Aniket Raja
After completing class 12, students have to decide on their further course of study on the basis of their aptitude and interest. Of course, the most common choice is graduation in science, humanities or commerce from any of the various colleges and universities across India. But there are many national level competitive exams that students can appear in to explore better career prospects. For science students after completing class 12, there are pre-medical tests and engineering entrance exams to get admission in medicine and engineering colleges. For those not opting for medicine or engineering, there are many other career prospective entrance exams to appear for such as NDA and Marine; Law Entrance; Design Entrance Tests; Hotel Management Entrance Tests and Architecture Entrance Tests; SSC, IBPS, Insurance, etc. For competitive exams you require not only thorough preparation in the subject but also you have to be prepared mentally since these exams are designed to check your knowledge, reasoning, aptitude, general awareness etc. They can seem daunting, but if you employ smart strategies to prepare for the exam, the process is manageable. Since these exams aim to choose worthy candidates, so here are the practices you should follow to prepare well for competitive exams:
Plan Smartly
Once you have made up your mind to prepare for a competitive exam or to enter a particular sector, the most important thing is to plan your way. Get a rough idea when these exams are conducted in a given year and calculate how much time is with you for your preparation. Time is the most crucial factor in determining your success in competitive exams. Make sure you start your preparations early, so that you have ample time in your hands and there is no panic at the last moment. Divide the entire syllabus into equal parts in order to cover the whole syllabus
in time.
Make a List
Once you have a sense of the syllabus, make a list of the books or study material you would be requiring for the exam. Study material for the areas like Verbal Abilities, Math and English should be collected.
Presence of Mind
In all the competitive exams, what is required essentially is your presence of mind. Studying till the last moment will only lead to stress and exhaustion. Before formulating your preparation strategy, chalk out the syllabus and measure your comfort level in individual section. Suppose you feel you are not good in reasoning or essay writing, divide your time table according to it and give extra time to these.
Do Away with Distractions
Maintain a balance between your study time and other activities. To prepare for competitive exams set aside a fixed time for your studies. Discipline yourself, do away with distractions. Switch off your phone and sit in a room without TV while studying. Ask the people around you not to disturb you while you are studying.
Do not Fall Under Pressure
While preparing for the exam you might be under a lot of pressure but tension and anxiety is not going to help you in preparation, instead stay calm and relaxed. Do not study because of pressure from your parents, siblings, and relatives. Stay motivated and do it for yourself. If you work hard and study with a right frame of mind, success is sure to come knocking at your door. Prepare for the competitive exam with focus and determination.
Break-up of Time
Make a time table and do not forget to include your recreational activities in it. Also try to shuffle the subjects so that you do not get bored. You should try studying for at least four hours a day. Take time out for reading newspaper daily as it builds your general awareness.
Prepare Notes
Whatever you study, try maintaining a notebook for it. Go through this notebook at the time of revision.
Quantitative Aptitude
Quantitative Aptitude should be given utmost importance at the time of preparation. Try practicing questions daily. Go through the concepts first and then solve problems. Make a note of important formulas, theories and corollaries. You should be thorough with tables, square roots and cube roots to do calculations quickly. Quantitative questions are not difficult to solve, all you need is practice and speed to excel in this section.
Enrich Your Vocabulary
Improving your vocabulary will help you a great deal in your English section. Questions on synonyms, antonyms and one word substitution will become an easy nut to crack. This is the part which is not given due importance by students. Having a good vocabulary will help you in your Group Discussion and Interview Rounds.
Reasoning
Practice questions on reasoning. They are almost asked in every competitive exam. You should also work on your speed. Try learning or making your own short cuts to solve a particular set of questions. This is the part where you cannot cram anything. All you need to do is to apply your brain and get done with the question and that isn’t a
difficult task.
Prepare GK Thoroughly
The reason for extra importance to General Knowledge topics and questions is that it will not only assist you to score very high marks in less time but it will also help you to perform well in Group Discussions and Interviews. Do Sample Papers and Mock Tests Attempting sample papers and previous year question papers helps you to formulate a better strategy for the exam and know your weaknesses. It will give you a better understanding of the pattern of the question paper and make it easier to finish the paper in the given time. The more sample papers you solve, the more confident and prepared you will feel during the
competitive exam. Work hard to overcome your weaknesses.
Follow the Golden Rule
Easier Subjects First, Harder Subjects Last: You should work on easier subjects first so that you can give more time to difficult subjects. You can’t waste your entire time on difficult subjects without going through easier subjects. You are at least going to get more marks for the easier subjects even if you don’t answer questions from difficult subjects.
Highlight Difficult Concepts
While going through different subjects you will find certain topics or concepts difficult to understand and they may need a revision. Highlight those concepts in your book. This will help you to focus on those concepts later.
Join a Coaching Centre
There is nothing wrong in joining an academy or a coaching centre. The best thing about them is mock question papers. They conduct a number of mock tests where you get the feeling of competitive exams. By appearing for these mock tests you sharpen your problem solving skills. You get to assess yourself that how well prepared you are for the real exam.
Set a Finishing Date
Set a finish date on your mobile, calendar or put it on your table. By this date you should finish learning new concepts. It is important that you stick to this date. After this you can start applying what you have learnt and see your performance by giving mock tests, practice previous year papers etc.
Never Forget Revision
Never underestimate the power of revision. While planning you must keep some time for revision. By doing a revision you can always perform better and score more.
Finally it’s Smart Work and Not Hard Work
Exams are all about smart work and not hard work. Most of the questions that are asked in competitive exams are not knowledge based. So you can’t mug up and clear a competitive exam. You have to understand the concept and only then you will be able to solve objective type questions. Exams like JEE are all about aptitude and reasoning, not knowledge.
Never let the feeling of fear get into your head. Instead you must enjoy the process of preparation and remember to go for the exams in a relaxed mood.
So Best of Luck from Organiser for your exams.
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