IN ASSOCIATION WITH

PAGLORY COLLEGE OF EDUCATION EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

NAME COURSE PROGRAMME COMBINATION TERM NAME OF THE LECTURER ASSIGNMENT NO ASSIGNMENT QUESTION

: GETRUDE NSOFWA : THEORY AND PRACTISE OF EDUCATION : SECONDARY TEACHERS DIPLOMA :CIVIC EDUCATION/RE : THREE : MR.MUTANFU : ONE : What training would you give to pupils to help them

develop a right attitude to examinations and the necessarily skills to be successful. DUE DATE LECTURERS COMMENTS : 10th SEPTEMBER 2013 :

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Examinations are easy when you know how- strange title you may think! Just like sport, exams require knowledge, skills, practice and a positive attitude. Having the right attitude towards your study is very important; your goal is to perform at your peak on exam day. Being well prepared boosts confidence. Preparing well means starting early in the trimester, having clear goals and organizing your time. All this will help you to develop a positive attitude and to perform at your best. In this paper, training that can be helpful to pupils to develop right skills in a successful examination have been discussed. For many people, exam time is the most stressful part of the school year. With so much riding on the outcome, there can be a high degree of pressure to perform well. Here are some exam preparation tips to help you excel in school. Teddy (1998:65) defines an examination, as a special test to see how good somebody is at something . In its widest sense, to examine somebody or something is look at it very carefully, perhaps to find out why something is not working properly. Someone who is ill may need to go to a doctor to have a medical examination. A machine that is not working properly may need an examination to find out the cause of the problem. In education an examination (or exam for short) is a test to show the knowledge and ability of a student. A student who takes an examination is a candidate. The person who decides how well the student has performed is the examiner. With a positive attitude you should be able to accomplish a great deal more than if youre continually doubting yourself and consequently dont put any effort into your studies. The only way youre going to pass your exams and, hopefully, achieve good grades is if you are prepared to put the work in. You have to re-read your old notes; catch up on any reading you may have missed; engage actively with all the material you read and practise past exam papers. If you have a positive attitude you will find it easier to motivate yourself to do all this, as you will actually see a point in making the effort. Part of having the right attitude also means coming to terms with the fear of not doing so well. Negative self-talk, such as, 'My life will be ruined if I fail' will not help you. Instead, try to imagine that you are in the exam situation and feeling confident and terrific. Success!

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The first work that a teacher can do is to help pupils formulate clear goals. Harry (2003:98) asserts that, to clarify your long-term goals ask yourself why you are doing this course and what you want to achieve. This then leads to more medium and short-term goals . For example, if you decide that you are doing a management course because you want to set up your own business (a long-term goal), your medium term goal might be successful completion of a particular unit or assessment task. Your short-term goal might be to summarise a topic in preparation for an exam. Secondly the teacher should help them make a study timetable. Chathe (2008:32) notes that, being organized and managing your time is crucial, and having a timetable is particularly important as exams approach. Although revision should start early in the trimester, it is never too late to start. Use trimester planner to map out what tasks have to be completed. You need to be sure of the important dates when assignments are due and when your exams will be held. You could also include major personal events in your life that will impact on your studies, such as weddings, holidays and so on. Teddy (1998:65) adds that, The first thing that should be done when starting an exam is to ensure that you read through the questions to get an idea of which questions will be easier than others. When reading the questions, you must read thoroughly and ensure that you are understanding the instructions from the questions. It is wise to answer the questions you find easiest first and leave the more difficult questions to do last. If time is starting to run out during the exam, you should look for the questions that can be done in the quickest time and also give shorter length answers/paragraphs. It is best to check over your work when you have completed all the questions, so it is best to try and get each question done in a certain amount of time, if you find yourself struggling with a question, it should be left until the end so that you can come back and do it. Next, consider what your commitments might be in an average week. Your weekly planner should include work, sleep and family commitments. Don't forget to allow for hobbies and
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recreational activities. Over the trimester, you should allow an average of ten hours a week for each subject you are studying. You need to consider what tasks are most appropriate for each of the times you have available. For example, reading a difficult text might best be done when you are mentally alert. Leave simpler tasks to study periods when you work less effectively. For each study session, ask yourself what you want to achieve. Getting the best of revision is another strategy that can be used in preparing the pupils ready for the exams. There are principles of effective learning that apply to revision. You need to commit information from your short-term memory to your long-term memory. In order to do this you must revisit your material many times. You also need to be actively engaged with your material in committing it to memory - just reading or highlighting material is too passive for effective recall. Beatrice (2000:21) adds that, we remember best the things that are meaningful for us. So, always place what you are studying within the overall context of the subject . Become familiar with the unit outline early in the trimester. Try to develop an overview of the subject from your study guide and identify the patterns and structures in the subject. If you regularly review throughout the trimester, by exam time much of the memory work will have been done. Clearly, getting information into your long-term memory will take time, so start early. Leaving all your revision to the end of the trimester means that you will cram. Information will only go only into short-term memory and will be forgotten. Psychologists have studied how people remember (and forget!) things; some of their findings can be of use to us. Research has shown that we can recall only about 20% of new information within 24 hours of learning it but this goes up to 60-80% if we review the information within 24 hours. Organise copies of old exam papers, if available for your unit, from the school libraly or website. This will give you an idea of the types of questions usually asked. Practise answering exam

