Its again exam time, many of you are busy with preparation and still, some are busy planning to start up their studies. After being in association with professional institutes in different engagements and watching the performance of students very closely, I thought of sharing some important points which every student should adopt and practice in order to be successful in professional exams. As a trainer. I have interacted with around 1600 students and have found that most of the students feel that they lack proper guidance and support which has resulted in their failures. So, I thought of giving some hints and suggestions based on my assessment of the performance of students in various professional exams and after having close interactions with them on various issues relating to their approach towards exams.
For the purpose of benefiting students to maximum extent, I thought of expressing my thoughts under three important areas which are -
- Mind Setting /Mapping
- My experience with Professional Institutes
- How to pass exams without tears?
Let me now start sharing with you few important points on the first area which is the subject matter on which this article is based on “ MIND SETTING OR MAPPING MIND”
If you try to find out the mystery of how the mind is created it really looks amazing and interesting. God has created the human being with predefined physical structure, he gave us two legs, two eyes, two ears etc and it fulfills our bare minimum required for our existence. When it comes to mind, he designed the chip and connected all the circuits through nerves and did not program it and he gave full liberty and freedom for human beings to program it according to whims and fancy. This is wonderful gift what he has given us and for which we need to thank him always. The mind is at our sole discretion to use and it is our responsibility and duty to program or tune it properly. If you are programming it with a lot of infected virus and feeding with unnecessary information, then it will be you who need to suffer and need to take up blame for doing so.
Mind, as we know, is the repository or storehouse of all our action, vision, thoughts, performance etc. It is very important that we develop a healthy mind in order to become successful and so in this regard, we need to understand some basic things about our mind. The human brain is divided into two parts, right and left. Right brain stores information and messages relating to Emotions, Expression, Music, and Dance, Visual memory, religion and spirituality. Our Left brain does some important functions like thinking, creative, analytical, mathematics, science and technology and observations. So, as a student of professional exams, it is important that we should concentrate more on developing right brain.
As per the study conducted, in India, more than 70% students have the Average IQ i.e between 85-115 and only 15% have above Average IQ which is >116. There are various reasons for these and almost 95% of the reasons for this is well within our control and if each one of us put a wholehearted efforts then we can definitely achieve it.
Some of the common belief which most of the students face is listed below –
1. Underestimation of one’s ability
Most of the students with whom I interact have this problem in common. Even though, they are strong physically and mentally still they lack confidence because they underestimate themselves and fee that they can’t do it. Most of them have developed an inferiority complex. They always feel that they can’t clear because it is very tough, they start comparing other friends and they let themselves down by developing inferiority. This is the biggest enemy and will result in ruing the entire career. So, every one of us has our own strength we need to excavate it until that time you will not realize that everything is possible for you. I would like to share here one good example of Lord Hanuman. When Laxman becomes unconscious in war and the sage instructs to bring Sanjivini herbs from Himalaya to save Laxman, everyone including Lord Ram and Lord Hanuman thinks it to be a difficult task to go to Himalaya and bring that herb within a short span of time. But, after a lot of thinking and analysis, they find that Lord Hanuman is the right person who can accomplish the task. Until that time even Hanuman could not realize that he has that capability and energy to do it. Similarly, every one of us has the capacity and each one of us is competitive enough to face challenges, only thing is that we don’t know our strengths. So, try to search strength in yourselves, do some introspection then definitely you find the power in you getting activated and charged.
2. Negative Thinking and Negative Approach
This is the second worst thing which many student posses. Most of the students always think in Negative terms. They always get their morale let down by assuming things which are not true. Due to some bad experience or faulty decisions, they might have suffered defeat but, it doesn’t always hold good. You need to cultivate the habit of seeing right things in right way. Don’t go by the statistics of results or don’t lend your ears to unwarranted discussions about the exams. Be always positive, and take the exams with full-hearted courage. Negative thinking will harm your mind and will send wrong signals to your conscious and subconscious mind with again effects your performance and approach towards exams.
