Nearing the end of the year, staring at the "BIG EXAM", let me share my ways of preparing for examination. Points may be repeated from my previous posts, but nevertheless, they are important enough for us to be reminded again.
Conducive learning
Most students learn in a conducive environment. By conducive, I mean quiet, bright, cooling, zero disturbance, and whatever you can think of. Nothing wrong with this, since it is normal that we learn better in such environment. However, nothing is perfect, including the examination hall.
Real life
In the hall, you will hear the invigilators' footsteps, hundreds of students flipping papers, other students playing basketball below the hall, or even babies from the opposite block crying!
In the hall, you will see people walking around and students scribbling on the paper.
In the hall, you may experience some unpleasant smell, from the shoes if it's a rainy day or even from the garbage truck.
Won't all these add disturbance to you and affect you? Won't it affect more especially when you are only used to a conducive environment?
Experience
Personally, I have seen students perform well in a classroom environment (for class test), in a tuition environment (no much disturbance). However, once they step into the big hall, they fail. Reasons? Too noisy. Too stressful to be seated in the middle of hundreds of students.
Worse still, you may experience a mental block when you see all the other students writing fast and furiously! Looks like everyone else know how to do all the questions right? Feels like you are dead right? I have experienced this myself!
What did I do?
The method which I used is to study in a harsh environment. At this moment, as a student, you should be more or less done with your syllabus. The question now is not whether you have the knowledge. Rather, it is whether you can perform under conditions which are unknown to you, under conditions which you are not used to.
I always leave my room door open, with my family watching TV and talking outside. My windows are always opened, taking in noise from the road and the train track. This is to ensure that I receive the "maximum noise", which I think is reasonable compared to the noise I would receive in the hall.
My table is positioned such that I am either facing the windows or the door. This makes me face moving things, be it my family walking past, the train moving past, or even the swaying tree leaves.
Luckily for me (or not?), I never have air-con in my room. I used to study in a warm environment - the air coming from the fan was warm too. With the exam paper at 1pm, I was never affected by the stuffy hall, which during my time, was only equipped with fans. Some exam halls are still not air-conditioned today, so this may help you too.
The above methods work for me and for my students who faced the problem of fear-in-the-hall. No harm trying it out, especially if knowledge is not your main concern now (for JC2 and Sec 4 students, it shouldn't be at this stage anyway).
Conducive learning
Most students learn in a conducive environment. By conducive, I mean quiet, bright, cooling, zero disturbance, and whatever you can think of. Nothing wrong with this, since it is normal that we learn better in such environment. However, nothing is perfect, including the examination hall.
Real life
In the hall, you will hear the invigilators' footsteps, hundreds of students flipping papers, other students playing basketball below the hall, or even babies from the opposite block crying!
In the hall, you will see people walking around and students scribbling on the paper.
In the hall, you may experience some unpleasant smell, from the shoes if it's a rainy day or even from the garbage truck.
Won't all these add disturbance to you and affect you? Won't it affect more especially when you are only used to a conducive environment?
Experience
Personally, I have seen students perform well in a classroom environment (for class test), in a tuition environment (no much disturbance). However, once they step into the big hall, they fail. Reasons? Too noisy. Too stressful to be seated in the middle of hundreds of students.
Worse still, you may experience a mental block when you see all the other students writing fast and furiously! Looks like everyone else know how to do all the questions right? Feels like you are dead right? I have experienced this myself!
What did I do?
The method which I used is to study in a harsh environment. At this moment, as a student, you should be more or less done with your syllabus. The question now is not whether you have the knowledge. Rather, it is whether you can perform under conditions which are unknown to you, under conditions which you are not used to.
I always leave my room door open, with my family watching TV and talking outside. My windows are always opened, taking in noise from the road and the train track. This is to ensure that I receive the "maximum noise", which I think is reasonable compared to the noise I would receive in the hall.
My table is positioned such that I am either facing the windows or the door. This makes me face moving things, be it my family walking past, the train moving past, or even the swaying tree leaves.
Luckily for me (or not?), I never have air-con in my room. I used to study in a warm environment - the air coming from the fan was warm too. With the exam paper at 1pm, I was never affected by the stuffy hall, which during my time, was only equipped with fans. Some exam halls are still not air-conditioned today, so this may help you too.
The above methods work for me and for my students who faced the problem of fear-in-the-hall. No harm trying it out, especially if knowledge is not your main concern now (for JC2 and Sec 4 students, it shouldn't be at this stage anyway).
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ReplyDeleteHi, you are doing a fabulous job with your work. We are a Accommodation Student consultant in Singapore- University Living. We often get queries from students about how to prepare for exam because they are very much new with the education system of Singapore university. I will bookmark your blog and I will surely recommend to the students who need help.
Keep Doing Good Work
Thanks
Student Accommodation Singapore