Tuesday, August 30, 2011

SMART Way for Test Preparation

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Small loans are designed to provide quick and instant monetary relief. The loans are made available to you against viable terms and conditions. Even applicants having severe credit problems can attain the funds, without much of a hassle.The project management world swears by "SMART" goals for success. The whole point of setting goals is to achieve them. If the goals are unrealistic, unclear or unrelated to the final mission achieving them becomes hard and often demotivating. SMART goals are "Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant Time-bound". As the expansion of the acronym suggests SMART goals are easier to work towards and guarantee success.

Why need SMART for test preparation

Most students know that they want to do well in the test they plan to take and get a good rank. They jump into preparation with just that and often times get back to square one. Some students get to make a study plan but following that is a herculean task. Days in the beginning pass by idling around and when crunch time preparation goes for a toss because of the panic it creates.

Sure competition is too much and exams get harder each year. Students need to get smart about their preparation and know how to make the best use of their time. Believe that you do not have to ace each and every concept and you do not have to practice each and every question. You need to do just enough for any given.

I mention below ways for finding out the "just enough" and preparing your goals around that.

How to prepare SMART goals for test preparation

My ideas will apply to most tests but are written below keeping in mind IIT-JEE, AIPMT, NTSE, CAT and other major engineering and medical entrance exams.

Goal #1 - Decide your desired rank/marks/percentile

Believe it or not most students do not put much thought into it. You should not prepare like you need rank #1 if that is not what your goal is. Start with a desired college and check out what rank is required to receive a counseling call from that college.

This is a SMART goal help you chalk out a reasonable preparation plan and fairly decent chance of success.

Goal #2 - Know your start line

Your next goal should be to know where you stand currently and what is important from exam standpoint. The idea here is to have a sheet with all the chapters in the exam syllabus listed. Here are some tips to build this list

List down chapters in the order of importance in exam (not important chapters at the very bottom)Next to each chapter make a mark on whether this is your strong area or weak areaNext to each chapter make a note on how many questions you have practiced and how many % marks you got so far

Study planners are a good tool to do all this. You can take a diagnostic test to find out where you stand currently. A diagnostic test is a specially designed test which assesses your problem solving abilities from concept standpoint. Online tools are a good way to manage all of this information.

Your goal should be to finish it in the week you start your preparation.

Goal #3 - Know your finish line

As important it is to know your start line, it is important to know your finish line as well. Students who love certain chapters tend to practice more those because it gives them more confidence and tougher ones are eluded. But that is not how the battle is won you need an all around preparation. That is why you decide the finish line in beginning of your preparation stretch.

This includes:

Final strike rate you are expecting on each chapter (how of every 10 questions do you attempt correctly)Final average on solving a question you are expecting. Believe me, once you have this decided you should leave any question in the exam that is taking longer than this.Number of days before the exam you want to start on full length timed tests.Number of full length tests you want to finish.Number of previous year questions on each chapter you want to finish.

Time span to achieve this goal is within two weeks of starting your preparation

Goal #4 - Practice and Analyse Weekly

And, this is where most people drop off. And this is where is most important to make a SMART goal so you get a sense of satisfaction of achieving it. And don't forget to congratulate yourself when you do what you planned for. Keep all the plans in terms of practicing questions only and make your chapter reading based on those. This is the KISS (Keep It Simple and Straightforward) approach.

About the plan (Time: 1 Week):

Plan should include the chapter you will study this week and number of questions, be Specific.Take into account any event planned in the week so that your goal is achievable. It is easy to get pumped up and make huge goals and then end the week with frustration.In the plan include the strike rate targeted for this week. Start with first 10 questions and see the strike rate, then analyze your mistakes and try to improve them in next set. This makes the goal result oriented.

Analysis happens after every test and at the end of the week. Analysis is important for deciding next week's goals. On month end, evaluation of current performance with respect to the final goal should be done in order to keep the bigger picture in view and making plans for coming weeks. One major point in month end evaluation is how far you are from your finish line. Let that decide your future plans.

Online tools for practice and benchmarking and performance tracking can ease a lot of pressure from housekeeping tasks planning and analysis mentioned above.

Nothing can be SMARTer than that!

SimplyLearnt.com has an intelligent brain that plans and tracks SMART goals for students preparing for various tests. The only thing a student needs to do is log in regularly, practice and keep an eye on suggestions by SimplyLearnt.com.

Simplylearnt.com provides plan and practice material for various entrance exams like IIT-JEE, AIPMT, NTSE, AIEEE, AIIMS, CAT etc.. The practice material is so intelligent that a student need not prepare previously before solving a test and all the help is available just-in-time.


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