Before we can move on to the practicalities of doing well in exams
you need to understand that one of the greatest barriers to success is
your attitude to the whole exam process. As with many things in life
the way you choose to view this can change your feelings and
performance dramatically.
I’m going to show you that the common fears relating to exams are
completely unfounded leaving you free to choose, with some
justification, to view examinations not as threatening but more as an
opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge and skills and to do
well. We’ll also talk about stress and how to avoid the harmful
effects whilst harnessing the positive effects.
Understanding the things that usually go wrong is a key element of
changing your thinking. By seeing how easy it is to avoid these
pitfalls you’ll begin to feel much more confident and able to face
exams without fear.
You’ll also see how to improve your chances dramatically by taking
responsibility yourself for your own success rather than relying too
heavily on teachers, lecturers, etc.
DISPEL THE COMMONFEARS ANDMYTHS ^
NOW!
Fears and myths relating to exams can reach almost hysterical
proportions in some cases. And from an early age we learn to dread
exams and view them as a necessary evil. The most common fears
are:
Exam questions are carefully worded to catch you out.
Examiners are very mean with marks.
Exams are nothing more than a test of memory, so they favour
those with perfect recall or a photographic memory.
You can only do well in exams if you can think and write quickly.
You’re bound to get stressed by exams and this can be very
dangerous and destructive.
None of this is true. Let me explain...
Exams are not designed to catch you out
Exams aim to test your understanding in a constructive way.
Questions need to be worded very carefully to:
Minimise or eliminate any potential misunderstandings.
Ensure that everyone has the same chance of understanding and
answering them correctly to make the marking process fair.
What is usually misinterpreted as too exacting is nothing more
than an honest attempt at clarity!
Examiners are required to write questions in a manner which gives
you the opportunity to demonstrate your abilities rather than
exposing any weaknesses. Examining boards and authorities exist to
promote knowledge and understanding, not to discourage
achievement.
But, and it ’s a very big BUT, having worded the question very
carefully they do expect you to do exactly what they’ve asked and
present your answer in a clear, logical and easy-to-read way. We’ll
talk more about this later, ad nauseam, because you’ll see it come up
time and time again. I make no apology for this because one of the
biggest causes of failure is not answering the question properly.
Examiners are very nice people
Well maybe some aren’t, but they’re certainly not mean with marks
and they take no pleasure in failing people. They are usually from
the teaching profession so they understand and sympathise with
students. For internally-set exams they are often your own lecturers
or teachers and in those cases your failure could reflect badly on
them. I’m certainly not suggesting that they would award a pass
where it isn’t justified, but they’re certainly on your side and have no
interest at all in catching you out unfairly.
Examiners want you to pass. And they like awarding marks –
providing you’ve done what was asked. They have a carefully
designed marking scheme for each carefully worded question so they
want to allocate the marks in accordance with this. This means that
in reality the marking process usually consists of the examiner
searching your answer for responses or points which will earn marks.
So as soon he finds one he will allocate the marks and look for the
next award-earning item.
Bear in mind also that he is usually faced with marking hundreds of
scripts to a very tight deadline, so he wants to get through them as
quickly and effectively as possible. There is a very important,
fundamental fact to be highlighted here. You can capitalise on this
situation by making it easy for the examiner to award marks, i.e. get
him on your side from the outset. How can you do this? It’s simple:
Make sure you answer the question by doing exactly what is
asked.
Make your answer easy to read by presenting it in a logical, easyto-
follow manner with the key points brought out clearly. This
makes it easy for the examiner to award the marks as well as
keeping him in a good mood.
We’ll cover both of these points in Chapter 2. You’ll see how to read
and interpret questions as well as how to present an easy-to-read
response.
Exams are not tests of memory
Exams are designed to test your understanding of and ability to
apply the course concepts. This obviously requires you to remember
Exams are not tests of writing speed
Exams are designed to be capable of completion in the allotted time.
The perception that there’s never enough time comes back to what
I’ve said above – students try to write all they know about a subject
rather than concentrate specifically on what is asked. But you’ll
never be asked to ‘write all you know’ about a topic, so don’t ever
think about doing it.
We’re back to the common mistakes of not reading the question
carefully and not planning a concise, clearly focussed answer to
which the examiner can allocate marks easily. By the time you’ve
G E T T I N G A S E N S I B L E P E R S P E C T I V E / 5
finished this book you’ll see how to avoid these problems.
Of course you have to work quickly in an examination, but there is
enough time to finish, and furthermore it’s vital that you attempt the
required number of questions. I’ll demonstrate later on that there is
actually no excuse for not finishing provided you manage your time
carefully. (See Chapter 8.)
You don’t need to get too stressed by exams
A degree of stress helps bring out the best in most people. People often
perform better under some pressure so the trick is to harness the
positive effects of stress whilst minimising the more negative aspects.
How you achieve this will depend very much on the type of
individual you are. In this book I hope to take away some of the
negative aspects by:
Dispelling the myths associated with exams.
Eliminating the irrational fears.
Changing your attitude.
Improving your study and revision technique.
Improving your exam technique.
Thereby leaving you with a healthy level of stress sufficient to bring out
the best in you.
It can be a complicated area because stress and anxiety affect people
in many different ways. This book will alleviate the effects for
everyone and hopefully eliminate them for many. But if problems
persist then look for other sources of help which, incidentally, will
6 / H O W T O P A S S Y O U R E X A M S
help in many aspects of your life, not just exams, so the effort is
likely to be very worthwhile. There is a wealth of literature available
nowadays on stress management covering such things as:
Exercise
Diet
Relaxation techniques
Natural therapies
Positive thinking, etc.
If you haven’t already done so, you may find it useful to try some of
these.
For my part, I ask that you view stress as a two edged sword as far as
exams are concerned.
Look for the positive side. See exams as an opportunity
to do well and achieve more than youmight otherwise.
Use this book to:
Improve your understanding of what examiners require.
Build your confidence.
Get rid of some of the misconceptions and myths.
Many argue that the exam system puts terrible stress on young
people and this sometimes has tragic consequences. Such stress is
more often than not founded on irrationality and those who
experience extreme symptoms should seek medical help immediately.
Life puts many stresses on the young and learning to cope with
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