It’s unavoidable. Exams follow teaching as surely as night follows day. Educational authorities at all levels have tried many ways to check whether their students have actually absorbed what their teachers and lecturers told them – such things as face-to-face interviews, assignments, group activities and the like.
But there is you can forget certain, universal and “controlled” method of working this out than getting students to sit back at a table for a small period and respond in writing to pre-set questions without to be able to make reference to notes or some other memory aid. This is an experience most people would rather to do without but in the course of time, in a single situation or another, each folks will have to take action if we are to attain anything.
In its crudest essence, an examination is merely a memory test. Sure, you will find all different sorts of exams but each of them require the student to consider things jamb runz. For instance, a history exam usually involves remembering historical dates and characters; an executive or business exam often involves remembering formula and how they’re applied. Even an article requires that you remember how to truly write one or something more physical, just like a driving test, requires that you remember how to use what you’re taught.
So how can we get our memory to work for us when want to do an examination? I believe that there are a lot of methods, but one that has worked well for me personally a lot of times (I have done a lot of exams) is the One-Page Memory-Jogger. It sounds crude and simple and it is actually – and it doesn’t take that much time, but there is a little science behind it. Let me explain the steps:
Step 1 – Get your notes together. This is pretty self-evident. Most courses possess some written notes, often ones you’ve written yourself. Have them into the same chronological order as they were taught, if possible. Several of those notes might be messy and parts may be missing, so you might need to fill out the blanks one way or one other to produce as complete a set as you can.
Step 2 – Get the key points sorted. Pick out the main element things you’ve to consider and write them out as “headlines.” This could take some effort and practice. For instance, there isn’t much point remembering a mathematical equation in the event that you can’t remember how to use it, so you might need to do a number of examples to get the strategy right and then jot down the things you’ve to consider about that.
Step 3 – Get the key points onto one A4 page. Sounds impossible, but trust me, it can be carried out and it’s worth the effort. You will need several attempts, but everytime you take action, you begin almost subconsciously creating reference connections or “hooks” that your mind uses to jog itself into remembering what those points mean.
Step 4 – Remember that page! Remember every part of this page and write it out several times from memory. Making little sentences that features “jogging” words is among several simple techniques you can use to consider elements of the page. You will find others that you will find in virtually any simple memory training course in a library. Little rhymes, numbered lists, even pictures can help. And its only 1 page – so you certainly can do it!
Step 5 – Write it out in the Exam. When the exam starts, grab among the exam pages and write out your “one-pager” on the rear of it. In the event that you can’t take action on the exam paper, then write it on something official – anything, so long as it’s not at all something that looks like you might have brought it in with you. Strangely, you will find that you won’t have to make reference to it very often because you will probably remember the main element points anyway.
Additional Tips – Remember to make sure you actually find and answer every one of the questions you’ve to. Sometimes they’re on the rear of the exam paper. And read each question carefully so that you understand just what they want.