Saturday 12 September 2015

Exam Preparation


STAY CALM

It's perfectly natural to be nervous before and during a test, especially when we are being watched in a practical exam. It's very easy to get worked up and distracted with the extra pressure of directly and so critically being assessed by someone over your shoulder. Feeling the examiner's gaze whilst picking up on their incessant scribbles, which could either mean success or failure, will definitely play on the nerves.

The thing with these types of exams where you are one on one with an examiner,  success often boils down to how the other person is feeling at that particular moment as much as to how well you are performing. If they are hungry, tired or having a particularly bad day, the chances are they will be reflecting this on you and ultimately your grade could suffer unless you act a certain way that differs their negativity away from you.

The Invisible Man
The important thing in these situations is to make yourself the 'grey' man. That means, trying not to be that person who is singled out as the trouble maker, the cocky, over-confident or arrogant type that needs to be taken down a peg or two. Unfortunately, when you catch an examiner on a bad day, even the usual niceties can rub someone up the wrong way, so it's best to say and do as little as possible to avoid bringing unwarranted attention on oneself before or during an exam. Otherwise, a few curt words from the examiner and the result could be that your performance will be compromised as your nerves kick in to upset what would should have been a grade A, potentially bringing it down to a C or even worse, a fail grade.

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