Studying for knowledge and studying for taking an exam need different strategies. Faring well in exam is an art and needs practice for mastery. There are various factors that determine our performance in exam. Here , regarding preparation for an exam, I have divided it into different sections as follows:

A. Preparation from the beginning of course

Preparation for an examination begins the day you join a course. The day you enter class 10, your SLC preparation starts, the day you enter grade 11 your preparation for medical/ engineering entrance starts and so on. Of course, while we are studying the course our first objective is to learn better, understand the concepts, and know the application of the concepts. But simultaneously, it is prudent to keep an eye on the examination you got to take at the end of the course. Here are a few tips:

1. See the syllabus prescribed and the curriculum from the beginning of your course.
2. Mark the chapters on your book according to the marks weightage that appears in exam, eg: 2 questions of 4 marks each from Newton’s laws of motion. This will help you in deciding how much more focus you need to provide for each chapter on your syllabus.
3. Write down on your book against the respective chapter name, all the past questions that have been asked previously.
4. While studying a certain chapter, as I have discussed earlier, you will highlight important portions on the book or make a note copy for concepts. However, from examination point of view, I would recommend having another note copy for each subject that contains just a collection of the most attractive answers for each question. This is important because you won’t have time to make good answers at the eleventh hour. Plus when you have this resource at your disposal, you will have a significant boost up of morale just before exams because most of your friends will be running after guess papers, photocopies of class notes and so on at that time. And a self-prepared note is miles better than copied ones!
5. I know that doing all these stuffs take a good deal of time and hard work. Well, success doesn’t come easy anyway!
6. Most exams these days include practicals and viva. Having a favorable impression upon the respected faculty will surely make you achieve a bit better in such exams! So from the beginning of course, treat your faculty with respect. Give him the respect that he deserves, not flattery or servitude! I am astonished at myself that students of today have lost so much of discipline that I need to say these things ! Come on, you all should give your teacher enough respect even if there is no marks at stake!

B. Preparation from one month before the exam

Here are a few tips for you to follow when there is just a month remaining for exam:

1. Stop going to classes/ institute. It will be a waste of time.
2. Now is the time for self-study. Self-study is the key to success at last moments. So stay at your residence and study hard.
3. Make a plan of study.
4. First, revise your syllabus. Make sure that you haven’t missed a single topic. Make sure that you have studied each topic mentioned in the curriculum at least once.
5. Take care of your health. Now is not the time to get ill!! Stretching your body out of the limits just to study for one more hour might make you sick and lose 3 days of your study or even more!
6. Collect past questions and questions asked in exams of various other schools/colleges/ institutes. Try to attempt a standard question paper, preferably each day at hours of real exam. Eg: if your real exam is on 7-10 am, try attempting mock test also on 7-10 am!
7. Don’t take stress. Don’t worry. Everything is going to be ok. Believe in yourself. Pray. Stay confident because you have well-prepared!

C.          Preparation from one week before the exam

This is the time of anxiety. The realization that the dreadful exam is just a week away brings lot of panic to many students, both the ill-prepared as well as the well-prepared ones! A small amount of anxiety is normal and beneficial as well. However too much of anxiety might be detrimental. So the tips below will help you lessen the anxiety and improve your performance during the exam:

1. Now is not the time to study new matters. Don’t lose your confidence. Whatever you have read till date will suffice. Believe in yourself and start revising.
2. Don’t  discuss  much  with  your  friends  — because they will frustrate you. Make a schedule of your own and stick with it.
3. Start revising. Don’t read/buy new books now– -except for model questions practice book!! Some chap will come and say that he has brought a good new book on the market—and everyone rushes after that!!! Don’t do that!! Read your old materials that you have been using since long! If you had prepared notes beforehand or highlighted in your books-it will be of immense help!
4. Read all subjects each day; not like studying science today and maths tomorrow. Read all subjects daily but with proper time division!!
5. Don’t panic!! If you do, cool down. Talk to your near ones like parents who will encourage you and make you stress-free.
6. Take rest and proper care of your health!! If you get ill just before exam, everything will be doomed!! Don’t break your sleep-wake pattern!! Sleep as per your usual routine.
7. If you believe in God, ask for His help!!! If you don’t, just have positive attitude!! The benefit of thinking and acting positively is that—IT WORKS!!
8. Make sure you have received the admission card and know the exam-center well.
9. Revise as much as you can. You can make memory notes in small copies that you can keep in your pocket and use it when you have to go out on a bus, have to wait for someone, and so on.
10. Don’t waste time now! Time becomes more precious as the exam approaches! Switch off your mobile, don’t get engaged in idle talks or family gatherings. You will have enough time for that after exam.

