How to Ace Exams

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 How to Ace Exams

Tochukwu Nkwocha

HOW TO ACE EXAMS!

True Life Story of a Nigerian Student

GENIIT-T Consulting Nigeria Limited

HOW TO ACE EXAMS!

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 How to Ace Exams

Copyright 2015 by

Tochukwu Nkwocha

DIGITAL PUBLISHERS
GENIIT-T Consulting Nigeria Limited
Suite 24 M1 Plaza, Motorways Centre
Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos. +234 803 764 9956,
nkwochatochukwu@gmail.com

All rights reserved under international copyright law.

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 How to Ace Exams

DEDICATION

Dedicated to Onyike Ugochukwu Onwuchekwa, who remained an excellent

student even as a devoted Christian leader on Campus. May his soul rest in
peace.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Dedication 3
Preface 6

CHAPTER ONE
Background 7

CHAPTER TWO
My First Year 10

CHAPTER THREE
How I went from Average to Distinction 13

EPILOGUE 21
The Real Meaning of Education

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BLANK PAGE

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PREFACE

You may argue that examinations are not the best way to measure intelligence,
yet all over the world, in every academic institution, examinations remain the
major way of measuring, empirically, the amount of information retained by a
student at the end of a period Semester, Term, etc. Preparing for, seating and
actually passing exams in flying colours is the dream of every student. This
book shows you how I did it in University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

Its important to note that passing exams in a Nigerian University is not a mean
feat. Most Nigerians who find themselves in European and American schools,
beat their colleagues hands down. This is because to survive in a Nigerian
Public University means that you will thrive anywhere.

I welcome you to read the following pages carefully and you will learn how to
conveniently ace every exam.

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CHAPTER ONE

BACKGROUND

Before gaining admission into the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, I was by all
standards an average student, especially in mathematics and allied subjects. I
dreaded mathematics and anything that looked like it. I was convinced beyond
every reasonable doubt that I wasnt good in Mathematics and so did
everything within my powers to steer clear of the mathematical or pure
sciences like Further Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry. I wanted to study
Medicine so I applied to study Medicine and Surgery. Unfortunately I scored 222
in the University Matriculation Examinations (JAMB). Obviously, 222 was too
low to give me place in the Faculty of Medicine. At the end of the day I ended
up in the department of Physics and Astronomy.

I was admitted to study Physics, a course I had always dreaded. In my WAEC

examinations I had a C4 in Physics, which is a purely average result. And of
course you cannot begin to compare secondary school Physics with University
Physics where I needed a strong background in Further Mathematics to be able
to thrive. When I got into the University of Nigeria, Nsukka to study Physics
and Astronomy, I didnt believe I could do it. I was afraid I would fail and that if
I failed my friends would laugh at me and would wonder who sent me to study
a difficult course like Physics. I was afraid I would become a laughing stock and
perhaps a proverb for someone who went to do something he knew he was
going to fail in. All kinds of fear besieged me.

What I will be sharing with you in this book is how I overcame this fear. How I
went on from being an average student to being one of the best students in
Physics and Astronomy and in fact Faculty of Physical Sciences. Before I go on, I
would want you to know that I graduated from UNN within the top ten percent

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of my faculty - Physical Sciences, 2006. For you to appreciate my story, I would

show you my first year, first semester, result and then my final year, second
semester result. These two results show in a glance the significant and near
miraculous improvement in my academic performance, and this is exactly what
I expect to happen in your academics if you follow the principles I have
outlined in this book.

Here is my first year, first semester result

Now here is my final year, second semester result.

What really happened? How did a struggling student who managed to escape
failure turn out to become one of the best students in class. You may have read
Ben Carson's book Gifted hands, and I must say that that book remains one of
the books that has had the most profound effect on me and several other young
people. I see myself, in terms of my performance in the University, like another
Ben Carson; like someone who by sheer determination and absolute faith in
God moved from being one of the worst performing students to being one of
the best students.

