So, last year (2013) I went through this exam called O/Ls (Ordinary Level), if you're in Sri Lanka you would pretty much know what this means. If you aren't, I doubt reading this will be of much interest to you.
Sri Lanka while known for many things is exceptional in the field of having extremely hard examinations with the main intention of messing the student up, forcing the student into trauma, forcing the student to give up on all other things in life and studying for something that they think is going to define their future.
O/Ls, in my opinion is overrated. It's basically a qualification to A/Ls (Advanced Levels) unless your parents have prestige issues involved and wants to scream out to the world that their brilliant young upcoming Einstein has archeived groundbreaking results and have been instantly given scholarships from Oxford University and already has several requests for him to join NASA. If you don't have such parents. Good for you. I'm happy for your life. You can pass O/Ls with the target of whatever you want to do for A/Ls as 80% of the bullshit you learn in O/Ls will be forgotten during your vacation of 4-5 months, never again to be remembered.
Let us get down to how students usually prepare for this exam. Like I said, O/Ls is extremely overrated and overhyped. So most likely if you're in Grade 10/11 you would be sick of hearing your parents, relatives, random freaking strangers who somehow know your grade saying to you "O/Ls is near isn't it? Ready?" This creates an image in the mind of a student that O/Ls is an extremely hard exam that pretty much spells 'Game Over' if you don't pass with flying colours.
Let me tell you as a student who didn't study even 10% of how some students who got 9 A passes (best results) and still got 8 A passes and 1 B pass for Sinhala and trust me, I'm not what you would define as a bright student. (honestly though, screw Sinhala)
If you're a sort of teenager who finds studying all day according to a time table even at home perfectly normal and bearable, please, you're a god or a goddess and you should not be reading this. Please carry on whatever godly act you were doing. But if you're one who find it difficult to stay in one place, focus on something for a very long time simply because hell, you're 15 or 16 and your hormones are running out of whack. You have other things in mind. Friends, social peer groups, Internet, phones, opposite gender friends, boyfriends, girlfriends, crushes whatnot. Honestly, no one should blame you for not being able to concentrate for an extended period of time.
Allow me to say, I didn't work according to a time table. I didn't do my "day to day work", I didn't go a gazillion past papers. What I simply did was, I had the vision of what I wanted in mind. A long term vision. An aim. In Grade 9, last term, I was extremely academically down in studies. So as a new year resolution in Grade 10, I set myself an aim to get 9 A passes in O/Ls. I admit. I couldn't archive this target. But shoot for the moon and you'll at least land on the clouds, right?
So your first thing to do as an O/L student who wants good results in the exam without dedicating your entire life in a sacrificial ritual to O/Ls is to get a proper grasp of what YOU want. Cause it's much easier to achieve what you want rather than archiving what your parents want. Make their want your want.
Next thing, trust me on this one. You can do O/Ls and get extremely good results by cramming. I repeat, you can cram. It's tedious, it'll leave you sweating. But it's not impossible. The thing with cramming is, luck is involved. You might get questions from an area you remember or you might not. If you do, hurray for you. If you don't, tough luck.
What I suggest is not tedious cramming that you leave upto the last few microseconds before the exam. However to execute this method, you'll need to be able to take your term exams in a stride. See, term exams can either make you or break you. In my opinion, term exams play a major role in your confidence level to O/Ls. While many won't have peak confidence levels to O/Ls (unless you're a god/goddess; read above) it could be substantially raised or lowered through your term exam. Imagine you study day in and day out. Hours after hours. Just to end up getting a below-par mark at the term exam. You're effectively broken. "Oh no, I messed up my term exam! O/Ls is much harder than this! Time for me to screw this f*** and become a duck!" this you getting demoralised. The thing is, if you haven't studied enough, if you know you haven't studied enough, you always know there's room for building up. So use your term exams as a stepping stone. You don't have to overstudy, take it easy. If you didn't get enough marks, always remind yourself you didn't give it your 100%, call it making excuses but if it works, hey, anything right? Just make sure you're progressively studying like a normal person by the latter half of Grade 11. Like say... 2 and a half hours a day plus some sums. It's not too difficult ones you learn the paper structures. What you should in the end be targeting to do well is your O/Ls. Using your term exams as stepping stones. Don't let them break you. Try to get them to make you. If you fail, blame it on the fact you weren't prepared. Just remember though, you can't blame the fact that you weren't prepared for O/Ls.
All in all, I firmly believe O/L students are artificially forced to be terrified about their exam by parents, teachers, elders etc. Guys, don't worry. It's not that hard. In fact, it might actually be easier than your term papers. Look at a few past papers. Easier than your term papers, right? Think of it this way. The O/Ls paper should be made according to the knowledge of ALL students in the island, so what are the chances of it being so very extremely difficult? First free your mind from that dark illusion of O/Ls. Don't use up all the juice for O/Ls. Trust me. You need it for A/Ls.
