How to Prepare for Your Upcoming Board Exams

Since my last post last February, I laid low in my internet presence to focus on preparing for my board exams. After a successful feat and months of much-needed rest, I am now back to tell you how I did it with the hopes that this could be useful to you too.

I would like to identify myself with the average group of students who weren’t born geniuses but are still smart nonetheless. I wasn’t born the smartest right out of my mother’s womb. However, even at a young age, I was always encouraged to give my best in all my scholastic endeavors – whether it be in simple quizzes in class down to quiz bees representing my school. I spent more time with my face buried in books than going out to party with friends. The life I led back in college was pretty much boring and I had the usual home-school-library-home routine. When I do come out of the house, I spend time with my friends and classmates in coffee shops doing some school work. If I’d be really lucky and active, then the times I would be out are spent for extra-curricular activities organized by the school organizations where I am a member. It sounds boring but it felt like I just had the right amount of school-life balance.

If you don’t already know, I am a graduate of chemical engineering from one of the top universities in the Philippines. The program was challenging enough that I told myself never again to fall into its tracks. The moment I graduated from the program was the moment I told myself that this would be the last time I could see about chemical engineering. But boy was I wrong. The journey wasn’t finished yet. After all those years of intellectual and mental struggles, another chapter lies ahead – the board exams.

I may not have landed a spot on my exam’s Top 10 list but I got a fairly above average rating. I finished all my college obligations October of 2016 and enrolled for review classes December of the same year. I took the licensure exams in May of 2017 and only had 3 weeks of rigid and serious review (The other weeks were not so focused). Here are some tips on how to prepare for the big exam day:

• Start with your goal in mind.

  It all starts with acceptance of the inevitable. To be honest, I struggled with this part the most. I spent most of my review preparation in denial that is why I could only claim that I had 3 weeks worth of serious review. I thought I did not really need the license and that I would be totally okay without it even if my friends and peers had their own. I procrastinated as long as I could because I was not ready to face my weaknesses again and somehow I was afraid that I would feel how incompetent I am in this field. And this is where I got it all wrong. Seeing how aimless I was, my ever wise brother told me:

“You can always delay when to take the exam. But you can never escape from the reality that the time will come that you must eventually take it.”

These words woke me up and made me realize that there was no point in delaying it any longer. If I was going to do it anyway, I better start it right away so that I could finish fast. This is what I mean by accepting the inevitable. Once you have accepted that there is no escape, you would not have any choice than to start right away. With this mindset, I began my review journey with the goal that I would not need to retake the exam again because I would pass in my first take.

Whether it be in engineering or any field, my first advice for any exam taker would be to define your goal. Why do you have to take the exam? What is in it for you? For my case, I wanted to get my engineering license so that I could legally practice my profession and be able to reap the benefits of being a licensed engineer in the field.

BOTTOM LINE:

“Set your goals first. Your strategic efforts should be geared towards realizing those goals.” 

• Trust what you have already learned.

I do not mean to discredit any review centers. I even enrolled to one myself. But for this helpful tip, what you have already learned for your 4-5 years or so in college is more valuable than what you learned in review centers. There’s no use in focusing too much on review questions since these are not guaranteed to come out in your actual exam questionnaires. Instead, use these review materials for practice in simulating the exam environment.

Do not forget the years you’ve spent to get that degree. Certainly, you have come to learn some things during those years. You just have to remember them.

Although most of us just study for exams and then forget them right away after the said exam, our brains are so powerful that it retains the information we have loaded into our brains. It just needs a bit of time to remember and relearn these things. It is better to relearn these things than to start from scratch with only relying on what is taught in the review. During this time, be patient with yourself. I, too, had a lot of frustrating instances wherein I knew I had already learned this technique earlier in college but somehow could no longer apply it now that I have graduated. I spent some time going back to my previous notes and solution notebooks to refresh my memory.

