Improve Your Examination Temperament
“ Very good at studies, has very clear concepts, solves question very quickly in class, but when it comes to quizzes, exams or tests, not able to deliver best and hardly manage to get an average rank.” One is having Concepts crystal clear but a bad examination temperament.
Examination temperament includes two main things: (1) The thought process going inside your mind (what are you thinking just before the exam and what is going inside your mind during the exam) and (2) your approach to solve the paper. This article will focus more on part (1)
Mohammad Ali, the great boxer used to talk to himself before going to his boxing matches. He used to tell himself that “I am the greatest”. Every time you go to give a paper just tell yourself that you know all the concepts. Most of the times students have a mind setup that the questions in IITJEE are very tough and so they don’t even read the whole question on the topic they have not read well and many times it turns out that the question was just a cake walk. Just for an example, in 2006 JEE paper there was a simple comprehension type question based on Matrices and determinants. Out of the 3 questions, one just needed matrix multiplication. Many students who had not revise the matrices and determinant chose to leave that question without even completely reading the question, thinking it to be a tough one. So don’t presume anything about a question just by a glance.
Sometimes it happens that you are not able to solve even a single question on the first page of the question paper and you lose your confidence. And in that case you start making wild guesses in some questions just to increase your number of attempts. That’s not the correct strategy. Remember IITJEE is not about solving more question but it’s about solving questions correctly. You need to minimize your negative attempts (attempts that bring negative marks) in the paper. And one more thing, never forget that if the questions seem to be tough to you then it will be tough to everyone giving the exam. So instead of trying to increase your number of attempts, focus on increasing your positive marks i.e. choose and attempt questions that can fetch you positive marks.
It happens sometimes that student start thinking before the paper or while giving the paper that what if he could not clear the paper, what if he don’t get good rank etc. But remember that this type of negative thinking harms your performance. Just give the paper with a clear and uncluttered mind. Believe that whatever happens will be for your best. Just believe that "you are the best."
After knowing everything and to deliver it during the exam you have to keep your temperament right.
All The Best !!!