Appear, the bottom line is that no matter what you do, in this day and age you are always going to be in a situation where you will have to do some sort of exam, whether it is to get your license to drive a car, to get a promotion at work or to get a University degree, we are always going to be face with having to do some sort of exam. Even at my computer training centre, when you come to learn how to use Microsoft Office you have the chance to gain a official document as of Microsoft in using Microsoft Office, but to get it, you still have to do an exam. However there are certain things you can do that can help you get ready for you exams and give you a better chance of passing.
(1). Make Sure you recreate All the Practical Exercises
With many courses that you study for there will be practical exercises included. For example when you are doing our computer training courses, you will do a little bit of theory and then a practical exercise. It is extremely important that when you leave your training that you go back through those practical exercises as they will help reinforce the theory you have learnt.
Let say for example, you were studying bookkeeping. One of the things you are taught in bookkeeping is how to create a manual set of books such as the Journals, Ledgers and Trial Balance. During your course you would be given practical exercises to create your own Journals etc and it is extremely important that you redo those exercises in your own time to reinforce the elements you have learnt and the process as well.
Yet another example for university student, if you were studying say biology or chemistry, one of the requirements you have is to do certain experiments in a lab. It is absolutely essential that you practice those exercises as they will help reinforce the theory you have learned. In the case of University studies, most faculties will allow you to book lab time to practice your exercises outside the normal lecture time.
(2). Do A Minimum of 4 Hours Study per Week per Subject
People often say to me how much study we should be doing each week. Well, in reality, it really does depend on the course you are doing. For example if you are studying medicine or law, you will find that you will need almost the same amount of time to study as you attend lectures, so you are looking at 40 hours of study time per week.
However, for computer training courses or IT courses where you are studying for Certifications you will find that if you allocate 4 hours per week per subject, that it will be enough to study the material and to become proficient at it. Make note though that the learn period does not include doing your practical exercises; the study period is in addition.
(3). Make sure you Read All the Material Provided After Lectures
The number one error people make when they come and do any training, including computer training is that do not re-read and go through all the material they covered during the lectures within seven days of doing the actual lecture. So for example, if you do a one day processor training course, you need to go back through all the material within seven days.
Why?
Well there is lots of scientific research that has been undertaken that shows, if you do not reinforce the material you have learned within seven days of first hearing it, that you will 50% of that knowledge within the next seven days. If you do not review the material within 21 days you will loose 50% of the 50% left, which now means you will only remember 25% of the material covered. Some of the research I have read shows that for every 7 days you leave reviewing the material you keep loosing 50% of the remaining knowledge which means in about 6 to 10 weeks after the course you knowledge on the subject. If the textile has not been review, the retained knowledge will be virtually none, which means you may as well not wasted you time in attending the course in the first place.
Have you ever been to one of those tax seminars or financial planning seminars? Have you noticed that they only give you enough information to remember the good things, they do not give you a training pack to remind you of the potential flaws of their services, that is because they use the same issues outlined earlier in which as time goes on, you will only remember the things you have reinforced.
(4). Get Time to Meditate
Ok, I can hear it now, “Oh Yeah Hippy, Want Us to Meditate do ya.” Absolutely! Look whilst meditation has certainly been a thing of fringe groups in western society or linked with more eastern religions a lot of researchers are now coming to the distinct conclusion that meditation can make a huge difference to our day-to-day lives.
The core benefit meditation will play in your studies is to help you to relax. The more relaxed you are the more creative and the easier it will be to learn the material for the exam. I surely recommend that when you are meditating, that you use baroque music with your meditation as it will help increase the alpha waves which will help lead you to a calm feeling.
The bottom line is this, there is no shortcut to conquering exams but they do not have to be a life and death struggle if you put the work in. Whilst there is no fool proof way to go by exam, putting the work in will certainly mean you should see much better exam results plus hopefully the outcomes you are looking for.
(5). When Studying Have Light Music On
As I write this I be able to hear all the parents in the world cringing and crying out saying, NO! Well in fact, if you listen to the right music, music can in fact increase your ability to retain the material you are studying. Briefly, research shows that baroque music at 60 beats per miniature causes your mind to produce more alpha [calmness] waves. This happen on both left and right sides of your brain.
This simply means that you calm down and relax, in a way similar to when you whistle a happy tune, or when you daydream. This “alpha” state of mind is ideal for learning, creativity, or just relaxing. Baroque Music also makes the perfect background music for all training from playgroup to government “think tanks.” It is used in schools all over Australia. A quote from the teacher of a remedial class here in Australia: “It seems to slow them down so they can think.”
Corporate trainers can improve the effectiveness of training sessions dramatically by playing ornate Music during a session.. A colleague uses the music as background for his reminiscence training seminars and swears by it because remember and creativity are improved.
(6). Review Previous Exams
This is one of the most important things every person must do prior to sitting an exam and that is to review as many previous exams as you can. In most University courses, you will find that each year the lecturer will in fact lodge the previous year’s exams in the Library for use by the students. My recommendation has always been to go and copy the exam if possible and then study the examination as much as possible. Some universities and colleges allow you to do this others do not.
There are a few key reasons for doing this. The previous exams will give you an insight into the way the lecturers structure the exam questions and they also give you a very good indication of the sorts of questions that lecturers are likely to put on the exams, especially if you have three or four years worth of past exam papers.
(7). Have a coworker Write Practice Exams and Questions for You
If you are doing long term study at a college or University it is always worthwhile to try to form a study group. Even if you are working in a corporate environment and working in a team that is doing study try to form a study group to help you with studies. The reason I advise this, is so that you can all work together and right a series of practice exams and questions for each other to try to answer.
See, the key with passing any exam is practice. The more do you have and exposure to the various ways questions could be possibly structured the more likely you will pass the exam. Getting every person inside you study group to write practice exams and questions also helps them, as they need to know the correct answer and how to structure the correct answer, which helps reinforce the fabric for them.
If you are studying in a corporate environment and you have people who have done the exams in the past, get them to write a set of practice exams. It would be even better if you could get three or four colleagues to actually write some practice exams for you as they will give you such a variation that you will be able to identify areas you may not have covered sufficiently.
