With the number and scope of competitive exams increasing, people must master the strategy of appearing in them. An unprepared person can often lose out not because he does not know the answers, but because he is not aware of the skills required to clear a competitive exam.

 

In this article we give ten quick tips to follow in order to clear a competitive exam.

 

1. Prepare Well. Remember, a competitive exam is not like your school or college exam. In these exams, you are competing against very well prepared people. Go over the course content and do the basics and questions without looking at the answers. Most competitive exams have Maths, English, Reasoning and General Knowledge. Do the basics in English and Maths from schoolbooks. General Knowledge can be done from books and current magazines regularly. Reasoning books are also available.

 

2. Work according to a plan. Make a plan for the entire time that you have for your preparation. For instance, if you have three months, break up the syllabus into 90 days, tabulating the topic to be done for each day. Without a plan, students often have the tendency to keep doing easy tasks while not taking up the examination type questions.

 

3. Do a number of mock tests. After doing the basics, you must do some mock tests based on the pattern of the actual exam. Do these tests in the stipulated time. After doing the test, work out your score and set your benchmarks. Look for your weaknesses by going over the paper again. Is there a formula you have forgotten, or a rule that you have mistaken? Make an effort to get over your weaknesses by doing the basics again. Mock tests will help you get over the fear of the examination.

 

4. Talk to people who have cleared the test earlier. You will get some very good tips from people who have appeared in the test earlier. They will tell you mistakes that you should avoid. Remember to follow the strategy of successful people and the chances of your clearing the exam will certainly improve!

 

5. Control stress. A major enemy of students preparing for competitive exams is stress. Unnecessary thinking about the results usually causes this stress. The second cause is comparison with friends and peers. Remember that you are competing against yourself; avoid comparisons. Since results are uncontrollable, our thinking should instead be on our effort alone. One can do some meditation as well. Stress is the one factor that will make you forget even the things you know, so learn to avoid it while preparing for competitive exams.

 

6. Develop a time schedule. Many students make the mistake of taking a book and doing what comes along. When the exam date approaches, they find that they have done only a fraction of the syllabus. This mistake can be avoided if one makes a daily time schedule and finish the activities for each day. Your progress will be faster and time wastage will be minimised when you work towards daily targets.

 

7. Get rid of time destroyers. We have a lot of time destroyers with us without realizing their impact. These include cell phones, friends, television, and Internet. Frequent telephone calls, for instance, reduce our concentration and break our line of thought. Similarly, browsing the Internet will take up a lot of your time if you are not careful. Allocate time for each activity in the time schedule and discipline yourself that you will do it only within the allocated time. This will reduce the impact of time destroyers.

 

8. Take frequent breaks. Students often tell us that they are putting in 10 or 14 hours of study per day but are not achieving the desired results. This is natural, because the brain cannot absorb continuous flood of information. Work for shorter hours, taking frequent small breaks, giving time for your mind to absorb the information. By doing this, your retention will be much more than by studying continuously.

 

9. Relax! Do not psyche yourself on the day of the examination. It is not a do or die affair. Approach it with a cool mind. Though time is important in competitive exams, being obsessed with it will cause our mind to forget the more important task of answering questions correctly. If you feel panic rising, close your eyes for a few minutes, practice deep breathing and approach the questions when you are relaxed.

 

10. Scan the paper. When the paper is handed over to you, do not start answering serially. Spend about 30 seconds to scan the paper and see where the questions have been placed. This way you will be able to see the easy questions and decide to do them first rather than waste time doing the more difficult questions that may be placed in the beginning.

 

Work out your time schedule and take a course on time management on: www.simt-ind.org It is an invaluable course for students preparing for the examinations. !