How do you plan a journey? First, you decide on the destination. Then, you calculate the number of days you need to reach there. Then, how to travel- by air, road or sea; by flight, ship, train, bus, car or bike. Finally, other things you should take care of while travelling. The things you need to pack, who will be travelling with you etc.
The exam is also a journey which needs proper planning. First, you should decide your destination. That destination should never be scoring higher marks. The moment you start concentrating on marks the enjoyment of your studies will disappear. Instead, see the exam as an opportunity to present the knowledge, you gained in the previous few months, before people who are going to appreciate it. Like a painting you painted, a match you played, or a song you sang before an audience who appreciated it. You enjoyed those claps, didn’t you? Now, some applause is waiting for you when you present your knowledge and skills and who doesn’t like some applause!
So the destination is decided- it is like the elation you feel when you reach the top of a mountain peak for which you get some good applause. Marks are just a bonus. It is never the destination. Teachers and parents should always try to inculcate this feeling of satisfaction derived by answering well the questions in an exam, rather than shifting the focus of students to marks.
For all journeys proper planning is essential. So how to plan for the exam?
Smart work (not hard work) is the key. For a journey first of all we calculate the distance and time needed to cover that distance. Similarly, for an exam calculate how many days you have to study and prepare a timetable accordingly, including days, dates and times to allot for each subject. This timetable should be realistic. For example, if you know you will not be able to study on Saturdays, since you have your all extracurricular activities and you go out to meet your friends on Saturdays, then omit Saturdays from your timetable. If you have your cousin’s marriage in December and you want to keep aside a week for that, omit that week from the timetable.
What are the other things to keep in mind for exam preparation?
Have a clear idea of how the question paper is going to be. What are the different types of questions in the question paper, how many marks for each question, how many words you should answer them, the weightage of marks for each chapter, difficulty levels of questions- have a clear idea of all these. If a blueprint of the question paper is available, get that. After you complete studying the entire syllabus, go through previous question papers.
If students do all this they are completely prepared for the exam.
Parents and teachers should take care that students are physically and mentally fit to appear for the exam. Parents should take of the health of their children. Give them homemade- food at proper intervals of time. Avoid junk food as much as possible. Let them spend some time with their friends every day. Engage them in some extracurricular activities like sports, music, dance or drawing which they enjoy. All these factors are essential to maintain their mental health and to avoid depression and extreme mood swings common in this generation due to excessive use of mobile phones and internet-related activities.
Give the love your children deserve and keep them close to family. Don’t blame them unnecessarily. Realize the limitations of your child and encourage them accordingly. Each child is unique. Don’t compare them with other children. Don’t blame them if their marks go low. Instead of encouraging them, saying, they can score better marks next time; or saying it doesn’t matter since they tried their best, next time, they can rectify the flaws that happened during this exam.
Children have their own interests and aspirations. Find out these interests and encourage them. They should write their academic exams with proper preparation. But in the journey of life, they have to face many more challenges. Teachers and parents should realize this and facilitate personality development to face these challenges. Let them grow happily, and responsibly, doing things they like. The positive results will definitely reflect in their life.
Suja JP Menon, Director UniGrad Education Center in the Kingdom of Bahrain