SHARPEN YOUR SKILLS

Sharpen your skills
A checklist of entrance exam dos and don'ts. The pitfalls to avoid and strategies to improve your performance.

Success in any competition requires systematic training. An entrance test for the selection of candidates for admission to professional degree courses is no exception. Apart from the Kerala entrance examination to be held from April 26 to 29, there are several national entrance tests as well, during the coming weeks, to test the competitive capabilities of the youth.
A candidate who knows most need not necessarily score the highest marks in any examination. This is particularly significant in entrance examinations thanks to their style.
In the conventional school/college examinations, the candidate's knowledge or skill is evaluated and rated as pass, first class, distinction, etc. based on the marks scored by him. If he does not show the minimum expected standard, he fails in the examination.
The entrance test has the limited objective of ranking the candidates on relative merit. There is nothing like passing or failing. For this reason, the questions are of the multiple-choice objective type. All questions are compulsory. All questions, irrespective of their difficulty levels, carry equal marks.

It is more a time test than a knowledge test. Even the best candidate may not be able to answer all the questions correctly in the allotted time; nor is it necessary.
A candidate need not bring forth the answer from his memory; but he has to use his discrimination in selecting the right answer from four or five options.
Questions may not be direct as in the 12th standard examinations. They may involve application of known principles. Some questions may require the candidate to merge the knowledge drawn from different parts of the syllabus.

For many candidates, the examination may prove to be a question of nerves, since they take it as a life and death struggle. The performance of those who lack in confidence may not reflect their knowledge and full capability because of their tension.
These distinctive characteristics point to the need for a systematic drilling that simulates the environment in the examination hall. The secret of the commercialised coaching classes is the repeated drills using the OMR-type answer sheets and the time limit in a large number of test rehearsals.

In the Kerala entrance examination, 120 multiple-choice type objective questions have to be answered in 120 minutes. It is a good idea for the students to practise everyday by trying to answer 30 questions in 30 minutes in different subjects and areas by rotation. Questions of the previous examinations available in the market may be used for this purpose. The speed is bound to increase with repeated practice.

The following strategies will be of help in the preparation for the entrance examination.
Make the preparation for the board examination and the entrance examination complementary.
While learning, do not omit any part of the syllabus. No part is insignificant. Selective study is risky, since all the questions are compulsory.

Write out all the formulae in Mathematics at a single place in a notebook. Similarly group the formulae in Physics, and Chemistry. Arrange all the chemical equations at a single point.
Learn all formulae by heart; you will not have time to derive them.
The subjects of Botany and Zoology include many difficult words to remember, since they are never met with in day-to-day usage (Eg : exocytosis, glycolysis, Protista, Ulothrix, Annelida, thylakoids, gametogenesis). Write out all such words at a place and try to remember what they represent.

All these form only one aspect of the preparation. Even if a dinner has been prepared carefully with great effort, it will come to nought unless it is served well. So is writing an examination.
In spite of preparing well, many candidates are found to be in grief after the entrance examination. Reason — they could not even read all the questions for want of time. So how do you manage your time?
Get it right
Don't be nervous.
Don't be too ambitious by trying to answer all the questions correctly in the limited time. Skip the difficult questions. There is no point in wasting time before the hard nuts. Save such time for answering relatively easy questions that follow.
Do not waste time by reading all the questions from the beginning to the end of the paper. This exercise is of no use, since there is no `choice' in the questions. You had better read the questions one by one from the beginning, and move forward answering the easy ones and skipping the tougher variety. You may get time for a second round to try a hand at the questions that were skipped in the first round.
All these are mechanical aspects of writing the examination. The most important part is the self-confidence required for meeting the challenge posed by the test. Tell yourself, "I will win".

Victory is will.