D. Preparation on one day before the exam

Suppose your exam is on Saturday morning 8 am onwards. So what to do from Friday— this is the time when tension starts escalating, you get nervous and don’t know what to do and what not to. Most of the students get in complete disarray during this time. Confusion mounts! Shall I study Maths? You start reading it for an hour but in the back of your head you feel you got to study English and you have forgotten many of Biology part as well. So without completing one subject, you shift to the other— but can’t concentrate and again go for another subject—and time is running fast—and you feel you know nothing and everything is remaining for revision. You get more nervous—mind stops working well—can’t sleep well that night—next morning you are sure you will flunk!! — -Exactly same is the scenario with most of the students who don’t fare well in exam!! You must have seen that many studious guys also fare poor in some exams. This is the reason—ill management of the last hour!! This is the most crucial time for exam preparation. However, we can’t make optimum use of it—with the resultant effect that all our hard work of 1 year goes down to drain!! So what is the best way of preparing in the last day? I have following recommendations:

1. Study as much as you can. Some people advocate that you need to relax or keep mind fresh by not studying on the day before exam but I find it very detrimental. Revise as much as you can. If you can remember just one answer due to your effort on this day, that will make the difference between you being a doctor and not being a doctor or getting distinction and settling with mere first division. Your future is at stake. Take no chances. Read as much as you can. You can relax and enjoy one day later.
2. What things should you focus while studying? This is important question because you won’t have time to revise everything. So you need to revise only three things for all the subjects. One is very important questions, then questions that are confusing and finally, the questions that you have made mistakes during model exams. Again this highlights the importance of preparing for this dreadful day from long before keeping a track of these varieties of questions. After you have done this, just scan the entire syllabus just to make sure if there is something in which you are completely blank.
3. As I had mentioned in “Preparation from one week before the exam” you need to have a set of notes of all subjects especially prepared for this day beforehand. Revise those.
4. If you don’t have notes prepared for this day, revise from the books that you have been studying—provided you have highlighted beforehand.
5. Don’t keep any chapters to be read on this day. This is not a day for new chapters or new books. Only revise what you have already learnt.
6. Don’t attempt model question on this day. There is no time. Revise and revise again.
7. Don’t wake till late night. You might feel sleepy tomorrow in exam. But don’t sleep too early just to relax. Follow your normal schedule.
8. If you are very tensed at any moment-you may take a break to cool your heated brain. Talk to your parents. See TV for 15-20 minutes. Just relax.
9. Don’t talk to your friends. Don’t call them or receive their calls. They will increase your anxiety.
10. Believe in yourself. Don’t panic. Everything is gonna be alright.
11. Take care of your health. Eat well. Not too much spicy. What if you get loose motion in the middle of exam? So take care of what you eat!
12. Make time allocations for the questions and how you are going to use it during the examination. For example, if you need to solve 100 marks in 180 minutes, try to allocate 1.6 minutes for each mark so that your exam gets finished in 160 minutes and you have 20 minutes spare for revision, bathroom and so on.
13. Has everything been arranged for tomorrow? Do you know your center? Do you know the way to reach there? Arrange these stuffs.
14. Preferably go to the center with your guardian. If you wish, carry your notes to the center.
15. You may read till the last minute. It’s fine. Don’t panic by seeing a huge crowd in the center.
16. Arrive at the center a little ahead. Keep time for traffic jams etc.
17. Get rid of your urine just before going to the exam room.
18. If you have faith, pray to God. It does help—by increasing your confidence.
19. Don’t discuss anything with your friends in the time between your reaching the center and starting of the exam.
20. Best of luck! I know you will succeed if you have been following all of my advices sincerely!!

