How to Crack Competitive Exams

Table of Contents

Introduction

It has been realized that how to crack competitive exams define the future destiny of a candidate in as much as getting into a university, seeking a job in a government organization or even an assessment for certification. Due to the increase in the number of aspirants who want to join any of these fields and the limited vacancies available for these courses, it becomes dicey to make the grade when writing these exams. As such, an incumbent needs to have a good academic background, good health, and good strategic sense. The purpose of this guide is to equip you with all the information that you require to prepare for the exams including how to prepare for the exams, how to study, and what items to take with you on the day of the exams among other things. So by following these tips you have the highest chance of success and will help to stand out from the crowd.

Chapter 1: The Nature of Competitive Exams

To begin with, let us enlighten ourselves on the kind of preparation required for competitive examinations as far as the structure of the exams is concerned. These tests are set to assess a candidate’s ability, knowledge and skills in problem-solving exercises that are done under time-bound constraints. Huge numbers are often based on multiple-choice questions (MCQs) subjective-type questions or a hybrid of the two. One needs to know the type of exam that he or she is preparing for will dictate the preparation plan, methodology or approach to take.

Get to Know the Structure of Your Exam: Competitive exams are ultimate examinations which have their pattern of toughness level. It is important to know the number of sections, the types of questions and the number of marks that have been allocated to each section. For example, you have tests such as GRE, GMAT, UPSC, and CAT where the patterns are not the same. Go through each exam syllabi and the previous year’s papers to determine in detail which topics are covered regularly.
Understand About the Weightage of Topics: Each part or section in the learning has its importance measured in terms of the weightage of the topic. The majority should be accorded to the well-performed areas while also making sure one covers all the areas of study. One can easily tell which sections there are that have been given more marks and therefore know where to focus more.
Understand the Competition: It is also necessary to evaluate the measures of competition you are facing in the market. Lakhs of students take up exams which are civil services or medical and engineering entrances etc, but only a few thousand pass through. That is something that should make you strive more to excel by beating the rest of the competitors.

Chapter 2: Planning Your Preparation for How to Crack Competitive Exams

Preparation in an academic setting implies proper planning as well as an approach that a student can follow systematically. Having a good plan in place will ensure that you can do a thorough coverage of the syllabi as well as conduct your revision systematically.

Make a study plan: Good timetable is a basic prerequisite for good academic performance. Relate the topics or subjects covered with time and ensure that each is assigned a particular timetable. Ensure that you set achievable targets for the activities to be accomplished in a day, a week and a month. That is why it is said that having a routine is important in the long-term goal of preparation since consistency is produced.
Set Specific Goals: There should be defined objectives that should be specific and measurable when preparing for exams. Divide objective goals (i.e., to crack the exam) into specific micro-success factors which are achievable within 24 hours (i.e., to solve at least 20 questions in quantitative reasoning). It is good to set small goals which will motivate you as well as keep you on the right path.
Pupil to pupil Weak areas are addressed and thus should be taken more time than the stronger areas: One must always be aware of one’s strong and weak points to perform a task. Devote more time to what you have the most problems with or what leads to your difficulty and review well what you understand most, each. This is an added advantage of the balanced approach to avoid a situation where some aspects of the syllabus are not taught.
The Pomodoro Technique: To avoid burning out while studying, it is necessary to organize the time by engaging in a technique called the Pomodoro Technique where one studies in 25-minute intervals before taking a short break. You can change the timing depending on your working capacity but make sure that is enough to take the breaks in between.

Chapter 3: Effective Study Techniques: How to Crack Competitive Exams

Not only the time which is spent on learning but also the methods chosen play a significant role. Appropriate learning styles play a very important part in improving one’s ability to learn and remember.

Active Learning and Passive Learning: It also becomes evident that passive learning methods which means going through texts and reading through textbooks and the like are not as effective as active learning techniques such as solving several problems, drawing a mind map or explaining a concept to another person. Sofa involves the use of material by summing up key points, developing and subsequently trying questions as well as principally recalling information.
Spaced Repetition: Space your learning to ensure that you gain the most from your learning and increase your ability to recall information in the long run. Revise the material with time gaps which will increase progressively (daily, weekly, monthly). This technique proves useful in cementing knowledge and to avoid the possibility of amnesia.
Practice Mock Tests: Mock tests mimic the actual test and enable you to determine your level of preparedness. Sitting these exams will also assist in testing the time management skills apart from testing one on their weak areas. Taking mock tests daily helps one to develop an exam temperament and minimize the level of anxiety.
Mind Mapping and Flash Cards: Some of the useful learning aids include; mind maps and flashcards which are useful when dealing with material that has many interrelated areas. For formulae or vocabulary, as in this case, then the use of flashcards is quite convenient in the sense that revision is fast. Such an approach as mind maps was used to represent relationships between different topics and deepen the understanding of them.

Chapter 4: Building Exam-Day Stamina: How to Crack Competitive Exams

Standard examinations are lengthy and hectic processes both mentally and physically at times Competitive examinations also come in this category. There is, therefore, the need to be well-built regarding stamina and concentration during the exam.

