You are not going to throw it all away by getting too uptight and making silly mistakes
At long last the day you have looked forward to with a certain amount of fear and trepidation has arrived. It is important to look forward to the start of examinations positively and in the same frame of mind as that of an athlete, when, after months of training, competition day arrives.
You have spent two years preparing for this day, making a commitment to daily study, in latter weeks curtailing your social life and you are not going to throw it all away by getting too uptight and in the process making silly mistakes. A certain amount of nervous tension is good as long as you are in control.
This is your day, you are going to do your best and hopefully the examination papers will include no surprises.
Preparation for your first examination tomorrow starts today. Bear in mind that examinations are physically demanding as well as being intellectually and emotionally draining. So you must be in good shape.
If you are going to write for three hours at a time you will need to be alert, well rested after a good night's sleep and in a positive frame of mind. I know it is by now a well-worn cliche but examinations are designed to find out what you KNOW, not to discover what you DON'T KNOW.
The marking of the scripts is designed to give you every mark you are entitled to, so the system is on your side, not "out to get you".
Let us look at how you are going to do yourself justice by concentrating on two aspects of examinations.
The day before
The day before an examination should be low-key. It is not a time for learning new material just because one of your friends has suddenly discovered a question that is a "dead cert" to come up. Just as in the world of racing, there is no inside information as to what will be a winner on the day!
If you have prepared well, you will have flash cards made out from your notes with just the important points that will trigger fuller answers on the day. Why not use modern technology to the full by recording the salient points from your notes and then playing them on your Walkman as you relax or even en route to the examination hall?
Be familiar with the format of the paper and particularly the time you can afford to give to each question. Choose a question from a past paper and work on it to complete it within the time constraint you have set yourself.
Do not study late into the evening. Plan your leisure time - take a good brisk walk breathing in the fresh air, knock a football around the garden, being careful not to go over on your ankle thereby ensuring that your photo will be on the evening paper sitting your exam from a hospital bed!
To avoid any panic on the morning of the examination, have all the equipment you require packed the night before. Although all examination halls have clocks it is wise to have your personal timepiece to help you manage the time.
Check the time you must be in the examination hall to sign on and while you are at it, make sure you are familiar with the examination timetable.
Have a nice relaxed bath - using up your mum's Radox in the knowledge that she will not even mention it until the exams are well over!
Examination day
Arrive early at the examination hall. Leave nothing to chance - get an earlier bus than you normally would, leave that bit earlier by car. Once you have arrived, go quietly over your flash cards, do not interact with other students. Above all be calm.
Once seated in the examination hall and you have got the paper, the first thing to do is to read it carefully. Put a tick beside questions you recognise. Read any instructions carefully such as the number of questions to be answered, any obligatory questions, the number of questions from each section and any other similar instructions.
Start with familiar questions that make sense, but be careful that you spend only the amount of time you have calculated on each question. If you are exceeding the time you have calculated for each question, leave a space and proceed to the next question. Hopefully at the end you will have time to return to any questions you have not completed.
Bear in mind, that if you have to answer five questions then you must ensure that you do so, as there is little value in having perfect answers to three questions only to find that you have no time to attempt the rest. Do not be shy about requesting further answer books.
Finally, do not leave the hall before the examination is over - it is of little value to be inspired in the schoolyard.
Do not engage in post-mortems - they serve only to unsettle you for the next exam.
So tomorrow is your big day - go for it in the knowledge that you are well prepared and that your mum has bribed St Jude to ensure that all the questions you hope for will be on that first paper. Good Luck!
