How to Prepare for Competitive Exams “Questions in Competitive Exams are not difficult they are just different” Yes! Most of the questions in Competitive Exams are not difficult but they are just different. & they require a different approach, a different mindset & that’s why it is a different individual who clears these examinations. Each question has an element of surprise in it & student who is more adept in tackling surprise questions is most likely to sail through.This article will help you establish new goals, develop a new sense of purpose and generate new ideas about you and your preparation. Four Steps of Smart Preparation Step 1: Well thought revision plan, Firm determination & positive attitude Preparing for Competitive Exams is like a war where thousands fight for the same seat & only a few would succeed. The first & foremost step is to build a sound & feasible plan for your preparation. Would you go for a movie without planning(which movie, which show, how to go etc.) or in other words would you sit in a bus without knowing where it is going. The obvious answer to both the questions is No. But than why most of us go ahead with our preparation without any plan. Remember behind every success there is a concrete plan. While making a revision plan: Divide your entire time into a reasonable time chart with milestones in between & plan your studies accordingly. Do not overestimate the time you have. If you actually have the extra time you can always do more studying, but if you plan more than what you actually have, you feel depressed and your entire plan might go haywire. You are also advised to leave free time in between so that if any module gets delayed you don’t have to change the plan. Study the trend of previous year question papers & draw marks distribution of each subject to find out which topics are most important & which are least .Give priority to important topics & try to put them in early stages of your preparation to avoid any possibility of them being left. Review your plan periodically to find out if there are any lapses & how can they be covered up. The next step is positive attitude and firm determination to achieve your goals. Somebody has rightly said “if you can perceive it, you mind can believe it, only then you can achieve it.” If you see Indian Cricket Team they are not less than any other team in experience & talent, but because of lack of positive attitude, firm determination, self-confidence & killing instinct and hence they end up being users most of the times. To summarize AIETS team believes that most of the student’s fail not because of lack of ability or intelligence but because of lack of desire, direction, proper planning & discipline. Step 2: Strengthening Fundamentals Since most of the questions are based on fundamentals & their applications so the first step is to establish a solid base by mastering the fundamentals. For mastering the fundamentals you have to be focussed. Don’t join too many courses or books. Decide about the course & books after discussing your seniors & friends & then stick to them. When you start a new chapter, the learning curve is slow that is you do not accomplish similar amount of learning every day even though you spend same amount of time everyday. Remember learning is always in jumps and before a jump happens a certain amount of hard work has to be done. So even if your learning process is slow, keep studying day after day without getting discouraged and finally you will see jump in your learning. All the subjects are equally important. Devote more time to subject/topic you are weak in (remember most of us tend to devote more time on areas we are strong & often shy away from our weakness). In most of the examinations minimum qualifying marks are there for each subject. Hence make sure that you do not ignore any subject & allocate adequate time to each subject. Step 3: Strengthening Application of Fundamentals Quality is more important than Quantity: Doing 100 quality & concepts based questions is more important than doing 1000 questions which have not been selected carefully. Remember that the purpose is to sharpen problem-solving skills. Start with conventional methods of problem solving but improvise constantly & build your own shortcuts & ways of attacking a problem. While practicing the problems always try to solve the problem on your own. If you are unable to solve a problem do not hurry to consult the solution. Study the relevant theory again, paying attention to the finer points and the problem in the back of mind. Experience shows that studying the theory with a definite problem in mind is very effective and also sharpens the problem solving skills. Remember that directly going through the solutions is not going to help you at all. The key in problem solving does not lie in understanding the solution to the problem but try to find out what clues in the problem lead you to the right explanation. In case you are not able to solve the problem try to find out the reason by analyzing the level of problem & practice more similar kind of problems so that you can master the tricks involved. While doing problem solving try to strengthen and develop your conceptual understanding by analyzing deeply and correlating the problem with real life situations. While practicing identify your strong & weak areas (subject wise/topic wise/question wise). Testing your preparation chapter by chapter can do this. Through a structured test you should be able to diagnose which chapter, which concept & what type of problems you need to practice more. Step 4: Strengthening Speed/Strike Rate & Examination Temperament Do each exercise and each question keeping time in mind. Always remember that in final exams it is not important that whether you can solve the questions correctly or not but it is important that are you able to solve the questions in shortest possible time or not. Always keep track of your average speed of solving question Participating in identical test series helps in time & temperament management during the final exams. It has been observed that most of the students loose 15 to 20% of their marks not because they do not know the subject but because they fail to apply the basic concepts correctly. This is basically due to examination fear & pressure. These marks which a student looses because of silly mistakes (calculation error, gets confused ,fail to apply the right concepts, solves the problem by long method) can be reduced if a student regularly participates in test series based on the pattern & level of final exams. Please remember that both speed & strike rate are important for success. Continuously develop the ability to do things fast & accurately. Keep interacting with people who are preparing. Since the competition is on National level it is important to compare your preparation with other students preparing across the country. In short we can say that “Competitive Exams is not necessarily test of knowledge of basic fundamentals only but it is a test of application of knowledge to solve surprise problems with perfect time & temperament management. General Suggestions Select one person who is going to stay with you all throughout your preparation as your mentor. Discuss all your plans, progress & status of studies with your mentor regularly. The mentor can be your senior, parents, relatives, friend, teacher or any other person who understand the importance of exams in your life. Learning in a group is much faster and effective. Try to form a group of your classmates who have the same goals as you have and are serious about achieving it. Share your knowledge and tricks with them and benefit yourselves from the learning of your classmates. Remember that you competition is not your classmates but entire country. Research says that mind is fresh after a good sleep so usually the morning hours are the most valuable and best time for serious work. But this is not applicable for everyone you can yourself find out when are your studies most effective & plan your study plan accordingly. For e.g. if you feel you can concentrate maximum in late night, try to devote maximum time in late night. Study in short intervals with breaks in between. Research says that regular study in small intervals of 2 to 3 hours in more effective than studying continuously. Start your day with a positive note. It will help in making your studies more productive. These suggestions may seem to be ordinary advice but they are time tested & will definitely benefit a student who practices them sincerely. Consistent study of 6 to 7 hours with proper planning can give success even to average students. And remember there are no shortcuts to success. Success is not something which you will find lying on the road. Success demands lot of sacrifice, discipline and hard work. As Henry Ford has rightly said “the harder you work the luckier you get” Action Plan The next step is to immediately prepare an action plan. Goals without action plan are like empty dreams. An action plan defines how the goals would be achieved and hence helps in turning your dreams into goals. Take a piece of paper right now and write down the time you have between now and the exam day. Divide the time between all the subjects and their topics based on their importance and your preparedness for those topics. This action plan should always be in front of your eyes and would help you in monitoring the progress of your preparation.
Posted on: Sun, 18 Aug 2013 17:49:43 +0000
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