ACE THAT EXAM

Being a doctor sitting for exams is a way of life. After having sat for many an exam I've identified basic principles which will help you approach an exam, what ever it may be in a manner in which you could  optimize the hard work you put in.

Steps to ace that exam

1. Find out what you need
• Figuring out what you need to study will considerably reduce study time and improve its effectivity. 
• Use the 80/20 rule to figure out the important areas of study you need to spend time on. The rule states that 80% of effects are caused by 20% of the events. That means 80% of the questions are based on 20% of the facts. Find that 20%!!! 
• Your best bet to find the 20%  is to go through past questions papers. 
2. Start simple
• Find the smallest book and read it to gather the concepts 
• Watch youtube videos, surf the web, do what ever you have to do to  spend the least amount of time to take in the information you need.
3. Plan 

" Remember when you fail to plan you plan to fail."

• Identify the time you have for the exam 
• Identify the time you can devote for studying 
• Identify the time duration needed for 
• Gathering knowledge on basic concepts going into depth in selected study sections
• Revision 
• Preparation for examination.( writing answers to question papers, practicing for viva examinations etc..)
• Remember be realistic. Don’t put down that you are going to study for 8 hours a day when you can realistically allocate only 2 hours. Be brutally honest with yourself.
• Ask your self the following questions. 
• Can you complete what you need to cover within the given period? 
• How much time do I have left for revision and exam prep once I have completed reading? 
• What time allowances can I keep aside for unforeseen events which may occur.(personal commitments, illness etc.)

4. Read your recommended text

Now that you have an idea of the basics, scan the book or books to see the sections which carry the information you need.(the 20 percent!)

5. Remember what you read

Easier said than done! Remember, you've got more chances of remembering something if you put the information across so your brain can process it better 

• Try to get yourself interested about what you read, this is said to improve memory by 30%.
• Keep distractions to a minimum. Keep that phone away...Facebook, emails can wait! 
• Choose an optimum time to study. Ideally should be the first thing you do as your mind and body is well rested. Practically this may not be possible with daily activities and day to day responsibilities so just pick a time you know you can get the most amount of work done. 
• Get a set of questions on the section you are going to read ( if you don't have any make up some) and try to find the answers to these questions. This is better than reading the a whole section in a book and then trying to answer the questions. ( one of my colleague's used to call this an antigen antibody reaction) 
• Use information inputs with many sensory modalities  wherever possible. Watching a video about the information you wish to gather will give you many sensory inputs such as visual and auditory stimuli as apposed to only reading which will only give you a visual input. Plus its a heck of lot more interesting than reading a boring book which will cut down studying time significantly. 
• Use your imagination. Use imaginary images to represent the things you want to remember. If you want to remember a grocery list, for example with 
1.  Carrots 
2. Fish 
3. Corn 
4. Beef 

You would first think of place your familiar with such as your living room and place these item as odd imaginary figures in this known space. To remember carrots and fish think of a giant fish eating a carrot sitting on your sofa and on the coffee table there is a cow eating corn. These unusual images tend to interest your brain and the fact that you've  placed them in a known environment gives you the ability to just take a mental walkabout in your living room and visually remember the list. By placing the images in order for example the fish eating the carrot near the entrance and the cow eating the corn on a coffee table next to the entrance helps you remember these things in order. But the problem with this method is that if you have a large book to remember you'll need a pretty big living room. ( but remember you can always  mentally step out of your house  and go as far as you can remember on familiar roads around your neighborhood placing these imaginary items).It helps to keep a notebook making note of all these images and where exactly you have placed them just so you wont forget them.

• Revise religiously 

I believe that it is more important bring into mind what ever you have read more often than reading new material. The age old question, “ how is short term memory converted  to long term memory?” One method is by repetition. Ideally what you read must be revised within one hour then within the day and then daily for a week and weekly for a month and every 2 to 4 weeks for about 6 months for it to be long term. Even then  you’ll need to keep revising periodically or you would most likely forget it. Seems pretty easy right?

• Teach 

In medicine when we learn new procedures there is a saying “ learn one, do one, teach one” . Teaching some one is an awesome way of remembering something.

•  Practice what you've learned

A another great way to remember what you read is to actually apply it. If your day to day work requires you to remember what you read you will have more chances of remembering it because

6. Repeat Repeat Repeat 

The more times you practice the stronger the connections your brain will make to the places where the memory is stored.

7. Find out a greater purpose for why you are doing this exam. 

Tie it up to your life achievements. Make this about you taking that step towards your final goal. Believe despite all the odds that you will succeed and that the hard work you’ve put in will pull you through.


8. Do what you can and don’t worry about the outcome. 

Remember to do what you can to the best of your abilities. The outcome is irrelevant. You require immense amounts of discipline to get your self to sit down in one place and to concentrate on a given task even for one hour. Remember you doing this itself would have its rewards.

I WISH YOU ALL THE VERY BEST

please share your comments, own experiences and views....