TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE
DEDICATION
CHAPTER ONE
General mistakes students make
CHAPTER TWO
Performing well during exam
CHAPTER THREE
Mistakes associated with local and international exams
CONCLUSION
PREFACE
Mistakes are inevitable when answering questions. Infact it’s an act that makes us human. Hence
it is natural. The essence of this book is to give you a foresight of what could go wrong in your
exams if precautions are not put in place. Also another importance why you need to read this
book thoroughly is that it helps you to be sensitive to things that need to be done rightly and
things that shouldn’t go wrong.
As a passionate and experienced exam committee member, it’s my desire to see excellence and
fantastic work by students during exams.
DEDICATION
I personally dedicate this book to you. Make it count!
CHAPTER ONE
GENERAL MISTAKES STUDENTS MAKE
To make a mistake is to do something incorrectly. Mistakes can be helpful to students while
some can lead to depression. In this book we are looking at costly mistakes that affect students
performance during examination. Below are general mistakes students make during exams that
can affect their performance.
1.
Incorrect spelling of candidate’s name during registration of biodata.
2.
Poor preparation before exam. A proper preparation takes with 3-6 months.
3.
No plan. Before embarking into an examination process, one should have a plan. Plan on
how to achieve the goal, which includes, getting syllabus and creating time for reading,
expectation of performance [Grades], boosting confidence level and maintain sound
health.
4.
Encouraging distraction which leads to poor time management.
5.
Not accepting the challenge ahead. Every student must make up their mind to face the
challenges that is to come.
6.
Don’t being smart. A student that’s about to write an exam should know what to except
and prepare in line to that.
7.
Self-pressure: Some students unwisely put pressure on themselves. Like being intense due
to too much thinking on what to expect and whether they could pass the exam that alone
can affect focus level and cause poor performance.
8.
Poor social preparation/rehearsals: Group studies, questions and answers from a group
make learning more effective. Also teaching yourself, introducing soliloquy learning
can improve reading and language skills. This is very useful during examination.
9.
Clarity before exam: Many students get into the exam hall without getting answers to their
doubts and worries. This kind of affect their confidence and also leads to common
errors during the exam.
10. Obeying rules: Exam bodies don’t tolerate inappropriate behaviours. So a students must be
prepare before going for an exam.
11. Not reading instructions in the exam question.
12. Non-chalant attitude: Some students answers questions inappropriately. A question says;
list and explain three [3] importance of obeying rules and regulations as a citizen [9
marks]. Some students choose to explain without listing that can cost some tangible
marks.
13. Poor knowledge to a subject
14. Impatience from students to seat down and read thoroughly
15. Terminologies: Every subject has it terms and style when these are not apply it can affect
the score of a student.
16. No crosschecking: It’s natural for one to make mistakes especially during exams. Hence as
a student it’s expected you cross check your answer sheet twice or more if possible
before submitting.
17. Failing to your answers especially in theory questions.
18. Using poor or outdated materials to prepare for an exam.
19. Not using syllabus to cover all expected topics.
20. Grammatical errors or errors in basic spellings.
21. Technical errors like in sciences we consider; units, decimal places, expression, expansion
and use of terms.
22.
23.
24.
25.
Cheat: of course when you cheat you will face the full wrath of the exam disciplinary
committee.
Relying on your teacher only to prepare you. As a student you must take responsibility to
ensure you really understand subject, topic by topic.
Using past question: This is very good but it gives you the idea of what to prepare and the
level of your performance.
Memorizing, rather than understanding, my observation when you don’t prepare on time, it
create in fear and put pressure on you making you to memorizing instead of studying
proper. This can lead to a big catastrophe. I advice you prepare on time, to study
conveniently with confidence.
CHAPTER TWO
PERFORMING WELL DURING EXAM
In chapter one, we defined mistake as doing something incorrectly. Sometime
students make mistakes not because they don’t know well the topic of the
questions but because of certain reasons such as;
1.
Mental reasons: The state of mind can determine your reasoning speed and accuracy.
Sound sleep, balanced diet and good preparation are factor that can help you perform
well in exams or activities. Otherwise you may answer “3x2” as 5 instead of 6.
2.
Social reason: The people around your life can affect your educational performance with
family support, and no complicated life style, students perform better than with
complicated life style and family challenges.
3.
Unpleasant occurrence: This can be very detrimental on exam day. Sometime ago in 2019
a girl sitting for WAEC came in late to the hall for mathematic exam in tears and shock.
The morning of her exam her dad fell and slumped. Through he was hospitalized and
stable but that lady wasn’t herself that day. Well she failed the math exam and that was
it.
4.
Understanding the subject: You can’t do well if you don’t know well and that is the
beginning of the problem. When you’re vast in knowledge of the subject, it gives you
confidence and a relaxed mind. This can do the magic you’re been seeking for.
5.
6.
7.
Experience has an edge: When you have practice past questions and how it should be
answered, it gives you a fine killer instinct to nail the question with 100% correct
answer.
