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The season for entrance exams is looming once more, and while students would like to have all of their time focused on studying for these exams, they struggle with balancing day-to-day school activities along with the reviews. How then should one prepare for the coming exams? Here are some tips and easy review tricks you can do while studying current lessons.
1. Learn to balance your time. Time is now more valuable than ever. If you truly wish to attain admission to the school of your dreams, learn the value of time. Imagine having the optimum amount of sleep per day, which is eight hours. This would leave you with 16 hours left in your day. You then prepare and travel to school, making use of around one to two more hours. This would leave you 14 to 15 hours on average. You take your classes for the next eight hours, leaving you around six or seven hours left. You travel home for one or two more hours, making what’s left of your day around four to six hours. You’d spend at least an hour with your family, and what you have left is the only free time you have to focus solely on reviewing.
So how can you juggle your daily activities? Make time your friend. It is there to guide you and make sure that you stay on top of your schedule. Create a list of your things-to-do and plot it in a calendar. Go through your list every morning and update it every night. This will let you have a broader view of activities you need to prioritize and which can be pushed to a later date. Time is your ally in being efficient while staying well-rounded.
2. Focus. For the time period that you need to be preparing for your entrance exams, you will need to focus on the review. A good way to help you focus is by eliminating sources of distraction. Refrain from touching your social media applications or your online games. Better yet, refrain from going online at all to allow your brain to focus on soaking up as much information as you can.
3. Make mnemonics. A mnemonic is a tool that you can use to help you memorize. For example, the most used mnemonic is “Dear King Philip Came Over For Great Spaghetti.” This mnemonic stands for the taxonomy order — from the most general to the most specific, namely: Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species. This will be helpful especially in enumeration exercises.
4. Try to understand things instead of just plain memorizing them. Memorization isn’t for everyone. Some people have a bigger long-term memory capacity while others don’t. So instead of memorizing each lesson, understand the concepts of what you’re reviewing. This way, you gain more insight while not risking a memory wipe during the exam days.
To boost understanding and remembering what you are reviewing or relearning, try to “interact” with what you’re learning – analyze it – break it apart, and synthesize it – put it all together and summarize it. React to it even; evaluate it. Connect it with what you already know. Apply it by making what you’re learning “explain” practical realities you are aware of. You gain the most from what you’re reading when you are able to accommodate and assimilate it to your existing body of knowledge, so make those connections. This way, you are actively involved in what you’re studying, not just passively taking it in. Plus, you are involved in a higher level of learning.
5. Invest in a review center. Generally, review centers offer a big boost in skills and confidence for test takers, that’s why you should invest in one if you can. Being in a review center not only helps you look back to lessons you have learned before; it can also help you clarify with tutors subject matter that you might not have sufficiently learned in the past. AHEAD Tutorial and Review, the country’s leading and most awarded tutorial and review center, offers review classes for Junior High School, Senior High School, and college entrance exams. With some of the best tutors, materials, and review assistants, AHEAD can broaden your opportunities and give you an advantage over your competitors. In addition, AHEAD has a premium review program for college entrance exams with a money-back guarantee.
On the day prior to the exam, keep all your requirements in a single kit: pencils, eraser, sharpener, forms, etc. Set this kit beside your bed so it’ll be the first thing you see when you wake up. No more cram studying the night before the exam and get some good night’s sleep instead. Also, do away with your gadgets. Lack of sleep will distract you from getting the score you need.
Lastly, keep calm and breathe. Sneak in a prayer.
Parents! This one’s for you: Your kids are going to need all the support you can give them during this time. Invest in tutorial centers, review classes, and material. Do anything you can to aid in your kids’ review. This will definitely increase the chances of your kids getting into the school they want. Aside from that, giving emotional support like affirmation will reinforce them to do better in the exam. In general, be there for your kids. This particular time of their lives will be a stressful one as they are balancing their current school life with the looming entrance exam that will pave a road to their future, so give your kids all the positive support you can give.
Rossana Llenado is a multi-awarded education advocate, marketing innovator, business leader, and mom of four. She founded AHEAD Tutorial and Review in 1995 and has since been invited to numerous events to mentor entrepreneurs including the 2014 and 2015 Conference of the Confederation of Asia-Pacific Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong, and the 2016 Philippine Marketing Association Agora Conference.
