How do I get good grades in an exam?

Question

I study hard throughout the year and I am able to solve most problems in the text assigned to us and I am frequently the only one who can solve the hardest problems in the assignments or the problem sets. However, I can rarely do exceptionally well at math tests in my University and I frequently run out of time while sitting for a test. My grades have suffered and I am unable to understand why.[I end up with 65% or something like that in my exams while others score like 80%.]

Since, I am able to understand every theorem in the book and then solve most of the problems in the book(and solve the hardest problems in any test), it seems to me that I should also have good grades on most tests I take. I will appreciate it if people give me some advice on how to do well in the tests. Thank you.

Answer 1

You know, Exams are like tournament or competitions. Some people are great at practice but when they enter a championship, and feel under pressure, they under perform. I am telling you this because I am student athlete , and I did track and field for 4 years while doing my double major in computer science and mathematics.

So with that being said, I highly suggest that you put yourself under exam situation while studying or throughout the semester. Like you said, you are solving hard problems. But maybe it takes you too long to solve it. You should time yourself, and try to do a given set of problems in a certain amount of time and see how well you do. And I have to say that being an athlete and competing at a high level made me handle exams quite well. I was mentally and physically trained to perform under stress.

So My other suggestion to you is to do activities that will help you handle stress better . I am not saying do track and field, maybe go to the gym, enrol in some sort of competitions in some hobby you like,... etc.

I actually feel some people are quite talented with handling exams, apart from the fact that they are hard working or not.

Good luck man. You will do better next time !

Answer 2

Sometimes, you do questions, you practice a lot but you don't get the same output. Don't care much about what you're getting as the output unless and until your input is in doubtful situation. Give it your best and the results will be shown, no matter the conditions be!

Mathematics is a subject, which requires loads of practice and concentration while solving questions. You might have been solving questions, but in a very comfortable environment. It is not essentially the same during an Exam or a test, when you may face any kind of disturbances in your surroundings. And that's when you lose concentration resulting in lack of ideas for solving the questions.

Revision, remembering tricks, formulas, are some of the key facts to get good marks in a test. But, what's more important is that you should get your concepts right. You should be aware of what you're doing and once you're content in that, then the result is not too far. Just keep doing your work and the result will automatically show up.

As you mentioned that you usually run out of time while sitting in a test. I suggest that you should practice doing calculations orally while practicing and then matching up with the answers. Only then you could speed up yourself accordingly. I'm assuming that you're good at concepts and have got potential to think of solving questions or calculations orally.

The way you attempt a test is also important.The idea for solving a particular question must strike at the first glance, else you'll end up consuming 5-10 minutes in just thinking about how to kick off the question. Try to concentrate yourself completely over the question, ignoring whatever is going in your environment and once you're successful in that, go through all the conditions you've read. The one which applies in the question will be your first step to think about. Keep your eyes to a farther distance, aim for the final step while thinking about the first step. It may be that you start solving the question but you end up getting the initial equation only and thus, wasting your precious 5-10 minutes. So, accuracy and precision with your ideas and work is a lot important.

Good Luck for your future!