Combat Worthiness nay Effectiveness

Luv em Hate em but you just can't ignore em. Exams are an irrevoccable facet of our lives. Three years of toil expressed in three mere hours. No amount of reason can help me understand the futility of these much dreaded chores. I am itching to fight reservation, Arjun Singh and also ignorance ala Aamir. But what we really need to fight is this incessant stress on learning by rote, the toil, the hardwork and the perseverance required for a 3 hour performance.

I call it performance - its not a test or for that matter an exam. Its just what we all are slowly becoming adept at - Performance. Its an expression of your work and in that expression your work is measured. Your ranking, your standing amongst your peers is determined more often than not by some nincompoop who can never measure up to you, yet will definitely measure you.

There I go cribbing again. Just can't help it. So these are the loop holes and the onus lies on us as to how well we expose and utilize them. The most important part is fooling the nincompoop who is evaluating us and to that end we must keep some basic points with regards to answering the questions in mind. The cardinal principles of achieving pass class are enumerated below.

1. Never leave a stone unturned. This means that no matter how much you know attempt everything.

2. Test the junior supervisors The young breed of Greenhorn Nincompoops are wonderful to toy with. Guts and gumption combined with skill and common sense can do wonders for your answer sheet.

3. Desktop Publishing This has been my favourite tool to combat the menaces of the first bench. The point worth remembering here is to use a light pencil and to try and keep the scribble covered at all times during the exam hours.

4. Scribble Oh Yes. If you have a penchant for bad handwriting then you have a good chance to get through if you write the main points neatly and scribble the rest in your original handwriting.

5. Diagrams Sad but true. You must remember them. Or publish them on your desktop ofcourse. But its imperative for your healthy scores that this aspect of the three hour chore need not be ignored.

The list goes on. But these are the points that come to mind right now. Of course psyching ourselves for the exams is also important as is the runtime presence of mind. Never losing hope, even if you don't seem to remember the curriculum leave alone the contents, is important. Just interpreting all the questions by their names and elaborating on the same may be enough under most circumstances. Some other day will add some more.