going
to pieces.
If you have the time, make points about each subhead in that topic.
This will help you in revising it just before the exam.
Go through the questions pertaining to that topic and check that
you have at least the five important points for each answer.
Read the notes the teach gave in class. They will be more concise
than the textbook. The important parts are always specified. Pay
more attention to those. Check the 5 or 10-year papers to see what
kind of questions were asked about that topic. There is never much
variation in that, unless you have been told that the pattern of
questions is going to be different this year.
Check if the topic comes as an option question, if it does then
you don't have to waste time doing that topic.
If it is getting too much for you to start on a new topic at the
last minute, then you don't have to do it. Just go through the topic
once.
Blanked
out? reelaaaaxx...
'Oh shit, oh shit, man, I can't remember anything.
I can't remember nothing.' Sounds familiar?
Shut your books, take a few deep breaths and
tell yourself that you cannot just forget everything you learnt,
unless you have contracted a fatal brain disease in the past hour.
All that has happened is your grey pals have turned white from all
that cramming.
Get out of your place of study. The same surroundings can become
stifling.
Think about something else for a while, like your fave food or music-basically
get your mind off studies. It helps!
Say to yourself, 'This will pass, this will pass, I will pass, I
will pass.'
Don't call friends. Hearing about how much syllabus they've covered
will only hassle you more.
Don't even think about watching TV. It does not revive your grey
cells, it kills them by filling them with nonsensical info that
you won't need until your exams are over.
Unblank your mind, say you won't panic again, unblank it, unblank
it...
Hope
for the best
Dr. Achal Bhagat, Psychologist, Operation
Hope, give you pointers on beating exam stress.
Instead of hassling about the outcome of the
exam, focus on studying for it. Look at it a day at a time, not
the whole week or month.
Can't concentrate because of anxiety?
Study in 15-minute modules. Break for five minutes after each module,
using the first two minutes to mentally revise what you have studied
and the rest to calm yourself down.
Motivate yourself. Give yourself a pat on the back/a small treat
each time you finish a topic or solve a difficult problem.
How
to relax
When you are worried about something, you
hyperventilate, i.e breathe very fast. To relax, control your breathing.
Lie down on your back, arms by your side. Breathe from your stomach,
not your lungs. Keep your hand just below your ribcage, you'll feel
your diaphragm expand. Breathe 12 times a minute, allowing yourself
to relax.
Control negative thoughts in this simple way. Wear a loose rubberband
on your wrist. Each time you think negative, snap the rubberband
to tell yourself to 'stop'. Another way to do this is subtraction.
Subtract seven from a hundred and keep subtracting seven from the
answer you get. This will give you a reprieve from negative thinking.
If
the exams are troubling you too much to handle them yourself, you
can contact Operation Hope. You can tell them your troubles and
they will help you out. Pager-9628019278- only for Delhi.Phone numbers-(011)
6183518, 6180731
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