It’s that time of the year again. When parents are as miserable and anxious as their low spirited progeny. In short, examinations are back with a vengeance!
So here are some simple tips for pupils to remember in these hassled hours:
1) Each day is a new day. The previous exam, once over, is over. Stop all post performance appraisals. (Parents, no really. This does not help.)
2) Read the questions carefully. Be sure of what is expected of you. (Write what the question asks, not what you want it to ask!)
3) Check the marks against each question. Neither write too little nor too much.
4) The text is important. Know it like the back of your hand. Nothing will be out of syllabus (not even application based questions)!
5) Even the best answer needs good, clear handwriting for the examiner to be able to read and award marks. (Examiners are not graphologists, period.)
6) Use the ruler to draw tables and especially for underlining (and of course, in maths, for literally everything!). It helps to highlight key words and create a generally favourable impression of your presentation.
7) Number your answers correctly. We often have to award zero to otherwise perfectly unimpeachable answers, simply because of incorrect numbering. (Yes, examiners need to follow rules too!)
8) Use punctuation. Your examiners need to be able to make sense of your answers. (Don’t expect them to fish out your answers, or in short, make cosmos out of chaos.)
9) Plan your answers when you re-read the questions. Stop using left out marks, asterisks (stars) and hashes. Examiners are too swamped with scripts to care for irrelevant decorations.
10) Revise your answers. Read them objectively, pretending you’re the examiner yourself. Be ruthless. Add where needed, subtract where not. When you’re done, repeat.