My point is you were the one who earned that degree. Without you really knowing it, you have already started your review preparations the moment you attended your first class in college. Do not let all those hard-earned grades go down the drain. Depending on how you were in college, your preparations for the examination also varies. If you were a bit lax, now is the time to double time to cover the points you were weak at. If you were very diligent, then now would be your time to really internalize all those learnings.

Assess your learnings first. It might help taking a pre-test to know where you stand with your current stocked knowledge. Analyze your results and identify your strong and weak points. Then, create a strategy on how to make the most of your time left before the exam to reinforce your strengths and work on your weaknesses. For my case, I already know that I was not really good in my core subjects specifically those that tackle unit operations based solely on my college grades. But I knew I had a very good foundation on general engineering principles and relatively above average performance in my physical and chemical principles. My strategy was to work on my strengths first. By doing so, I have already buried them deep in my mind so that by the time exam day comes, it would already be easier for me to solve problems because I have a strong grip on the concepts and topics already. I then worked on improving my physical and chemical principles by really going back to my reference books. I worked on building up my knowledge on theories and concepts so that I could get a better picture of the topics. When I re-read my reference books, some concepts that seemed so trivial to me before actually made more sense to me now that I have read them again. I also made use of my review materials to continuously check on my progress on certain topics. It really helped that I had a topic outline of the different subjects on my 3-day exams from our program syllabus available on the PRC website. This was my basis for progress tracking and knowing which areas to focus more. Although I was relatively weak on the chemical engineering principles topic, I decided to make it my last priority because I did not want to feel incompetent. I wanted to focus on where I was good at so that I could get a bigger score there. Nevertheless, my preparations for this weak spot was more on going to group study sessions. I asked help from my classmates who were smarter than me in this area in understanding the topics and attacking different styles of problem-solving. On top of that, I also spent time reading summarized versions of the principles involved. I did not delve into it much deeper because I wanted to be secured with the very basic principles. I did not want to confuse myself with topics I could not understand. I made it sure that I had the basic principles covered so that I could get a score that would pass. I also made it the last topic to cover so that when the exam time comes, these ideas are the freshest in my mind. I spent more of my time preparing for the subjects I was strong at so that I could get higher scores that could compensate for my passing rate in my weak subject. Of course, you can choose how you could strategize with how you want to address your strengths and weaknesses after assessing them.

BOTTOM LINE: 

• Just know that it is not working hard that results to success; rather, it is through strategic effort and working smart.
• Your review preparation actually starts on the day you entered college. The knowledge you learned over time is more valuable because it stayed in your mind longer.  

• Don’t cram your brain with too much information.

The exams you will be taking soon are not designed for getting perfect scores. In fact, the exam results become questionable when people get perfect ratings. With that being said, you do not need to know everything. You just have to know enough to decipher the correct answer. There are actually a lot of strategies when answering board exams, the ones that I used and enjoyed using was the reverse engineering technique and elimination technique. The reverse engineering technique makes use of the given choices to identify the correct answer. One might not know how to solve it but knowledge of the equation involved in the problem and given the choices could help you narrow down your options. It is also proven to save a lot of time for those problems that require lengthy solutions. For a time-pressured exam, this technique is best to use for questions that are related wherein the answer of the first question is directly related to the second one. This technique also relies on the fact that there is always one right answer to every question. I use the elimination technique primarily for conceptual questions. Because part of my strategy is understanding the concepts from books, I tend to get an idea of what each choice would mean. Based on this knowledge, I eliminate the options that are not related to the question and narrow down my options. Usually, this technique allows me to narrow down my option to two increasing my probability of getting the correct answer. (Do you have other techniques you use in your exams? Let me know in the comments section below.)

This particular tip is something I learned from my own mistake. I, for one, tried to cram a lot of information in my mind because we were told that there were a lot of trivia questions. And I figured that getting these trivia questions right are already some good points without really the need of solving anything so might as well cram a lot of these trivia questions. But as you might have guessed, it didn’t work out for me. It actually just made me panic because it made me realize how little I know still. Before it blew to a disruptive panic session, I calmed myself and focused on the area that I could control. I figured that for sure there are questions in the exam that are not meant to be answered by the majority and are only designed for those who actually know of it and those who are lucky enough to choose the right letter to shade. If these questions are present, then there are also those that can actually be answered through principles and techniques taught in class. I decided to focus on these questions as these were most probably the ones that would come out. If there were any trivia questions, then I would have to rely purely on grace that I would shade the correct letter.

