Exams are Easy!

Exams are over, so why am I telling you this now? Because, while browsing among the shelves at the Examiner Press Bookshop, the other day, I came across this slim compilation Exams are Easy (When You Know How) by Mike Evans. I generally avoid ‘how to’ books because they usually turn out to be ‘how to make money’ for the authors. The tension generated by exams for students – and parents - prompted me to take a look, and I liked what I saw.

While the book’s target audience is the student – school, college, mature – who will have to take exams at the end of an academic year or professional course, here’s why I think the book is a must read for students, parents, teachers and for anyone who has an interest in education:

The guidelines provided are what any good teacher should tell exam-takers but often fails to in the pressure-cooker situation of today’s educational scene. The approach is common sense and practical, which means that the ideas are easy to follow. What is more, each chapter has a wrap of the important points, as a bulleted list, and the 84 pages are little enough to get through, even for the most reluctant reader.

Among the important points that the book covers is the one that the student must understand that preparation for exams starts on day one of the course and does not involve last minute cramming. Other important points that are reinforced are: rest and recreation time are essential; familiarity with the syllabus and hence confirmation of completion of the course or otherwise; study habits: understanding question papers and allocation of time for both study and tackling the question paper on the day.

For example, comprehending the question paper by ‘identifying’ the verbs in the question is dealt with by explaining the meanings of ‘account for’, ‘analyse’. ‘criticise’, ‘prove’, ‘review’, to mention a few, and the author shows which action is required by the examinee. The art of making notes (requiring external study and research) as against taking notes (jotting down important points which the teacher makes) and using these to reinforce learning and recall is an exercise that has served – and continues to serve – me well and I was very happy to find this mentioned in the book, along with the other useful tips. Harnessing drawbacks in order to make them work for you and tackling common problems, round off the advice. A quote: Exams have become a problem through myth, irrationality and as something to blame by those who have not worked and, therefore, do not deserve to pass.

The book suffers a little from want of editing – the author is rather repetitive with the phrase ‘we will be talking more about this later’. This is a standard lecturing technique to recall and reinforce important points and could have been left out in the print edition. All the same, it is a minor glitch.

Exams may be over for now, but a new academic year looms and this would be the right time to invest in some useful reading.