Early mistakes: These are blessings in disguise. Making early mistakes strengthens your
understanding and pushes you out of your comfort zone. Making no mistakes or errors
is dangerous during exam revision. The response from the brain when you make
mistakes carries strong electrical signal than when you don’t. These early mistakes
solidify corrections to the right answers to last longer in your brain memory part
[cerebrum].
Believe: The human belief system is formed by all the experiences learned and
experimented through personality. Believing can be a force that has capacity to heal.
Believing stimulate psychological changes in our endocrine system. Helping us to have
vision to see, strength of will and resilience to succeed. Now you see why you must
believe you can do it. Yes you can!
CHAPTER THREE
MISTAKES ASSOCIATED WITH LOCAL AND INT’L EXAMS
International General Certificate of Secondary Education [I G C S E]
Common mistakes made by IGCSE students.
1.
Not using the syllabus effectively. The Cambridge Assignment International Education
[CAIE] has provided detailed syllabi for all grades and subjects. This contain marking
scheme, evaluation and analysis criteria as well as the do’s and don’ts.
2.
Last moment studying: This is a bad practice, it only instigate fear and more confusion to
the ones you have learnt already. Most IGCSE questions are applied questions, so poor
preparation will only expose your weakness, leading to poor grade.
3.
Underestimating revision: Revision is what you do after a thorough study for a while. You
start revises all you have learnt to help give a deeper insight and understanding of each
topics and related questions.
4.
Not practicing writing and self-teaching: This practice increases your speed and accuracy.
It helps organize your thought and ideas and also help you manage time smartly.
5.
Not using highlighters: According to the rules in IGCSE, you are allowed to use three
different highlighters in the exam question papers. For instance in English language the
highlighter helps you to attempt extract such as letters.
TEST OF ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE [TOEFL]
These exams are for those wants to attend university or graduate school
abroad. Also for those who needs to demonstrate a mastery of English for an
academic purpose.
TOEFL test takers see the writing section as the most difficult part of the
exam.
Common mistakes TOEFL takers make are;
a.
No plan: Writing in English exams require planning your idea/points. It’s important one
takes out time to plan and prepare what to write before starting.
b.
Structure: Essay writings generally needs to be structured before being written. It’s
important to know ho structure the integrated writing task and the independent writing
task. The best way to structure the integrated writing essay with four [4] paragraphs,
which includes the introduction [paragraph 1] and three [3] other body paragraph.
c.
Underestimating the importance of grammar and spelling: This is the third mistake
TOEFL test takers make. This is seen a lot in both the integrated and independent
writing tasks. A major reason to this which is also a general problem in English
language essay is because must TOEFL test takers are in rush to finish the 4th and final
section.
INTERNATIONAL ENGLISH LANGUAGE TESTING SYSTEM [IELTS]
These exam can be written by foreigners. The purpose is to access English
Language proficiency. IELTS is scored on a nine-band scale [0-9]. The test is base on four [4]
component which are listening, reading, writing and speaking. There is neither pass nor fail in
IELTS exam. One of the most common grammar mistakes students make when writing their
IELTS exams are sentence fragments, run-on sentences, improper preposition usuage, tense
issues and mistake in a student’s lexical selection. Other common mistakes test takers make
during IELTS exam are
1.
Talking too much or too little during the speaking section. It may sound easy but one
needs to use good vocabularies and terms for expression.
2.
Self pressure: Like I said earlier in chapter one, putting pressure on oneself wouldn’t do
any good during an exam process.
3.
Not learning the band descriptions in IELTS writing and speaking.
4.
Leaving out data in IELTS writing task 1.
5.
Too many main ideas in IELTS writing task 2 – A main idea is ok.
6.
Problem of improving pronunciation.
7.
Unclear overviews for IELTS writing task 1.
WEST AFRICA EXAMINATION COUNCIL [WAEC]
Students writing WASSCE are increasing yearly in hundreds of thousands. About 42% of these
students manage to make at least 5 credits. Some common mistakes students make are
1.
Poor preparation to exam.
2.
Don’t practicing with past question of atleast last ten [10] years.
3.
Poor timing to the exam hall.
4.
Self-pressure. This is as a result of fear of failure by many.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Poor mind set.
Errors: Some errors like biodata errors during registration another is mistake by oversight
to fill in personal data in answer booklet e.g. exam, paper code.
Cheat
Reading instructions before answering a question and so many others.
CONCLUSION
As a student exams are inevitable. It’s the true test of your labour at a given
time. Making mistakes can’t stop you from achieving success in your exam, rather it will be an
experience to buttress your believe that you can make it. I wrote over 4 the same level exams and
that didn’t break me down, rather it made me stronger, and who I am today. I challenge you to
break your past record by giving more to make it.
Also I recommend you read a book of mine “7 secrets to exam success and all you need to
know”. This will help you more to know how to get goods in any exam. According to Robert
Collier “Success is the sum of small efforts repeated daily”.
REFERENCE PAGE
1.
West Africa Examination Council
Common mistake by students
2.
Pasxcel. Com, articles; IGCSE
3.
Bach mark education solution; TOEFL mistakes from students
4.
Dave; article; common mistake student’s makes in IELTS.
NOTES
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