5 Reasons For Poor Performance In External Exams

Many Students perform well in Internal Examinations. Some good students in secondary schools and Universities end up scoring low in exams conducted by external bodies.

You can be the best in your class and still fail WAEC, JAMB, SAT, IELTS, TOEFL, etc. Poor performance in External Exams doesn’t mean you aren’t intelligent. It is also not proof that external exams are more difficult.

The Top 5 major reasons students do well in school or internal exams but perform poorly in external exams are lack of preparation, less practice, tension, time factor, and nature of questions.

Lack of Preparations

Most students are familiar with their scheme of work and nature of Questions when it comes to class exams. This makes them well prepared for the internal test.

For external examinations, students perform poorly because they aren’t well prepared. This involves the fact that they aren’t familiar with the syllabus and questions.

To prepare very well for external exams, you must know:

• The nature of the examination
• Nature of questions
• The exam syllabus
• The type of answers expected
• The right study time and materials
• Meet people who can update you.

There are persons who have already written the exams you are preparing for. Meet them for the right information and resources.

You aren’t qualified until you are prepared. Remember, it is what you have in your head that takes you ahead.

Less practice

Practices make you approach perfection. You can’t gain mastery with less practice. Success requires some process.

Understanding the nature of the examinations, questions, exam syllabus, and answers expected by the external examination body is a good way to start.

After the steps above, you must get past questions and practice as many questions as possible. Answer questions without spying.

Keep playing with questions until you are fully comfortable with the nature of exams, questions, and the time allocated.

Exam Tension

Tension is the state of being stretched tight…

Most internal examinations take place in a classroom you are familiar this place. The teachers and supervisors are people you see regularly. This isn’t the case for external exams.

The venue in most external exams is definitely outside your comfort zone. The environment and candidates aren’t what you are used to. This is enough to mount pressure on you.

Tension can make you choose wrong answers for even topics that you are good at. The best solution to this is to relax before your exams, keep calm during the exam and understand that what you are afraid of is also afraid of you.

Time Factor

Time is one of the most precious resources in examinations…

Time is a major factor that differentiates external and internal examinations. For most internal exams, you have more time. For external exams, you have lesser time and more questions to attempt.

Since many candidates aren’t used to answering questions in seconds, it will be difficult for them to do well in external exams. You must learn to attempt questions so fast. Get past questions and learn to work with the time given.

If you can’t answer questions at the speed of light, try to do so at least with the speed of sound. Otherwise, you will be able to attempt lesser than the number of questions you would normally attempt.

Topics And Questions

Topics can differ in nature and complexity…

Topics and the nature of questions in external exams can vary with what you are used to. Some external exams require new topics entirely or a separate part of the topic you already offer.

Your best bet is to know where to study. Here, the syllabus for the exam will be more helpful than past questions.

In mathematics, your scheme may end in finding the inverse of 2×2 matrices. An external examination may require 3×3 matrices. Solving 3×3 matrices won’t be a big problem if you already understand 2×2. The only big problem is when you don’t know that 3×3 matrice is required.

The scenario above goes for Chemistry, Physics, Commerce, Government, Literature, Chemistry, Accounting, SAT, JAMB, SAT, IELTS, and other exams and subjects.

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