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CHAPTER TWO

MY FIRST YEAR

Why did I produce that kind of result in the first semester of my first year in
school?
FEAR: Yes, I have mentioned this earlier, but I would want to explain in some
detail how fear kept me from getting distinctions in my first year examinations.
Fear, though a terrible emotion, can actually be used for good when it drives
you to do what needs to be done to prevent what you fear from happening. The
fear of failing examination can be a good thing if it drives you to sit up and
read more than others. The fear of going to hell can make you quit all kinds of
vices so you dont end up there. Nonetheless fear can be tormenting and
paralyzing. Instead of doing what would give you the reward you want, fear can
make you give up before even trying. Fear tells you dont bother, you cant do
it, dont waste your time trying to understand, you know you wont
understand, etc. When someone is plagued with fear, you spend most of your
time avoiding failure instead of confronting it.

So the first rule you must observe is to get rid of the fear of failure. In life you
must deal with fear if you are going to amount to anything serious. People fear
failing so much that they do not even attempt anything at all. All the people
you know today who are celebrated had to overcome one form of fear or the
other, and surprisingly they have even failed more than the rest of us.

If you dread Mathematics, for instance, you are not going to overcome it by
staying away from it. You will overcome it by practicing how to solve it. Many
times, I would solve a particular problem over and over again before arriving at
the correct solution. Lets say I attempted solving it ten times; what that
means is that I have discovered ten ways the problem cannot be solved. I stand

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a better a chance of not making any mistake in the examination hall than even
someone who attempted the problem once and got it.

Again, it helps you build confidence. When you spend time on a

particular problem until you master it, you will find that you will begin
to spend less times in the subsequent ones. The rule is: do what you
fear and you will kill fear. So dont fear anything, master everything.
And mastery takes time. No one becomes a master in any field of human
endeavor who doesnt invest time.

I STAYED AWAY FROM MATHEMATICS CLASSES

Related to the first issue about fear, I had this terrible habit of telling
myself that it wasnt necessary to attend every lecture. To worsen it,
our class size then was scary, in terms of the number of people that
were crammed into one class. The sheer number of people who
attended math lectures in first year was terrifying that I decided not to
bother. Now that was part of my undoing. I know that we deserve better
facilities and ought to be treated better, yet I wasnt going to make that
happen by staying away from classes. All I needed to do was ensure I got
to the Math lectures earlier than others so I could sit in front.

If you are a freshman in the University I would give you this candid
advice: no matter who you are and the kind of grades you had in your
SSCE and JAMB examinations, please attend your classes. There are
several things you would hear from your lecturer in class that you
wouldnt see in any textbook. Attending classes and staying until the
end of every lecture helps you develop a kind of relationship with your
lecturer, no matter how difficult he/she may appear. It will help you
further to know the areas he/she may likely set test or exam questions
from. Being in class would help you to even know the weak points of
your lecturer in a particular course. The truth is that we all have some
topics we enjoy more and are more comfortable in. For instance, in my

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300 level Physics, we did Methods of theoretical Physics, which was

broken into two: Phy 301 and 302. I enjoyed partial differential
equations more than the rest of the topics treated there. I loved PDE,
especially Frobenius equations that today I still remember them clearly.
I also discovered that my lecturer loved them too and could quote very
lengthy formulas without looking at his lecture notes. Yes, you may
argue that he had been teaching the same course for many years, yet
you and I know lecturers who have taught some courses for many years
but who still have to copy what is in their lecture notes word for word,
when teaching.

Attending my Methods of Theoretical Physics classes gave me a clue into

the kind of questions to expect in the exam, and I was not disappointed.
Sometimes, some lecturers unwittingly divulge the exact questions you
will see in the exam. Sometimes by paying attention to the things they
emphasize you will be able to discern what to see in the examination.

PS: While the focus of this book is on how you can ace every
examination, especially for those in the university, you must bear in
mind that education is not just about passing your exams. I have taken
time to put together these principles that helped me excel, simply to
show you that passing examination is the simplest thing you can
accomplish while in school. Again, developing the disciplines outlined
here will also help you later in life principles like Consistency, Being an
early starter, doing your assignments yourself and not copying other
peoples work, etc. Education has a much broader meaning and I will
explain this at the end of this book, so that you will have your eyes on
the big picture while you work hard at graduating at the top of your
class.

