It’s unavoidable. Exams follow teaching as surely as night follows day. Educational authorities at all levels have tried many ways to check if 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’s no further certain, universal and “controlled” approach to working this out than getting students to sit down at a desk for a limited period and respond in writing to pre-set questions without being able to make reference to notes or any other memory aid. That is an experience a lot of people would like to accomplish without but in the course of time, in one single situation or another, each of us will need to take action if we are to accomplish anything.
In its crudest essence, an examination is simply a memory test. Sure, there are all different sorts of exams but they all require the student to remember 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, such as a driving test, requires that you remember how to utilize what you’re taught.
So how do we get our memory to benefit us when need to do an examination? I am sure that there are plenty of methods, but one that has worked well for me plenty of times (I have inked plenty of exams) is the One-Page Memory-Jogger. It sounds crude and simple and it truly is – and it doesn’t take that much time, but there’s a little science behind it. Allow me to explain the steps:
Step 1 – Get your notes together. That is pretty self-evident. Most courses have some written notes, often ones you have written yourself. Buy them into exactly the same chronological order as they were taught, if possible. A few of these notes may be messy and parts may be missing, so you will need to complete the blanks one of the ways or the other to create as complete a collection as you can.
Step 2 – Get the key points sorted. Select the important thing things you have to remember and write them out as “headlines.” This may take some effort and practice. For instance, there isn’t much point remembering a mathematical equation if you can’t remember how to utilize it, so you will need to accomplish a bunch of examples to obtain the strategy right and then jot down the items you have to remember about that.
Step 3 – Get the key points onto one A4 page. Sounds impossible, but trust in me, it can be done and it’s worth the effort. You will need several attempts, but everytime you take action, you begin almost subconsciously setting up reference connections or “hooks” your mind uses to jog itself into remembering what those points mean.
Step 4 – Understand that page! Remember every part of the page and write it out a few times from memory. Making little sentences which includes “jogging” words is one of several simple techniques you need to use to remember areas of the page. There are others that you can find in just about any simple memory training course in a library. Little rhymes, numbered lists, even pictures can help. And its only 1 page – so you can do it!
Step 5 – Write it out in the Exam. When the exam starts, grab one of the exam pages and write out your “one-pager” on the rear of it. If you can’t take action on the exam paper, then write it on something official – anything, provided that it’s not a thing that seems like you can have brought it in with you. Strangely, you may find that you won’t have to make reference to it frequently as you will probably remember the important thing points anyway.
Additional Tips – Make sure to ensure you actually find and answer every one of the questions you have to. Sometimes they’re on the rear of the exam paper. And read each question carefully so that you understand precisely what they want.
