By Hu Wo (Cuckoo’s Song)
The nearer the final exam is drawn, the more students’ hearts will be pounding, I believe. Funnily enough, students and exams often go hand in hand. It is also natural for students to have exam nerves or test anxiety even before the exam days. Now, there are not so many days left till the matriculation examination. I think that any student who has studied school subjects well or not will feel more or less exam nerves for sure. But students who have conducted enough study on school subjects would like to sit the exam as soon as possible. Only students who have not made ready for studies but are physically and psychologically ready can do well in exams for certain. This article will describe helpful matriculation exam advice for high school students as far as I am aware.
The first thing that students should do before exams is to work out their estimated time for each question on the paper. For this case, they can look at past papers and may set 1.8 minutes per 1 mark on the 100-mark question paper with a time allowance of 3 hours. Such limited time will not make students hurry into taking the exam; they will be able to answer all the questions which they have to within the allocated time of the exam. If and when students do not fix their expected time for every question beforehand, they will run into difficulty doing the exam, especially when they do not have time to answer objective questions that need calculating patiently or essay-type questions that need to be thought deeply. Students should never spend their valuable exam time answering only one question, especially one that gives a few marks.
Secondly, students must read the whole question paper carefully and thoroughly. Some students do badly in exams even though several questions that they can answer very well are on the question sheet. That is why they do not read all the questions on the paper from beginning to end. Then, most students who have not answered an adequate number of questions will flunk the exam. Even worse, some students do not read the question until they understand it. The reason is that they do not in all honesty get this question or they read the question carelessly or they do not wish to pass the exam. Whatever it is, any student who has not done the exam completely or adequately will surely fail the exam. Hence, students ought to read the question paper so earnestly that they will do well in the exam.
Many students are under the illusion that they will have to begin answering the exam questions serially. Thus, students are given to take the exam in serial number except if they have skipped the question which they cannot answer very quickly or they take time to think or they are unable to answer at all. They can start any question number after the alarm bell rings; it depends on them. Whenever possible, it would be best if students answered all questions in the order of the paper. But as my tip, every student should start with the question number so that they can give the right answer. The question that cannot be given the correct answer in a while is left behind and should be answered by the end of the exam. Here, there is one more point that I want to add. Sometimes students are allowed to choose and answer the questions. At that time, what I always like to say is `Your choice, your result´. As even some students choose the questions wrongly, they do not get as many marks in the exam as they expect or they tend to fail the exam although they do not want to. Prioritizing the question that students can answer at their best whether its answer may be long or short is of great importance.
As mentioned above, it is no wonder that students have got exam nerves or test anxiety to some extent. Naturally, schoolboys do not feel as much test anxiety as schoolgirls. However, any student needs to keep calm and sit the exam even if they have not mastered their studies in advance. It was virtually unheard of for any student to flunk the exam with test anxiety. Some students will get nervous as soon as they see a question that they cannot answer at all or be overly happy when they find it pretty easy to answer a question. That should not always be so. In truth, all students must sit still and not be anxious before, while and after they take the exam. I am strongly of the opinion that the only way to overcome test anxiety is enough study and good practice in all studies ahead of time.
After students have answered as many questions as they wish, they should not sit in the examination hall without turning a hair. I have seen that some students take a nap during the exam. It is not a good habit. Check, check, check! Students must check their answer papers again and again. By the time they do so, they will find if the answer that they have written down is a correct, enough or ample description. Some students are inclined to do peer checking following exams. In reality, such peer checking does nothing, yet this behaviour may depress other students. Most of all, students should have no undesirable feelings between exams. Those feelings will probably even make students flunk in one subject or another. Again, students have to check their roll numbers as well as the numbers and sub-numbers of questions whether they are right or wrong. After all, students should realize that failing the exam is not the end of the world; they also have a chance to try it again the following year. Mostly, they can learn from mistakes. Having passed the exam only once is the best for young students.
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