Peace.
Sri Lanka while known for many things is exceptional in the field of having extremely hard examinations with the main intention of messing the student up, forcing the student into trauma, forcing the student to give up on all other things in life and studying for something that they think is going to define their future.
O/Ls, in my opinion is overrated. It's basically a qualification to A/Ls (Advanced Levels) unless your parents have prestige issues involved and wants to scream out to the world that their brilliant young upcoming Einstein has archeived groundbreaking results and have been instantly given scholarships from Oxford University and already has several requests for him to join NASA. If you don't have such parents. Good for you. I'm happy for your life. You can pass O/Ls with the target of whatever you want to do for A/Ls as 80% of the bullshit you learn in O/Ls will be forgotten during your vacation of 4-5 months, never again to be remembered.
Let us get down to how students usually prepare for this exam. Like I said, O/Ls is extremely overrated and overhyped. So most likely if you're in Grade 10/11 you would be sick of hearing your parents, relatives, random freaking strangers who somehow know your grade saying to you "O/Ls is near isn't it? Ready?" This creates an image in the mind of a student that O/Ls is an extremely hard exam that pretty much spells 'Game Over' if you don't pass with flying colours.
Let me tell you as a student who didn't study even 10% of how some students who got 9 A passes (best results) and still got 8 A passes and 1 B pass for Sinhala and trust me, I'm not what you would define as a bright student. (honestly though, screw Sinhala)
If you're a sort of teenager who finds studying all day according to a time table even at home perfectly normal and bearable, please, you're a god or a goddess and you should not be reading this. Please carry on whatever godly act you were doing. But if you're one who find it difficult to stay in one place, focus on something for a very long time simply because hell, you're 15 or 16 and your hormones are running out of whack. You have other things in mind. Friends, social peer groups, Internet, phones, opposite gender friends, boyfriends, girlfriends, crushes whatnot. Honestly, no one should blame you for not being able to concentrate for an extended period of time.
Allow me to say, I didn't work according to a time table. I didn't do my "day to day work", I didn't go a gazillion past papers. What I simply did was, I had the vision of what I wanted in mind. A long term vision. An aim. In Grade 9, last term, I was extremely academically down in studies. So as a new year resolution in Grade 10, I set myself an aim to get 9 A passes in O/Ls. I admit. I couldn't archive this target. But shoot for the moon and you'll at least land on the clouds, right?
So your first thing to do as an O/L student who wants good results in the exam without dedicating your entire life in a sacrificial ritual to O/Ls is to get a proper grasp of what YOU want. Cause it's much easier to achieve what you want rather than archiving what your parents want. Make their want your want.
Next thing, trust me on this one. You can do O/Ls and get extremely good results by cramming. I repeat, you can cram. It's tedious, it'll leave you sweating. But it's not impossible. The thing with cramming is, luck is involved. You might get questions from an area you remember or you might not. If you do, hurray for you. If you don't, tough luck.
What I suggest is not tedious cramming that you leave upto the last few microseconds before the exam. However to execute this method, you'll need to be able to take your term exams in a stride. See, term exams can either make you or break you. In my opinion, term exams play a major role in your confidence level to O/Ls. While many won't have peak confidence levels to O/Ls (unless you're a god/goddess; read above) it could be substantially raised or lowered through your term exam. Imagine you study day in and day out. Hours after hours. Just to end up getting a below-par mark at the term exam. You're effectively broken. "Oh no, I messed up my term exam! O/Ls is much harder than this! Time for me to screw this f*** and become a duck!" this you getting demoralised. The thing is, if you haven't studied enough, if you know you haven't studied enough, you always know there's room for building up. So use your term exams as a stepping stone. You don't have to overstudy, take it easy. If you didn't get enough marks, always remind yourself you didn't give it your 100%, call it making excuses but if it works, hey, anything right? Just make sure you're progressively studying like a normal person by the latter half of Grade 11. Like say... 2 and a half hours a day plus some sums. It's not too difficult ones you learn the paper structures. What you should in the end be targeting to do well is your O/Ls. Using your term exams as stepping stones. Don't let them break you. Try to get them to make you. If you fail, blame it on the fact you weren't prepared. Just remember though, you can't blame the fact that you weren't prepared for O/Ls.
All in all, I firmly believe O/L students are artificially forced to be terrified about their exam by parents, teachers, elders etc. Guys, don't worry. It's not that hard. In fact, it might actually be easier than your term papers. Look at a few past papers. Easier than your term papers, right? Think of it this way. The O/Ls paper should be made according to the knowledge of ALL students in the island, so what are the chances of it being so very extremely difficult? First free your mind from that dark illusion of O/Ls. Don't use up all the juice for O/Ls. Trust me. You need it for A/Ls.
Peace.
