Exam Preparation: Time Factor

In this post, I will talk about the time factor in the exam preparation series.

Daily homework
Usually, we sit down comfortably and solve the questions in front of us. Many times, we are able to solve most, if not all, the questions. YES! We can do it. YES! We will score well! But have we ever look at the time we take to solve those questions? Have we ever look at our piece of work and wonder whether another person is able to decipher what we have written, or is it totally illegible?

Examination hall
We know that there is a fix duration for every paper. We know that we have a choice to leave the hall early, but we have no choice to leave late. Let's ask ourselves: Are we able to finish the paper within the permitted time? If yes, good. If no, think about how much time was spent doing our daily homework.

Experience
Recalling my Secondary School days, initially during Additional Mathematics tests or exams, I always completed the paper just in time. My last written word/number was a few seconds before the announcement "Pens down, time's up". There was once when I could not even finish the paper.
Most of my students, past and present, face the same issue. They know how to solve the questions, but they simply take too long to solve them. One simple question can take them more than 5 minutes. Reasons? Write slowly. Write down every single step. Using the correction tape/fluid.

What did I do?
Once I know that I got the concept, I time myself when solving problems. When I was going to sit for a 2-hour paper (in the case of A Math), I made sure that I was able to finish a paper within 1 hour during practice. Sounds crazy? No. Let's admit that during practice, we feel relax while doing the questions. We ought to do fast, since we don't feel any stress. The same paper in exam took me not less than 1.5 hour. This is due to the "additional weights" on my shoulders. My heart beat faster, my hands shook more and I wrote slower.

Learn to write fast but not compromising the readability of your work. A calligraphic piece of work won't earn you extra marks. As long as the marker can understand your handwriting, it is good enough. Over the years, I have received many praises for my handwriting. However, when they saw the work I hand in during exam, they were stunned.

It's time to time yourself!

Exam Preparation: Train In A Harsh Condition

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).