Examination is an important part of one's academic life and while school life is fun and all that whenever exams are fast approaching, it would seem like most of the fun is being sucked out because everyone would be required to “get down to business”.
I used to be very attentive to every detail because knowing that how I choose to study and prepare for the exams has a major determinant in whether I would pass or fail which would in turn have its own effects moving forward.
The first thing that motivated me was the fact that I knew that I don't have the luxury of failing or having an extra year because paying my school fees back then wasn't an easy feat. So I knew even in the craziest of all courses, I would rather prefer a pass (let my people go) than having a carryover.
The fear of failing is one big motivator for me. I could recall one departmental course in my second year. We have all heard a lot about the course from our immediate seniors and they told us that whatever we have to do, we should make sure we don't have carryover in that course because anybody that does would find it difficult to clear it the following year.
You need to see me reading like my life depended on it. It probably did because what do I tell my parents? How do I even say that I couldn't study enough to be able to get even a pass.
What also helped me during exams are study groups. It helped that I made friends with people who take studying very seriously. We attend lots of tutorials especially when exams are fast approaching. We also had people ahead of our level who were ready to teach if we are ready to learn.
We sometimes study past questions. I remember one past question that really saved my hide. It was as if God just saw through me that I really needed help to pass that course. The past question I personally took out of others to study was exactly what I saw during the exam. I was so relieved because I knew I did justice to it.
I don't have a personal timetable. Rather, I divided the courses into two groups, so I have the most difficult ones on one side and the less difficult ones on the other side. That way, it would be obvious which courses I dedicated more time to studying.
The pressure that examination brings isn't always an easy one but I do try to stay very focused. It is often argued that exams aren't always the true test of knowledge. I agree because sometimes all we only aim for is to pass. So we usually resort to cramming. It doesn't matter if we understood or not but the major fact is that we would need that certificate at the end of school in order to get employment.
Even if some people aren't even using that certificate today and relied on other skills as a source of income, we still needed to prepare well back then in school during examinations.