BOTTOM LINE: 

• Focus on the area you can control. Do not waste your energy in trying to memorize things that would just lead you to more panic. (These things occupy memory space and might not even come out in your exams)
• But when you have the time, read more references as this could help you prepare for these trivia questions. 

• Be physically healthy.

This was really one aspect that I entirely took for granted. I did not have a lot of time to prepare because I frequently got sick. If I wasn’t having a migraine, I was having stomach pains. My waste disposal system was not helping too. I also got sick easily to the point that if I had a friend who had colds and cough, the following day I get colds and cough too. I was feverish most of the time that’s why I did not have enough endurance on my reading and problem-solving sessions. I was also absent in review classes most of the times so I had to triple time to catch up to those things I missed.

If I could go back, I would have exercised more and take my diet more seriously. I would also get some good rest rather than burning midnight candles for my sudden study urges.

BOTTOM LINE:

When preparing for the exams, it is not only about preparing your mind but also about protecting and keeping your mind holder (your body) prepared too. 

• Pray and meditate.

This might be the last tip I could give you but certainly, it is not the least. Some people say that the exam alone is a mental exercise. But as I have already mentioned and proved through personal experience above, it is not just a mental exercise but also in some sense a physical exercise and a spiritual exercise as well. I am no mental health expert but in times of ultimate sadness and hopelessness and sometimes to the point of having mental breakdowns during my college years, it was my faith that saved me. This is why I believe that prayers and meditation go a long way to keeping your sanity in this whole preparation.

I would be perfectly honest with you. There were a lot of instances wherein I was really tired to the point that I just did not want to do anything anymore. I had enough of chemical engineering that re-learning things did not matter to me. I was ready to give it all up and just be a failure like I was destined to be. As days were approaching faster towards the exam day, I was not getting anywhere with my review. I felt like I still had a lot of things that I did not know. I lost hope that I could reach my goal. Just before all those hopes were lost, my mother introduced me to some prayers that were written for people who were anxious for upcoming exams. I was hesitant at first but eventually gave those prayers a try. During my first prayer and meditation session, I shed some tears overwhelmed by the feeling of security and faith in my conversation with my Creator. I recited those prayers by heart every morning when I wake up and just before I sleep. I also attended mass regularly and also went to attend several times the Sacrament of Reconciliation. I also found comfort with my peer group knowing that I was not alone in feeling all the anxiety. Slowly I learned how to let go and let God do the rest.

Just before all those hopes were lost, my mother introduced me to some prayers that were written for people who were anxious for upcoming exams. I was hesitant at first but eventually gave those prayers a try. During my first prayer and meditation session, I shed some tears overwhelmed by the feeling of security and faith in my conversation with my Creator. I recited those prayers by heart every morning when I wake up and just before I sleep. I also attended mass regularly and also went to attend several times the Sacrament of Reconciliation. By the end of a study session, I spend some time to meditate and reflect on God’s Word. I also found comfort with my peer group knowing that I was not alone in feeling all the anxiety. Slowly I learned how to let go and let God do the rest.

I prayed for peace of mind so that I may be able to remember the things I have studied and that may these things that I have studied be the content of the questions in my exam. I also prayed that after all these may any disappoint be born with grace and any joy be accompanied with humility. At times when anxiety and despair took over, I hold on to my faith and prayed.

BOTTOM LINE:

Prayer does not give the correct answers to the exam. Instead, it calms you and gives you peace of mind so that you could think correctly during the exam. 

I succeeded in this yet another journey. But I did not do it alone. I rallied with my friends, with my family, and with my Creator. I owe this success to them. I hope you like this lengthy yet heartfelt post. Let me know in the comments section what you think and what other topics you want me to talk about. Until the next!