This slide show covers the important points that a student should know when he/she is preparing for examinations. It covers methods of making notes, the pace at which one should study, and intensive and extensive planning for a particular examination.

1. How to Study for
Examinations
Yoshida Rao

2. Study by Writing Mode
 Study by Writing Mode rather than reading mode
 One of the reasons is that when we write we spend
more time on every letter and every word, so it gives
brain more time to retain it.

3.  Studies show that majority of the material we study
during a day is forgotten within 24 hours
 So if we keep on studying and keep on forgetting, we
would never be able to complete the syllabus for
examination

4.  So How to study is most importantly “How to revise”
 So it is not about how much we study, it is more about
how do we retain what we have studied

5.  So every student has to make his own revision
strategies
 We will now discuss few tips and tricks in this direction

6.  There is a clear relation in taking notes and revision
 We make notes, we study and revise them again
 Through this process notes become concise over the
period of time, and before exam we are having a 2-4
pages writeup to revise

7.  Now we will discuss briefly that how to study a
mathematical course
 In the end of every chapter there are many examples,
some books have upto 100 examples

8.  It is difficult to do all the 100 examples, and if a student
puts effort and does 50 examples, there is the chance
that the questions appearing in the examination might
be from remaining 50
 So it is better to choose a book which has say 15
examples covering all the concepts, so that student can
complete the syllabus

9.  Also in a Mathematical course, there is lot of
importance of doing unsolved examples
 It brings confidence to the student
 Also it simulates the scenario of the examination where
the student would be solving unsolved questions

10.  Now what is also important is pace at which we do the
study
 If we are doing something quickly it means we don’t
want to do that work we just want to finish it and move
on to the next thing

11.  So when we are doing studies we have to make
ourselves remember that this is the work we want to do
 Also, for example, if we have decided to study 9 pages,
and we have decided to devote half hour to each page,
then we should devote exactly half hour to each page,
not more, not less. By doing this we build half an hour
of “work” into that page

12.  To summarize, Making notes is important, because
during the writing process, brain gets more time to
remember what is being written
 Revision is important to remember (for a long time)
what we are studying

13.  Now there is a concept called “Trilogy of Concepts”
 When we are studying a particular topic, our
understanding of topics behind that topic improves
 For example, Algebra is involved in every step of
Trigonometry, so when we are studying Trigonometry,
at each step we have to apply Algebra, and our
understanding of Algebra improves

14.  Similarly, Trigonometry is involved in every step in
Calculus, so when we study Calculus, we apply
Trigonometry at each step, and our understanding of
Trigonometry improves
 So every subject has subjects on which it is based, and
during the study of the subject, the understanding of
the subjects on which it is based is improved

15.  Now there is another point of Making notes in good
handwriting, it is easier for brain to remember what is
written in good handwriting
 Also while solving mathematics problems, avoid writing
in corners and small spaces, always write on clear
blank sheet. Because when we write in corners we
tend to skip steps and do calculations in mind, which
may lead to mistakes and lack of clarity of the problem
being solved

16.  Now there is an issue called peaking. Our preparation
should move in a forward direction with a final peak on
the examination day
 Also during the preparation, pick up the difficult
subjects first
 Mastering mathematics is important, so that we don’t
“waste” too much time on it, and should be able to
devote time to physics, biology, social science etc

17.  Now there is something called extensive preparation
and intensive preparation
 Extensive means detailed, and intensive means
selected topics
 So if we have six months for the examination, devote
first four months to detailed study of topics. Next one
and half month on revision of notes, and in last 15 days
nothing new should be studied, only notes revision

18.  If you are giving a competitive examination, where one
is competing with other students, the fact one has to
remember is that every body has 24 hours, and if one
is utilizing his 24 hours in best possible manner then
one is always in the competition

19.  The other point is to study same number of hours every
day.
 If one day we spend lot of time towards studies, and
then we don’t study for 2-3 days this type of situation is
undesirable
 Study less but study every day

20.  Final point is about focus. One has to identify a thing
that improves the focus. (People use things like
Michael Schumacher driving Ferrari, or Rahul Dravid
playing a defensive shot) A mental image of your idol
doing his work helps people to bring their focus on their
work