Have you heard this common saying – “Never do tomorrow what you can do today; PROCRASTINATION is the thief of time.”
The habit of cramming a day before your exam often leads to failure because you have to integrate and assimilate immense information in short period of time. With this sort of test preparation, you cannot be confident of your performance. Preparing for an exam can be time consuming and stressful, especially if it’s a competitive exam like GRE, GMAT, CAT, CLAT etc. The secret to a good score is early and structured preparation plan. You can ensure your readiness for the exam by simply staying ahead of the competition and adhering to a time bound study plan.
- Your brain needs time to digest everything: Give yourself enough time for test preparation and to review topics that are covered in class. You are the best judge of your preparation and schedule. Start studying early if the study material is difficult to understand. Start early and do not stay up all the night as your brain needs time to subconsciously digest all that you put into it. Therefore, get full night sleep before exams.
- Your teacher’s guidance will help you: To begin your study process, the easiest way is to find out the important topics and the type of questions that are expected in the exam. Your teacher might help you by handing some guide and giving some pointers. You may focus on the main topics and type of questions that may be covered in the test.
- Go through the entire syllabus: Starting ahead of time will enable you to go through the entire syllabus. Everything that should have been completed and learned over the course of your class, syllabus is its outline. It helps you understand the major topics and ideas you should be learning in the class. Review your syllabus and highlight the subtitles and titles. Mark the important sections, write down the page numbers and make sure you review these sections to understand the big idea behind these topics.
- Take down notes while you study: End time study won’t allow you to take down notes to refer, in case you forget anything. Your good notes are sufficient enough to study. This will help you refresh your memory and remember what you have learned. It can explain the concepts that are not explained well in some books. It highlights the information making it easier for you to remember and understand well. Write down the concepts that you are having hard time to remember or you are struggling with. Break down complex points or subjects into parts or steps. Thorough study and these side notes help you to recall information and easily locate the content in your notes during exams.
- Taking test and determining the format: Advance test preparation will help you to complete your syllabus early, leaving time for you to take tests. Once you have completed with your syllabus, taking mock tests will help you evaluate your performance. It will help you to know your strengths and weaknesses and give detailed analysis of your performance. It will also enable you to understand the format and pattern of questions, how detailed and open-ended questions you might have to encounter in your exam.
- Practice: Avoiding procrastination will leave you time for practice whatever you have learnt. A famous saying “Practice makes a man perfect” stands true. Practicing is very helpful for subjects like Math, English, and Reasoning etc. It will help you figure out where you are going wrong and you can ask your teacher or friend to clear your doubts. Practice questions that you got wrong until you feel confident about the subject matter.
Also you may benefit from reading, 5 indication you need a professional coaching and The secret to effective exam preparation
To wrap up, start your test preparation today or a year from now you will wish, you had started today. Kick start your test preparation now!
