I am not going to say that I was a nerd and was able to solve every exam question, but I can say with confidence that I have attempted and worked on solving every question that I was hit with.
Once, though, all the students myself included were baffled by a question in an exam paper which consisted of one question. The subject had two very articulate professors, who loved story telling; I enjoyed their class very much, and none of the students had warned me go through the exams that they had given in previous years, and thinking that it’s an easy paper I focused on all the other papers barring this one. Well, I must say that the exam paper was a novel, a part of Star Wars or Disney World or something of the sort; one needs to read the novel, enjoy it and then of course decipher it and come out with the answers. I left the room dazzled, I think I got a B- as everyone had complained so they did a re-mark.
This takes me nicely to my blog today, examinations have been debated for centuries, I personally do not believe in them, and think that a piece of research or a debate can be a better ground for marking the success or failure of the students. However, we are not talking about the objectivity of examinations as they are here and will stay until a president of an important country stops them.
There are ways to tackle exams, I am not going to say that my way is the best way, but I had figured it out, and since I could do it and pass in every exam, so could you.
First thing to do is to make notes of every subject, then make notes from those notes, and summaries the notes into synonyms and things that will remind you of the subjects that you studied.
Second and most importantly, is to solve every past exam question you can put your hands on. If you find 20 years of examinations, then albeit, do them, do not think that you know the subject very well, read the subject, make notes, and more notes and do the past examinations.
Third, the thing to remember is that exam questions are marked by people who will be bored after marking the third script, so make your answers short and concise and use buzz words that match the subject matter. So, if you are talking about global warming, mention temperature, drying rivers, melting ice, and stuff like that, if you are talking about deceases then mention AIDS, cancer, flu, or anything like that.
Fourth, Try to draw a picture and depict your answers with diagrams which are a very good ways to answer, make sure that you answer in points as each point is given a mark and even if you don’t know the full answer, make sure that you attempt it.
Fifth, do not answer the difficult questions first, finish the easy ones, and then embark on the difficult ones. Make sure yu calculate the time needed and only spend the same amount of minutes to each question (if a question is 10 out of a 100 marks in a three hour paper, then spend 18 minutes on it and move on).
Finally, please revise your answers, this is as important as solving the questions, if you don’t revise you could miss at least 5 points; think how important to you it is to get these five points.
Have fun at your finals, remember, on the night of the exam: watch a movie or read a book; never study on the day of the exam; and never discuss your answers with anyone. Confusion will arise and it may harm more than benefit.
Good Luck.