Mistakes are never a part of the problem – ignoring them is. Mistakes and flaws can help you gain considerable insight into your shortcomings. A simple awareness of these things, in particular, can help you improve your performance a lot in the long run.
After all, “Why do we fall? So we can learn to pick ourselves up.”
The first step in keeping blunders at bay is to identify them in precise detail. If you don’t even know your problems well, how do you expect to come to a solution?
The same tactic needs to be implemented in your exam preparations to improve your academic performance on the whole. Hence, we have come up with this article for your reference.
In here, we have provided a comprehensive list of five of the commonest mistakes that students make while preparing for their examinations. Go through them as closely as possible and find out whether any of your shortcomings is listed in this article or not. Your study routine should be based entirely on that.
No Definite Goal
This is one of the commonest mistakes that students make while preparing for their exams. They go all-in without a definite goal, without a definite target score in their minds. As a result, most get lost along the way.
Ask yourself this simple question: “What’s your target score for your upcoming exam?”
Be realistic in your answer (to the question mentioned above). Assess yourself as thoroughly as possible to get to a realistically achievable target score. This should include your information retention ability, your interests and the effort that you can put in, day in, day out.
Once you are aware of your target, it becomes easier for you to organise your planning on the basis of the same.
100% Reliability On Teachers And Tutors For Exam Preparations
Many students have this firm belief that they will be prepared for their exams as long as they attend their tuitions and listen to their teachers religiously throughout their school session. As a result, most don’t even try to study on their own.
Now, this is a mistake.
Your teachers or your tutors will show you the path to success. But you will have to traverse that path on your own to reach that goal of yours. Your teacher and tutor will provide you with the advice, the notes and a few more relevant study materials for your examinations. But you have to study all of them on your own.
So do not put your entire fate into the hands of your teachers and tutors. Believe in yourself as well to benefit in the long run.
Starting Too Late When Exams Are Right There On The Doorstep
Many students think too much. They think they will start preparing from today, but soon, procrastination kicks in as a result of lethargy. As a result, they delay it further.
Next day, then the next, then the one after that and bang! The exams arrive right out of the blue. Pressure builds up, stress piles up, adrenaline rises. The result? Commotion.
So never believe in the concept of ‘the next day’. Start from today itself. That way, you will be able to ease yourself from a lot of pressure during the days of your exams. Your performance would also improve a lot in comparison to the way it was before.
Passive Rote Memorisation Strategies
The most common approach that students utilise while preparing for their exams is reading their classroom notes over and over again until they memorise it. This sort of rote memorisation strategy is a passive form of learning and will probably do you more harm than good in the long run.
Try to implement an active form of learning while preparing for your exams. Have you ever heard of Feynman’s method of learning?
Going In Without A Proper Routine Or A Plan
One of the biggest mistakes that we have seen students make is to go all in without a decent plan of action. They don’t know their priorities or their curriculum.
So naturally, when the time comes, the result goes right against them.
Do not make this mistake if you really want to succeed in the long run. Go with an organised plan of your own and the results will surely follow over time.