3. Accept what you are
Please never ever compare yourself to others. You need to accept as you are, whatever you might be, black or white complexion, fat or lean, pass class, first class, distinction or rank holder etc.. It is important from the point of setting our mind that we all should accept what we are and how we are born. Don’t always compare yourselves to other and let your morale down. You need to accept what you are and should work backward to find out your strengths and weakness. Exams are conducted to test our understanding and knowledge of the subjects and it is nothing to do with whether I am thin, fat, rich, poor, my past academic qualification etc. I know many instances wherein an average and poor performing students in graduation has completed the professional exams in a single attempt and the student with distinction in masters levels was not successful in completing the professional exams. So, be firm and remove it from the mind that only person with good IQ, university toppers or distinction students only complete professional exams and it is not possible for average students.
4. Attractions and Distractions
Many students whom I meet regularly face one or the issue which distracts and attracts their mind due to which they are not able to concentrate on studies. Almost 95% of students who write professional exams will be in the age group of 21 to 30 years. This is the age wherein mind gets attracted to a lot of things. It is an age, where some of the students prefer taking up job, for some of the family responsibility, for others, they are confused what to do, still, some of them take life lightly and spend the majority of the time by travelling, watching movies, jolly rides, dating etc. But, apart from all these many students forget that it is the most important period in life to complete studies and get settled in life. Ones you become qualified, you will be placed in a much good position wherein you can still enjoy life better than what you are enjoying, So, friends don’t waste time and age, both are something which cannot be purchased in the market, if we lose them we will not get back. There is no other substitute for time and age. Set some limitations to such attractions, be firm in mind that you will put a hold on all those things for a short span, say 2 years and concentrate on studies and complete the exams. As we grow older and older our commitment increases and we start losing interest in studies. Always think of people like Dr. Abdul Kalam, they also have 24 hours in a day and we also have 24 hours in a day. See how best they utilized their time and see how we are planning and using each hour in a day. There will be distractions also in life, some bad things may come up in life take it as a challenge and don’t let your vision faint. You should be just like Arjuna. As we know Arjuna was the greatest archer and in his childhood days when his guru Dronacharya used to teach him the skill of archery, he used to ask his pupils to target the fruit on the top of the tree and before targeting the fruit he used to ask his pupil what they were seeing. Most of the pupil replied that they use to see the tree, some used to see flower, some saw leaves, some saw birds on the tree etc but, when the same question was asked to Arjuna, he used to reply that except fruit he is not able to see anything else. So, you also should develop such skill, your focus should be to get qualified, whatever may come in life. Your goal should be to complete the exams.
5. Clean your Mind from infected thoughts
Most of the students, who are working, might have seen in your office that there is a virus scan, data dump, data backup and disk clean up which will be done at regular intervals to secure your computers from the virus, corrupted files, etc. Similarly, on day to day basis before going to sleep, run a scan on your mind and remove all the infected and bad thoughts from your mind and provide more and more space for good and healthy thoughts. When we can spend so much time and money to clean up the computers (which do not have common sense) at regular intervals without fail, why can’t we do it to our mind which has common sense? Practice some simple yoga, meditation techniques and clean your mind at regular intervals and use the free space for storing more and more valuable thoughts. See the change; you will be amazed at the results. Then you feel, there is nothing in this world which is impossible to achieve by a common man.
6. Disappointment, Depression and Death wishes
Majority of the students who are unsuccessful in the exams becomes disappointed and they see that there is no road ahead forward. Most of my friends cleared but, I was not successful so slowly depression creeps in and there is a fear that you are useless and you are let out alone in this world and the end result is thought of ending life. This is not the way you should visualize life, see disappointment is certain when we fail but, it should be taken in a positive spirit. It should be taken as a challenge and you need to look for opportunity, if it is not professional exams then think of other courses, try to complete it first then you get some more confidence and then give a try for your profession exams, this time it will be success definitely. Remember the poem which each one of us have studied in our school days “King Bruce and the Spider”, how King Bruce who becomes frustrated facing defeat in the hands of enemies goes and hides in a cave and there he sees a Spider struggling to build its web after attempting for many times and finally when spider succeeds in building its web after putting continues and dedicated efforts, King Bruce gains confidence by seeing spider and becomes successful in driving out enemies from Scotland. “Failures are the stepping stone of Success”.
So, don’t worry practice some simple meditation techniques, charge your mind with good thoughts and eat good food keep your mind and body healthy. You will see the results and then feel that these exams are nothing for you.
In my next article, I will talk about My Experience in Professional Institute, where I will be discussing what are the common mistakes students make in answer papers, what institutes expect out of students etc. Kindly, post your valuable comments, issues etc. as a reply to this article so that I can make an attempt to address it in my next article.
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