Moments before You Go into The Exam Hall

 

Exams are ~already knocking at the door; tests have gone; classes have rounded up; the semester, running to an end; the session, closing its chapter. This is the time students want to be serious and ensure they get the maximum benefits. Semester after semester; session after session, GPs are accumulating, results are piling up, which would give what we have as our CGPA. No one wants to be caught unawares. No one wants to fail. Everybody wants an A.

But just before you find yourself in the exam hall trying to answer questions or do whatever it is you have to do, I think you should read this. Follow me!

1. Re-engineer your mindset

What's your Mindset?

I recently wrote a piece on How our mindset can help us achieve success or pull us down to failure. The highlight was about two kinds of people - The success seekers and the failure avoiders.

Although both parties don't want to Fail, the critical difference between these two is that the Success Seeker is actively looking forward to succeed, get As, get 100 and the likes, while the Failure Avoider is simply just avoiding failure. "Provided I don't carry this course, I am fine." "Let me just get C," and some similar comments. 

I hope you see where this is going to? When your mindset says I can get 100, you'll work towards 100, and plus or minus, you just might find yourself on 90. If my plan is 'not to Fail', my preparation will be the minimum, and where wuru-wuru no work, I'm down sinking. 

What was the seed? Mindset. 

So first things first. Take some time, re-configure your mindset to think 'I want Success', and quit running away from Failure. You will not, and cannot fail!

Open your mind, be optimistic.

Promise me you'd do that... before any other thing.

Promise? 

Sealed!

2. Set goals

What are your goals?

Now that your mind is a bit open and fertile for success, you should make your goals plain.

If you have 5 courses to take this semester, what grades do you want? What scores do you want to get? Write them down *exactly* the way you want to see it. 

If it is 5 As, then write it down. If it is 90, 85, 93, 97, 82, add it. Make them plain. Look at them koro-koro. 

Writing down your goals open your mind more to the possibility of succeeding. You see more potential. You see that 'Ah, I have work to do.' It pushes you to act. 

3. Trust God

Where's your trust at?

Do you have 'men I trust' who will run things for you or you have pongila to lick? 

Of course, it's nice to be optimistic and goal-ready. But if you do it with YOUR STRENGTH ALONE, you'd get tired, you may not be able to cover, you may not be able to get your goals.

I TRUST GOD, what about you? Commit your goals to God, He's ready to help. Instead of stressing yourself to cover, let Him cover for you by directing you on where to read, making hard things clearer for you understand, remind you in the exam hall and all the help you need.

This is not the time to try God, it's time to TRUST GOD. If you trust Him, you will see the results.

Let God be your strength, you help, your trust. Without Him, it's not worth it!

You can put ALL your eggs in God's basket. It's that simple!

4. Don't read in Isolation

This is not the time to read in isolation

I believe the time to read in isolation has passed.

Study with friends. Surround yourself with people who will challenge you. Surround yourself with people who will encourage you to go on. There's a great power in community.

Engage in group discussions.

Group discussion is a good way to study and cover areas very fast. It helps in revision and in correcting mistakes too; maybe you wrote the wrong spelling or misinterpreted or omitted something.

It also a good way to remember what you have read, especially when it is conducted in an informal way. It’s a very useful tool, don’t read in isolation.

You just might find something you didn't find out when you were reading. Some things might just get clearer. You may get some info that will help you concentrate on the right areas. 

Studying with a community of like-minded people are part of God's ways to direct you and help you get what you have envisioned.

5. Practice discipline

You may not be the most solid person when it comes to self-discipline or doing what you have to do at the right time. 

This Is the time to practice discipline. You know what you're running after. You know who's hand your hands are in. But if you don't put in the work, all you had done earlier would just be termed 'Dreaming'.

Create a time table. It doesn't have to be 8 hours a day, non-stop. You should know yourself. 

Know yourself and understand yourself! Know when you can read and assimilate best. Know how long you can spend reading as a seating. It would help a lot!

Are you a daytime or a night time guy? Are you comfortable with noise or it has to be quiet? Do you have to write to understand or your brain na magnet? How fast do you read? How long does it take to understand? Ask yourself these questions.