E.  Inside the Exam Hall

Of course, the only thing you do inside the exam hall is write the answers. However, there are some tips that help you make better use of the given time inside the exam hall:

1. After you have received the answer sheet, fill up the labels correctly and coolly write your symbol no. and so on. You cannot make mistake on this part.
2. Then make margins on the answer sheet, by pencil if you have enough time or just folding would be enough!
3. Before you receive the question paper, take deep breaths, pray, say any matra you believe in or do whatever that makes you tranquil!
4. Just after receiving the question paper, the first thing you need to do is read the instructions well. Don’t miss this step. Once, in a test taken by Chapman sir he provided us a question paper with 15 questions to be solved in 30 mins. The last question was : “You don’t need to answer any of the question above. Just write your name, roll no. and leave”
5. When you get the question paper, just take a scan of questions. Don’t read all the questions in detail. There might be some questions you don’t know and might lose confidence. Start from the part that you know very well and is likely to score high. Then slowly start doing the remaining questions with growing confidence.
6. Keep track of time as mentioned earlier. You have already done time management one day before. Use that today for your guide.
7. If there is a question you had never done before, just try it once. If you get the answer, good but if you can’t solve it in first attempt, then mark it on the paper and move on. You can return to it later when you have enough time to think and attempt.
8. If there is some question that you know just ok but not very well, I suggest you to sandwich the answer to the question in between three or four very good answers. Eg: solve 3 questions you know very well then solve the one you know so-so then again solve 3 questions you know very well. Because many teachers don’t read each answer seriously, they might skip this part in between 2 sets of good answers and you are likely to receive higher marks even for your average answer.
9. Don’t panic. Don’t go to bathrooms unless urgent. Don’t try to peek into other’s answers or consult with others. If you have prepared well as I have taught you here, there will be no need for these things and will only take up your time!
10. Your first answer is usually correct. Don’t change your answer after you have already written it. It rarely gets correct in that way. You will also dirtify your answer paper and make your mistake more noticeable!
11. Write your answers in good handwriting.
12. Keep your answer paper clean and pretty.
13. Write answers to the point. Don’t circomlocute or beat around the bush. Just tell what the question asks. Exact. To the point. Beating around the bush is useful for questions that you don’t know the answers to. You might get a few marks doing that instead of getting zero. But for answers you know well, you will lose marks doing so.
14. In subjects like literature (English and Nepali), it is a good idea to quote some of the sentences exactly from the book within inverted commas. That makes the teacher realize that you do study the textbook!
15. In subjects like Physics, try to make use of mathematical equations or formulae as much as possible. Justifying a statement with one equation is far better than doing so with logics of 4 lines!
16. In Chemistry, make use of chemical equations and formulae as much as possible. Similarly, use diagrams as much as possible in biology. Don’t forget to label them.
17. In papers of Science, don’t write long answers. Just answer what is asked! Filling page is not going to get you good scores.
18. In Maths, if you have done all questions correct with tidy paper you can score full marks!
19. Don’t make silly mistakes like 12+5 = 19 and so on. Don’t forget to write the question no. before you write the answer! Don’t panic!!
20. Don’t forget to get the attendance of the exam.
21. If you need to get extra answer sheets, make sure it has been signed by the invigilator and mention it in your main answer paper.
22. When you have many added answer sheets, make sure you stitch the papers well. You can’t afford to lose your answer sheets! I used to carry a stapler of my own and make enough stitches!

F.  After the Exam is Over

1. Don’t discuss with your friends about the exam. It is not going to be of ANY HELP!

2. If you have other papers remaining, go to home and start preparing!

              3. If you don’t have any more exams left, you can contemplate on your exam, make an estimated score of yourself. But don’t compare with your friends or discuss with them.

4. If this is just a mid-term exam or so, take a couple of days off and start studying again at full pace.

5. If this is a final or entrance test, then celebrate! You worked hard the entire year for this exam so you deserve some celebration. Go outing, meet your friends, go for a movie, read a good book and so on. Relax while you can. Because when the results are out, either you are going to have more fun and celebration or you need to get back to more study and mental turmoils again!

6. Don’t forget to celebrate your results if you have achieved what you wanted! Do not forget to inform me if I helped you in your success in anyway!