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CHAPTER THREE

HOW I WENT FROM AVERAGE TO DISTINCTION

Having outlined the two things that above all others, made excellence
impossible in my first year first semester, I will now show you the
principles I applied that made first class in subsequent sessions easy.
First, here is my First year, second semester result.

Notice that mathematics remained a problem for me, because even at

this time, I hadnt yet understood that my not going to mathematics
lectures was my waterloo. In fact I had a worse result I went from D to
E. However note the other courses I now had more As. In fact in terms
of GPA (Grade point average), I moved from 3.12 to 4.18. That is I
moved from a Second class lower GPA to a strong Second Class Upper
GPA. The major contributing factor to this is:

I got married to my past question papers.

This is a rule you must never toy with. This rule applies to any kind of
examination, within and outside the university environment. Even if you
are preparing for professional examinations, you will need to have an
idea of the kind of questions to expect so you know if you have been
reading according to pattern. Dont assume that just because you have
read your text book cover to cover that you are prepared for any exam.
Exams have a way of surprising us, and one thing you dont want is a
surprise in the exam hall. So get a hold of at least five years past
questions, study them and then answer them the way you would during
the actual examination. You can take that as simulation. Work on

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finishing the questions within the actual time allotted for them. Now
take note of the questions you dont know the answers to and the ones
you know but not very well. Research on them to find the answers to
them from your text books and even the internet. While in school I did
this for every course, from my second year upwards. I produced the
answers in plain sheets of paper and these solutions were photocopied
by my classmates for their own studies. Once you do this you will
discover that all you have to do when the exams are approaching is to
go through the past questions. Ideally the past questions are supposed
to cover the entire course content, so in answering the past questions
you would have covered the entire course content. This discovery
launched me into the first class arena permanently as shown below.

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Solve your assignments yourself.

This is where I have seen many students goof. The fact that no one
follows you home to monitor who does your assignment is no reason to
outsource the doing of assignments to others. Assignments are meant to
test your understanding of the course, at least to the extent that you
have been taught. When you settle down to do your assignment, you get
to learn so many things: the way the lecturer sets his questions, what
the problem areas in a particular topic are and how to overcome them,
ability to answer similar questions should they appear in the exam, etc.

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Now I have seen this happen many times - lecturers repeat in the exam
the very same problems they had earlier given out as assignments. If you
did not solve the assignments yourself, or you simply waited for others
to finish so you could copy, you would be in a serious mess in the exam
hall. It would be more painful when you later realize that the question
you couldnt solve was actually an earlier assignment. This happens
many times. One thing you need to understand is this: most lecturers
who have taught particular courses for a long time, say five years or
more, have almost exhausted their questions. This actually ought not to
be so, but we see it happen all the time. Also, every course is expected
to impart in the student a particular knowledge which the exam and
assignment seek to measure. A lecturer having assessed the impact of
some questions would not want to change them. So if you are acquainted
with your past questions and solve your assignments yourself, you
wouldnt have any issues in your exam.

Teach others whenever you have the opportunity

Sir Francis Bacon, English author, courtier, & philosopher (1561 - 1626)
once said Reading makes a full man, Conference a ready man, and
Writing an exact man. By Conference, he meant Discussion or
teaching. When you share your knowledge, you do not reduce, you
actually increase. The moment you learn to discuss the solutions to
problems or the answers to questions, you will find that your mind
expands. From my second year to my final year, I made it a habit to
organize tutorial sessions for my classmates. Several of my classmates
who graduated with Second Class Honours, Upper division, were grateful
to me that I took time to explain in greater detail several concepts they
did not understand. On one occasion, we actually had to observe a vigil,
not to pray, but for me to teach my classmates Quantum Mechanics.
Quantum Mechanics was one of the hardest courses in final year Physics
curriculum, but I actually found it interesting. I remember I would

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engage my lecturer, Professor Ubachukwu, in what appeared to be

esoteric concepts to my classmates. After one of such occasions, one of
my classmates came to me and asked how I was able to understand the
course so well as to engage in meaningful discussions with the
distinguished Professor. At other times, I found that the answer to some
questions came to me while teaching. Someone would ask me a
question, and just at that moment, I would receive illumination into the
answer to the question. Note that prior to that time, I had not
contemplated the question, let alone, the answer. Its simply amazing
how our minds work when we decide to share some of what we know
with others.

