A Crash Course in Surviving PSLE

Its the time of the year, 2 months to go for PSLE or GCE O’ Levels and the panic buttons are being pushed. Here’s a crash course and survival guide:

Make space

Clear out the junk on your table and make your room conducive for studying. This shall be your goto place for study and make sure it is bright and peaceful. A clear table stops any distraction  as well. No TV, games, computers, handphones. Just you and your work.

The 5 P’s

Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance. Write out all the topics that needs to be revised. Calculate how much time that needs. Add in hours to be spent on revision papers and past year exam papers . Divide that by how many weeks more to exams and that is how much time you need to study a day, at the very least. Which leads us to the need for a time table.

Have a timetable

Set up a time table and schedule every minute. Time management is important in making sure all the topics are covered.  Do put in little breathers as all work as no play makes Jack/Jane a dull person.

Start with revising topics

Revise topics from the easiest to the hardest. This helps in covering lots of easy topics fast and as confidence grows, work up to the harder stuff.

Get Help

Have a really solid tutor that you can count on. (Contact Us)  Generally someone who knows enough of your syllabus that you can get help fast and download as much information to you in the shortest time possible. There will be times when you are revising and there’s some questions where you will hit the wall. Mark those down and ask. This will boost your confidence.

Get those past year papers

Once done with revision, time to hit those past year exam papers. If you have a hard time looking for it, send us an email and we can help you out in obtaining them.

Sleep your 9 hours worth 

Research has proven that peak performance occurs for individuals that clocks in 9 hours of sleep consistently. Your brain will thank you for it.

 Study hard now, slow down when it gets nearer to exams

That’s stress management. Plan to cover more at the beginning and slower in the end. As the exam nears, we need to spend lesser on studying and more time organising our memory palace. Making sure everything is at your fingertips when you need it and cooling down to make sure your brains can handle the stress when the exam starts.

The calm before the storm

It is best to spend time prepping for the big day. Both mentally and physically. Run through how you will do your papers in your mind. Eat healthy food, on time and drink lots of water. Staying healthy is key to peak performance. Exercise too but not anything that will break bones and end in a trip to hospital. Staying sharp and well rested will keep any sickness at bay.

Stay happy and optimistic

Its also important to stay happy. So whenever you feel things turning dark, slow down and take a breather. Go hang out with friends and family. Do remember its just an exams and its never the end of the world. If you planned it right and did your best, chances are, you’ll be doing alright.

Synching your body to the exam time tables 

Your body is a creature of habit. Wake up and sleep at the same time every day. This includes the weekends. Study at the same time as the exam time table. Sit down for the whole duration of an exam, approximately 2 hours, and do not make any toilet trips during that time. Eat at the same time too as you do not want to get hungry or thirsty during exams. Get your body accustomed to handle the stresses of an exam. Don’t change this until the exams are over. This will lessen distractions and help you in concentrating fully on the exams.

Equipment checklist

Have a checklist of what you need for the exams. Different papers requires different equipment so make sure to bring it along with respect to the paper at hand. Don’t forget your identification papers too. Buy spares and have all your equipment checked for proper working conditions. I always advise students to have duplicates of all their stationery. Better to have more than less or risk repeating another year to retake the exams.  Generally speaking, pens are never enough in an exams, and two calculators just in case one gives up mid way. 

The Storm 

Listen to everything the examiner says and only start when they say so. Don’t worry about what happens around you and just worry about your own paper. That’s your own paper and that is the most important task to you right there and then. Do it at a good pace and never worry if someone else are done earlier than you. Once you have completed, make sure that all pages are attempted, your name/identification number is on the paper, and check your work until time is up. You are given a set time for the paper and not a single second should be wasted so make sure you squeeze every mark out of that paper.

Home Sweet Home

Once the paper is done, get back home and do not discuss the exam questions with your friends. That’s just counter productive and could demoralise you if you find out that there is things that you got wrong. Crying over spilt milk won’t help you or get you a better grade once the paper is handed in. Besides, you will never see that paper again in your life so forget and look forward to the next exam. You are better off wisely spending that time winding down, resetting and start preparing for the next paper.

Keeping yourself optimistic, healthy and happy is a key to achieving a great result.