Thursday, September 26, 2013

LEARN AND LIVE ITEM: PREPARE FOR EXAMS ... ITEM No.3



PREPARE FOR EXAMS. ITEM No.3: MY STUDY PREPARATION FOR EXAMS (FOR SEPT 18)
I SAID in the last item that you do not have to study beyond midnight – or even beyond 10pm, if you start early each evening.
In one of my best years of study at the tertiary level, I started studying at 7pm and ended at 9.30pm, every night. By 10.30pm, I would be in bed reading a book – which might not be related to any of the courses I was studying.
I was able to study early because the soccer season was over and I had more time.
(Some of you who participate in sports should withdraw from competition to concentrate on your studies. The grades that will be written on your certificate cannot be rewritten in following years. But you can always play your favourite sports next year or for another decade yet.)

If I were a Grade 10 student studying four examinable subjects, this is a possible study plan that I could use. (Adapt the plan appropriately if you are studying six or more.)
I will have early dinner at 6pm on Monday, shower, pack my books and go to the library and pick a corner away from the main foyer.
From 6.30pm-7.00pm, I will complete all English homework. Any incomplete work is left for later.   
From 7.00pm-7.30pm, I will do all Maths work. Any incomplete work is left for later.
From 7.30pm-8.00pm, I will do Science work. Again, any incomplete work is left for later.
From 8.00pm-8.30pm, I will complete Social Science work. Any incomplete work is left for later.
I may take a 10-minute break to go sit down at the newspaper section and read some news to relax.
From 8.45pm to 9.15pm, I study English, in preparing for the exams.
I will go over past assignment and test papers. I will note important points in a summary book – a different notebook to the one I use to take notes during lessons.

Next week, at the same time, I will start go through my notebooks and summarise important points. I will continue to do that until exam time.
It is better trying to memorise notes in a summarised form than as in full notes taken from class or textbooks.
After 9.15pm, I go over to complete outstanding homework, starting with English, then Maths, and the others.
By 10pm, I pack up and leave.
Anything that is not completed can be completed in my room – or early the next day.
My aim was to go to bed at 10pm – or 10.30pm at the latest.
And, I read before going to sleep – a good mental exercise.

I am usually awake at 6am and can squeeze in another 30 minutes to do some study before breakfast.
And, since I usually get to class about 20 minutes before class starts, I can squeeze in more time to complete tasks that were not completed yesterday, or continue revising some English.
On Tuesday evening, I will follow the same routine, but I will study Maths. On Wednesday, I follow the same routine and study Science and on Thursday, the same, but I study Social Science.
Friday is a time to relax and I may do some work in the morning on Saturday and Sunday evening, depending on how my study went in the week.
In the next week, I follow the routine as described above.     

Next item: How do you write your exam?

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