Prepare to pass – and even excel

Doing well in an exam takes more than just learning hard before the event. Good preparation in other areas can boost your results significantly. Read more to get some hints on how to be excellently prepared for your exams. A future article will give you hints on what to do once the paper is in front of you to optimise your performance.

Before you start

• Confirm the location of the exam venue, how long it takes to get there and allow for minor mishaps and traffic congestion in planning travelling time.

• Make sure you have a watch that can measure time in minutes – cell phones may not be permitted in the exam hall.

• Check that your calculator has fresh batteries and you have a spare set, that you have sufficient equipment such as pens, pencils, coloured pencils, highlighters, erasers, protractors, rulers, scale rules, and compasses.

• Use the toilet before you enter the exam room.

• Keep as calm and relaxed as possible. This will aid your recall of what you have studied. Avoid situations that will increase your already elevated level of stress. For example, do not discuss the work and the upcoming exam with your fellow candidates before entering the exam hall. Such discussions are not likely to improve your knowledge, but are likely to increase your anxiety.

• Your brain will require glucose or sugar to function properly. It is therefore advisable to increase your glucose intake before the exam and is generally not a bad idea to have a sweet snack to consume during the exam.

Allocate your time

• Aim for a pace that would enable you to complete a three-hour paper in two-and-a-half hours.

• Allow yourself 15 minutes to read the question paper carefully.

• Allocate the time per question according to the marks allocated to the question. Assuming a three-hour 100-mark exam (remember you allow yourself two-and-a-half hours or 150 minutes to complete the examination), 1½ minutes are allocated for every mark available.

• Allow yourself 15 minutes at the end of the exam to make sure that you’ve answered all the questions that were asked and to finish any questions not completed in the time you allowed yourself.

• After answering all the questions according to your schedule, you should now have 15 minutes plus any extra time you have saved. Use this time to:

- make sure that you’ve answered all the questions;

- complete any incomplete answers;

- check all formulae and calculations;

- add any additional information that you’ve subsequently recalled;

- check that you’ve answered the questions asked.

Bear in mind

Preparation pays – you should do some even during the exam itself. Here’s what to bear in mind:

• The results of a candidate with good subject knowledge but poor exam technique are seldom better than those of a candidate with slightly worse knowledge but excellent exam technique. In borderline cases, exam technique is invariably the differentiator between a pass and a fail. Watch out for a future Rock Talk article, which will give you more hints on exam technique.

• The examiner wants to test the candidates’ knowledge on the subject matter, not to trick them. Plan your answers so that you present your knowledge and understanding clearly.

• A neat and tidy exam script is likely to put the examiner in a positive frame of mind when he starts marking your answer. You are more likely to score top marks for neat, well constructed answers. This is especially true when answering essay questions.

• Don’t give long-winded answers with lots of irrelevant information. The examiner is looking for specific answers and battling through a mass of irrelevant information is not likely to prompt him to give you higher marks. More often than not, “waffle” will show your ignorance, lack of knowledge or misconceptions, rather than knowledge and understanding of the subject. Remember, the examiner is probably marking your script in his private time, for no remuneration. Do not waste his valuable time.