If you have a problem doing what I am asking you to do, remember that
in the university, there is no limit to the number of persons that can
graduate with First Class honours degree. As many as 10 or even 20
persons can graduate with first class honours, in a department, as long
as they meet the criteria. So there is really no need to hide your
knowledge from others so they dont outshine you. In saying this I realize
that there are some schools and departments where I have heard, some
lecturers derive joy in making sure students do not graduate with first
class honours. These, however, are exceptions.

Even if you are a shy person, you can form a little friendly group, where
you will be free to share your knowledge and ask questions without
being embarrassed.

The Early Bird Rule

This is one of the best pieces of advice you will get from me. It is really
sad that students would wait till its one month or two weeks to the
exam before they start reading. A semester is supposed to last 3 to 4
months. Your course curriculum has been designed in such a way that if
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you do what you need to do as a serious student, you would naturally

and almost effortlessly cover all the topics before the exam time table is
out. Start reading from the very first day of the semester so you dont
join the league of those who always breakdown during exam periods.

At this time in your life, you are a student, so nothing else should really
take priority over your studies. Coming from a poor family is no excuse.
My classmate, who graduated as the faculty best with a cumulative
grade point average of 4.9 did not come from a particularly rich family.
In fact he stayed off campus and would usually trek a long distance to
class every morning. He was always in class and that on time. Also do not
use religious activities as a cover up for not reading your books. I will
show you in a bit the formula I used to remain both spiritually and
academically relevant while in school. In fact, being a committed
member of a Christian fellowship should mean better academic
performance if your classmates are going to listen to anything you have
to say about your faith. If when examination results come out you find
yourself at the bottom of the class, you will have no voice in your class
and even among your roommates. There is no substitute to being a high
flying student; it opens many doors and even endears you to your
lecturers.

Practice the Four-Hour-a-Day Rule

The four hour a day rule is just how it sounds. It simply means commit
to reading a minimum of four hours daily, no matter what. Reading four
hours daily means investing 1/6 of the day to the main reason why you
left your home to the university. Think about how easy this is; you read
just for four hours every day and by the time the exams come you would
have mastered all your courses. This is simply another way of saying that
consistency always win the game. When you start reading on time,
attend all your lectures and then commit to reading for four hours daily,

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it is almost impossible for you not to graduate with a first class Honours
degree. Now you see why it is scarcely forgivable for anyone to fail. As a
student, what on earth would you give as an excuse for not acing your
exams? If I stop right here in this book, I would have given you all you
really need to ace your exams. This four hour a day rule worked for me
and I have shared it in several places and all who have dared to commit
to it have had good news to share. Your story can be the next success
story for this simple rule of discipline and consistency.

I applied this rule by drawing up a time table for myself where I listed
all my courses for every semester and then allotted different days to
different courses. I was committed to giving each course the attention it
deserved. You too can do the same. Even if you are offering more than
seven courses per semester, you can fix two courses per day while
allotting more time to the higher credit load courses. Fixing two courses
in a day actually means reading one course just for two hours weekly
and you would still be fine by the end of the semester. Lets do the
math: 2 hours a week for 12 weeks is 24 hours. That means you would
have devoted 24 hours cumulatively to studying one course per semester.
24 hours may appear small, but that is actually what it took to make a
distinction in most of my Physics courses. If you give each course 4 hours
a week, you would have invested 48 hours cumulatively for one course.
If you offer 7 courses in a semester, you would have invested 7 x 48 =
336 hours in a semester on personal studies. This means that out of the
24 x 7 x 12 = 2016 hours available to you in 3 months of a semester, you
spend only 336 hours to achieve distinction. Can you beat that? Its just
too simple to be an A student, yet nobody has said that you cannot do
much more than this. You can do twice this figure and you will still have
a balanced life.

