Every student aspires to get stellar results in examinations. Undoubtedly, immense effort and considerable time have to be committed to achieving this aim. Students may be able to obtain fairly good grades with adequate revision and consistent work. However, some of them may find themselves hitting a plateau and unable to achieve beyond a certain grade. Indeed, the amount of time spent on revision may not be reflective of the results obtained in an examination. The crux lies in having the right examination techniques and mental preparations. In this article, we examine some of the possible reasons for the underperformance of students in examinations.
Weak Points Have Not Been Identified
Before the examination, many students tend to go through material like textbooks and school worksheets which they have already familiarised themselves with umpteen times. Although it is good to refresh the memory and reinforce concepts using these materials, a student will not receive extensive exposure to adequate material unless additional resources are included in the revision. As a result, potential weak points cannot be identified in time. For students taking the PSLE, ample preparations for this major examination have to be done using the free test papers for Primary 5 and free test papers P6. The wide variety of questions will allow students to identify areas in which they are weak in, be it of a specific chapter or a specific trait such as carelessness. Precaution, though, has to be taken when going through the solutions of these free resources found online.
Important Notes Are Not Taken Down
Some students rely only on the content in textbooks and supplementary materials for their revision – they do not have their own notes. In fact. note-taking is a very useful skill that can enable a student to enhance his or her learning. When learning a new topic, the basic content is first provided by the teacher in class. Subsequently, as worksheets and assessment books are attempted, students may find better or quicker methods to solve particular questions or minute details to take note of for trickier questions. Fostering the habit of taking down these nuggets of gold information will help a student to retain these information for future references. For a subject like Science, there are many concepts to commit to memory. When going through PSLE Science questions for revision, it will help greatly if the student makes the effort to take down pertinent notes that can aid in memory retention.
Stress Management Has Not Been Mastered Well
Students do face immense stress when confronting a make-or-break examination like the PSLE. Without proper stress management, hundreds of hours of revision could go down the drain if a student is faced with an anxiety attack during the examination. Mental preparation is thus a big aspect that must not be neglected to overcome exam anxiety. Students have to accept the fact that a few extremely challenging questions will appear in the examinations. Many parents and students are well-aware of hard PSLE Math questions in Singapore that are set to distinguish the exceptional students from the average ones. When a difficult question is encountered, the last thing a student should do is to get panicky and then spend a disproportionate amount of time attempting the question. An examination lasts for only an hour or two and the trick is to secure as many marks as possible within the duration. The student should proceed calmly through the rest of the questions and then come back to the difficult question after securing most of the other marks. It sounds easy but it is a part of stress management as well as decision-making on the part of the student. Prior to the examination period, students should also take the time to engage in exercises to keep the body healthy and relaxed.