Create something flexible. If it's 2 hours in the morning, then go with that. Then maybe another 1 hour by 2pm, that's fine.

Let your table match your lifestyle. Don't overdo or copy someone's style. We're all different ooo!

With this table, stand up when you should. Read when you should. Call when you should. Do what you have to do at the right time.

Make a decision and stand by it. Your timetable is your decision, and you owe it t yourself to stand by it. It takes discipline to achieve what you planned for. Without discipline, you're just a dreamer.

This is the time to practice discipline.

6. Don't be shy to ask for help

Help is everywhere. People have the solutions to whatever problems you may be facing. Ask for help. Go to that tutorial. Let someone help you if a topic is not clear. Ask for help. Don't be shy.

If you're shy and afraid to ask for help, you will just be using that as an hindrance to bringing your goals to reality. 

I can't say much about this again. Ask for help!

7. Banish fear

Are you still afraid?

Don't let fear deny you of your promised land. This is the time for you to believe, trust God, exercise your faith. Make it plain that it will come true.

Banish fear, embrace faith. 

Affirmations might help you. Affirm, confess, over and over. Let it be real to you. Don't sleep on it. 

Don't give fear any room. Have faith, believe. If you don't believe it is possible, then you may never get the goals you want. 

Confess it to reality. I learnt something recently: Believe - Say - Act!

Don't fear. Say it out loud: 

I'm not a slave to fear. I believe I will get [state your goals]. I believe and I am sure it will come to a reality!

And of course, act it out by reading and studying at the right time. Surround yourself with people who will encourage you oó. Don't go and surround yourself with people that will just discourage you.

Have faith, believe!

8. There's really no excuse for failure

There are always legitimate reasons to slip off. There are legitimate reasons why you couldn't read. There are legitimate reasons why you don't understand a topic. There are thousands of reasons and excuses for you.

The truth is that, when your results are out, no one else will see those excuses. All they'll see is "He didn't try his best," or "She could have done better".

No one will sympathise with your results. People might sympathize with your situation, problem, excuses, whatsoever, but not your results. 

If your results are bad they are bad. If your results are great, they are great. Your results don't have emotions. If you do bad no one will want to hear any excuse. If you do well people will be ready to hear your story. Choose your side of the coin.

So you have to wake up and stop all those excuses. Wake up and do what is necessary. Wake up and pay your dues!

"Regardless of the situation, the storm, the adversity, I will reach my goal. Anything can stop me. Nothing can deny me. I will reach my goal. I will get it done. I can see it, and it is real. Nothing can hold me down. Not fear, not circumstances, not problems, not activities, nothing!"

9. Rest, eat, chop life!

Of course, it's that part of the article where we talk about rest. 

If you don't sleep well enough, you will not be able to read well or even write your exams well. If you don't eat well, you will not be able to read well or write your exams well.

Prioritize your health, your well-being, your body. You will write that exam. You are the appointed person to go into the exam hall to write, and get those As.

If you're not feeling well that's holding you back from getting what you planned to get. So, rest, sleep, enjoy yourself. Be in good shape.

Don't go and stress yourself or start living miserable life because of exam. Don't go and be doing 35 hours stretch-reading, when your exam is just 2 hours. 

Take care of yourself. Do yourself well. Do yourself alright.

Let's Go

I want you to take these tips seriously. Be a success guy. Run to success, and stop running from failure. Set goals - SMART goals by the way - and stand by them. Trust God, most importantly. 

Don't read alone, read with a community of like-minded people. You can use these people to practice discipline, let them be your support system. Ask them for help too. If they can't help, get good help outside. Just don't be shy about it.

Say good bye to fear, and believe it is possible. Believe it, say it and act it! Remember, nobody cares about your excuses, until you have gotten the great result. And of course, YOU are the most important factor in this matter, so take care of yourself. 

Again, I'll say: Trust God. Put your trust in him. Pray and commit it to Him. Talk to Him. Anything outside God isn't worth it. That's the secret formula.

I'm looking forward to your success in due time.

Share with others that you think will find this helpful.

With much love,

Gee.