The exam season is about to begin. The next six to seven months will see students going in for various scholastic exams. Starting from November we will have NTSE Stage 1, KVPY, Science Olympiads Stage 1; JSTSE in January; followed by Stage 2 of various Olympiads; Board Exams in first quarter of 2018 and then high stake exams like the JEE Main and JEE Advanced in April and May of 2018 respectively. This is also that time period when all serious aspirants get into revision mode and simultaneously attempt mock test to optimise their performance. Amidst all of these, a point which is largely ignored by a student is “self analysis”.

Writing a mock test is considered as a method by which a student can ascertain their level of preparedness. It forces them to revise well in time and remember important points/formulae. Though it might be true to a certain extent, but the reality is different.

The true essence of appearing in a mock test is to “analyse” one’s own performance and figure out the loop holes, get acclimatised to a particular type of testing framework like many tests are going online, helps to develop efficiency, test taking strategy, exam temperament and body clock adjustment. It has been observed that lot of times when we write a test or an exam we commit mistakes which go unnoticed or it happens so fast and randomly that we fail to recognise it later.

And since it does not get registered in our mind we run the potential of repeating it again in future. A good self analysis is rather the way forward and key to success. It should cover the areas like concept wise tracking, topic wise tracking, marks earned, marks lost and reasons for losing marks. Be practical and realistic and seek experts help at this juncture, if required.

Rate your overall performance in a mock test on a scale of 10 based on your level of satisfaction achieved after the test. By systematically following the points you will start approaching mock tests with a whole new perspective. Your focus will gradually shift to “learning approach” addressing mostly the key learning’s from “mistakes committed” and the same will get automatically factored within your revision plan thus firming up your performance meter in the next mock test.

Here are some of the steps to follow after every mock test:

Remedial measures:

Once you have tracked your concept wise/topic wise status and have identified the loose ends, its time to revisit those portions of the chapter fundamentals & revision notes (if possible seek experts help). This will help to improve your chances of scoring consistently.

Marks earned: Like a batsman’s performance on a given day is analysed by the runs scored from which all direction (on side, off side, long-on etc) similarly by analysing the topics from where you have earned marks allows you to discover the marks distribution factor across topics within a subject. If you find that you have scored more from a specific topic or you have scored more on specific type of questions than you have to be cautious and devise a plan to distribute your dependency (question attempt based risk) across topics. So on a given day irrespective of the question distribution (from various topics) you will end up doing well across topics.

Marks lost:

This will clearly tell you the topics/type of questions that you need to focus on. Analyse the reason for marks lost and practice accordingly to prevent future marks leakage.

Rate your performance:

Verify whether your fresh attempt has improved from your last mock test. An upward swing will give you the much needed confidence for optimised performances in future attempts (mock test or for that matter actual exam). Always strive for a 10 on 10 rating. Lastly attempt as many mock test as possible and synchronise your mock paper attempts such that your output in the last mock paper is at its peak (in terms of performance, exam temperament, body clock adjustment, etc) and the actual exam should appear to you as just another mock drill insulating you from exam related stress to maintain your peak performance level.

Whether you are about to write a competitive or academic exam —key imperatives are to eradicate weaknesses (if not completely then to a very large extent).

Always remember every weakness addressed will translate in to positive outcome, leading to better performance thus improving the chances of moving ahead of competition.

(The writer is centre head, FIITJEE Punjabi Bagh Centre)