Facing exam blues

ALLAHABAD: Bhuvan, Bhumika and Bhavya, the three Bs as the siblings prefer to call themselves are a worried lot as they are about to appear in different examinations and suffering from the examination blues.
Bhuvan wakes up in the middle of the night, dreaming that he is getting late for the examinations, his sister Bhumika is at her wit's end in trying to figure out how to catch some sleep ahead of the examinations.Being the eldest, she tries hard to pacify the younger Bs and at the same time manages the household, along with, preparing for submitting her thesis and appearing for the viva voce.
With the onset of the examination time, youngsters appearing for different examinations like the UG/PG, high school and intermediate these days are finding it difficult to manage between the recreation time and study schedule. The fast food joints, otherwise thronged by the teenagers, too, are comparatively deserted.
Psychologists have a whole lot of suggestions to offer for the students. However, the fact remains that remaining calm, composed and well-revised prior to stepping into the examination could surely do the trick and ensure a smooth sailing, points out Deepa Punetha, faculty member in the department of psychology, Allahabad University.
And all the precious pieces of advice are not meant for the students only as sociologist A Satyanarain of Allahabad University points out. According to him, the guardians have got an equally important role to play during the examination process. Unnecessarily pressurising the child for studying is not going to do any good as the last minute preparations are essentially meant to revise and not to learn a lesson afresh, he maintains. Nevertheless, he agrees that concentration of the student at the countdown of the examination is at its optimum level and the guardians can play the role of a catalyst by supplementing the child with a balanced diet and a de-stressed environment.
Tips For Exams and Tests
Websites
All the major boards have websites these days, usually with sample papers and examiners' reports that one can download. These sites are worth a visit as they may offer a lot of advice.
Be on time
Allow no problems and traffic jams on the way and make sure you arrive with time to spare so that you can go in calmly rather than in a frantic rush.
Advice
Don't forget to read the instructions and make sure you know what you are being asked to do. You should go into the exam well aware of what is expected of you, but you should always check. Don't waste a lot of time on this.
Language test
A language exam is not a test of honesty and you will not be penalised if you tell the examiners that you are `CANCER' rather than `SAGITTARIUS' in a written question simply because you are not sure how to spell it. Language tests are quite simple in that they are designed to test your language and not your honesty. Don't worry about lying or being economical with the truth in order to show your accurate language skill.
Sound sleep
Try to get a good night's sleep before any exam.
Hangovers
Try to avoid alcohol the night before an exam as a bad hangover is among the worst things.
Writing Tips
Tip-1
Don't get carried away and overload your writing with complicated words or expressions. If every sentence has two or three such words or expressions, then the writing may seem to be strained and artificial. Remember, you can try too hard as well as not hard enough.
Tip-2
Write on alternate lines (leaving every second line blank) so that you have space to make changes when checking through your work.
Tip-3
Always credit your sources in academic writing, even when you are referring to ideas rather than actually quoting. Psychological warfare
Examiners can choose the same letter successively for the correct answer. After three consecutive answers with the same letter, many students may well start to feel confused and worried. Eventually, many candidates will start changing their answers simple because they don't believe that examiners would have half-a-dozen of more questions with the same letter one after the other. They can and sometimes do; this is a real test of your comprehension and reduces the possibility of scoring by guessing.
Speaking Tips-1
Don't bother learning speeches and trying to say them verbatim (word-for-word) in interviews; examiners will usually spot this without too much difficulty and mark you down for it. It is very hard to do this and sound natural.
Tip-2
If you are asked to talk about or describe a photograph, don't get too hung up on describing every visible detail. Instead, be prepared to speak in general terms about it and how the theme it illustrates affects you.
Listening tips
You are often given false information first that sounds as if it could be the answer to the question. The correct information usually, but not always, comes afterwards.