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Approach every exam with humility

Here I would want to sound a note of warning. No matter how well you
have prepared for your exam, do not become cocky and over confident.
This has cost many people a lot. When you approach your exam with
pride, you become ignorant of your blind spots. You will find that you
may see a slightly different question in the exam hall and assume it is a
question you have seen before. You might even be in a hurry to finish
that you would leave some questions unanswered, only to discover the
oversight much later. Dont ever think you have everything figured out.
Always approach every exam with a sense of humility knowing that after
all said and done, victory belongs to God. Anything can go wrong, and I
mean, anything. Someone could even implicate you and even after you
have written well and submitted your answer booklet, your answer
booklet can get missing. Commit your ways into God hands. We always
told ourselves to pray as if we did not read and read as if we did not
pray. It is only God that can keep you safe from every evil lecturer who
may want to frustrate you wittingly or unwittingly.

Never ever cheat

This point can make or mar all your efforts. Do not talk to anyone once
exams have started. Tell your friends and classmates that you would not
talk to them in the examination hall. Let them know beforehand that
whatever help you can render them can only be before the examination.

Know how to calculate your GPA.

It is important that you know what your GPA is at every point in time.
You need to know how well or otherwise you are doing per time. Do not
assume that you are doing well, let your GPA tell you that. When
calculating your GPA, do not be lenient with yourself. Be hard on
yourself. Instead of rounding up to two decimal points, round it down. It
is better that you underestimate yourself and then be pleasantly
surprised with the calculation from the School.

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EPILOGUE
The Real Meaning of Education

Being educated is not the same thing as going to school. There are many
who though they have doctorate degrees in various disciplines are still
not educated. This is because education is about problem solving and
value addition. It is the ability to get whatever one wants without
violating the rights of others. It is about creating value or improving on
an already existing value. If you say you are educated, the world needs
to know, not by talking or brandishing of your certificate, but by
constructive works works that improve the lot of human beings on
earth. So look around you and see the myriads of problems that exist.
Instead of complaining, think of ways you can solve these problems.
Write your thoughts down and continue to fine tune your solutions. Find
out how much it will cost to provide the solution, first on a small scale
and then on a medium and large scale. How long would it take to
implement your solution and how long will it take for us to start seeing
results? What will the monetary reward be for this solution you are
bringing to the world? You need to understand that the amount of
money people have is directly proportional to the value they are adding.
The only way to legally increase your earnings is to increase the value
you are bringing to the world.

Think about the companies you admire and perhaps would want to work
for; why do you think they are wealthy and can afford to pay their
employees five, six and even seven figure salaries monthly, and in
dollars and still remain profitable? The answers to these questions will
confirm all I have been saying the world pays you for solving her
problems - nothing more, nothing less. If only we had more educated

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people and not just certificated people, the world would be a better
place. You are either an asset or a liability, there is no sitting on the
fence. Its either you are producing or you are consuming. No nation that
consumes more than it produces can long endure, and no human being
either.

Dont just go to school, get education.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tochukwu Nkwocha is a graduate of Physics and Astronomy, University of
Nigeria, Nsukka and Principal Partner, GENIIT-T Consulting Nigeria Limited,
Lagos, an Audio book and Personal development consulting company. He has a
strong background in Software development and business intelligence having
worked for leading ICT companies in Lagos, Nigeria. GENIIT-T is a leader in the
audio book revolution in Nigeria and is passionate about alternative learning
tools. GENIIT-T works for the leading Christian denominations in Nigeria
RCCG, Living Faith Church, Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries, and
Assemblies of God, Nigeria, where she pioneered the audio conversion of their
books. Tochukwu is the author of Financial Mastery 101, a book aimed at
helping young people develop basic financial intelligence.

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