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questions under realistic time constraints so you become familiar with how you will have to perform on the day. Have a good breakfast; exams do not have coffee breaks. Wear comfortable clothes. The weather is changeable and the exam room may not be heated or cooled. Check that you have several pens and everything else you are allowed to bring with you into the exam. Re-read your summaries, but don't try to cram new information. Leave home in plenty of time so that you will arrive early and avoid last minute panic. Expect to feel a little nervous; nobody is immune from exam anxiety. Some adrenalin can be useful if it can be channelled into a drive to get you through an event. Use your reading time profitably. Get an overview of the structure of the paper. Read all instructions very carefully. Be clear on what sections, and questions are compulsory. Read all of the questions carefully and select the questions you will answer. Plan the amount of time you will spend on each question. The time should be proportional to the allocated marks. For example, if a question is worth 30% of the marks, you should allocate 30% of your time. Decide on the order in which you will answer questions, making sure that you do not leave compulsory questions until the end. Answer easier questions first as these will boost your confidence and may even allow you to pick up some extra time that you can spend on more difficult questions. The alternative is to allow yourself to be overwhelmed by negativity so that you dont even bother to pick up a textbook or do any reading. Clearly, if you take this kind of attitude it is likely you wont do as well as youd like to. To do well in an exam you have to put in all the hard work beforehand, as you cant expect to be able to turn up on the day of the exam and understand what it is youre being asked to do. Without familiarising yourself with all the information youve already learned and getting in some practise you will most probably struggle through the two or three hours you have to complete the exam.

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You may have skimmed through your notes the night before your exam, but you need to feel confident enough in what you know to be able to answer the questions presented to you in a sufficient way. If you havent done enough revision you will enter the exam room knowing that youre ill-prepared for the exam and that youre not going to do very well. Thus, you may not even attempt to answer the questions that are put before you, which will definitely do nothing to improve your chances of exam success. To avoid this situation arising you therefore have to ensure you dont leave your exam revision until the last minute and to make an effort to revise properly, rather than hoping to get by on as little work as possible. Teddy (1998:87) notes that, If you embrace a positive attitude when it comes to your studies, revision and the exam process you will find it much easier to achieve success than if you go into the exam believing youre going to fail . In the end, how successful you are depends on the amount of effort youre prepared to put in, but a positive attitude can certainly help with this. In conclusion, Tests and exams are a regular part of the school environment. It is important that exams be kept in proportion - they are important, but not the end of the world. Some things can be done to make exams a more valuable, worthwhile and less threatening experience for students. examination isnt only for the clever and hard working. Success comes as much, if not more, it comes as a result of attitude to exams, the way one approach the course study and some examination techniques as discussed above.

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References Beatrice W. (2000). Attitude for successful students. New York: Prentice Hall. Chathe V. (2008). Study Tips and Exam. New York: Prentice Hall Harry T. (2003). Exams made easy skills. London: McGraw Hill. Teddy M. (1998). Getting ready for examination. Harare: Longman Stephen R. (2000). Stress Management for students. Illinois. McGraw Hill.

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