Practice Time Management: Management of time when answering questions is usually a make or mar issue, especially during an exam. Take as many sample questions and solve them under time examination conditions and make sure you spend much time on each section. It is always advisable to first try to answer the easy parts to earn some marks before one starts struggling with other hard questions.
Avoid Over-Studying the Day Before: This calls for constant revision but do not cram up to the time when you are preparing for a test the following day. Examining too much can cause the brain to get tired and this may not be good news when it is exam time. Use it for fine-tuning, quick note recall, or doing several practice questions to refresh your brain.
Prepare for Physical Endurance: Exams can take several hours in some forms of tests, therefore one has to be strong physically. It is recommended to come for the exam well-rested and well-hydrated. As such, mimic exam conditions by practising sitting in one station for a long time during mock tests.
Emphasis on Mental Health: One has to avoid stressing during the test as much as possible. Use deep breathing, meditation or visualization in the week before the exam in an attempt to reduce stress. One way that it can be controlled is that stress on the day of the exam must be dealt with effectively; this is because the stress is likely to affect the concentration of the students and also cause a hasty decision-making process among students.

Chapter 5: Overcoming Exam Anxiety: How to Crack Competitive Exams

Everyone knows the feeling of being nervous before a competitive exam, however, it is dangerous to feel nervous to an extent that will hinder one’s performance. This is why learning the ways of handling stress is among the things that are important in your preparation.

Mental Health Management and Recovery: During the preparation phase, it would be useful to practice mindfulness exercises like counting to four while breathing in and out closing your eyes and repeating a meditation phrase you have chosen to yourself. Doing a 10-minute meditation before a test can help one focus and decrease stress levels.
Visualize Success: Visualization be used to combat this fear because they work positively towards this direction. Take time, each day, and picture yourself being in the exam and answering questions correctly as you wish the best for yourself. Optimistic visualization strengthens self-confidence and puts your mind in the right frame for the examination.
Avoid Negative Self-Talk: Pay attention to what you’re telling yourself in your mind. Pessimistic things like “I can’t do this” or “I’ll never pass” have the potential to bring your motivation down and get you discouraged. Replace them with Positive Statements such as ‘I am ready or I will try my best.
Seek Support: It is possible to speak to friends and relatives or a tutor if the student feels stressed. Indeed, it is always better to share difficulties and worries as it helps to reduce stress. That is why you can also engage in study groups or forums where the problems and their solutions can be discussed with counterparts.

Chapter 6: Strengthening Your Foundation: How to Crack Competitive Exams

This is the reason why competitive exams are important as they challenge your basics. Whether it is arithmetic knowledge or language ability or trivia questions and answers you have got to know your basics well.

Master Basic Concepts: As such it became apparent to me that for one to be able to solve complex problems, one needs to have a proper foundation of basic concepts. Devote a lot of time to refining one’s understanding of the basic concepts in each field. This means although some areas may seem very straightforward and you can automatically go through them do so only after making sure you understand them fully.
Practice on Basic Skills: If it is important to have preparation for the tests like GRE or SAT, it is imperative to assess and work on the core competencies of tests, which include reading comprehension tests, analytical reasoning tests, data interpretation tests, etc. One should be involved in practice reading different texts, solving puzzles, and working with data sets to enhance these skills.
Improve Speed and Accuracy: Many a time, the construction of competitive exams involves setting up a large number of questions in a limited amount of time. Thus it is paramount to increase the speed of executing the work while maintaining the accuracy of the work. During practice sessions, it is recommended to practice mental calculations and check the amount of time required to complete a particular math problem.

Chapter 7: Leveraging Technology for Exam Preparation

In particular, readers will discover that technology can be useful when preparing for competitive exams. Here, with the samples of online resources and digital tools, you will be able to increase the effectiveness of the study and gain more knowledge from the Internet.

Use Video seminars and Tutorials: At present, there is virtually no dearth of course and video tutorials as well as online study materials to help one prepare for competitive exams. Khan Academy, Coursera and Udemy are websites that provide preparation for intended exams through offering specialized courses.
Use Apps that are Relevant to Preparing for an Exam: There are many available apps for exam preparation which provide the feature of mock tests, quizzes, flashcards etc. There are various apps such as GradeUp, Testbook, and Unacademy wherein aspirants can find selected study material as well as practice questions for different competitive exams.
To this join online study groups: These include social media groups and groups formed in discussion forums for the sharing of doubts and study materials among the members. Membership in these communities can encourage you and help in the preparation process most of the time.
Watch YouTube Tutorials: YouTube is quite valuable for people who prefer videos and other forms of visual information to text. Some educators post their videos and give additional explanations for the tasks and problems which can be challenging. The channels that are focused on competitive exams give information about mock tests, their analysis and special tips and tricks to increase the score.

Chapter 8: Revising Strategically

Revision is an integral part of exam time and how one revises is going to affect one’s performance. Strategic revision helps you to avoid the regret of getting overwhelmed whilst at the same time you’re reinforcing your knowledge in the right areas.

Review Important Topics often: If some concepts and formulas are important in the exam, then it would be wise to go over them from time to time. Study in a way that is suited to each section with special emphasis on those sections that frequently appear in the exams and are more vital than others.
Create Summary Notes: Taking summary notes also assists in the reduction of big details to manageable and easier details. This kind of note is useful in making quick revisions and for review at the last moment. Summarizing also helps with memory recall and comprehension of several important points.
Pass on what you have learnt: It is thus quite effective to try and explain a particular concept to another person as a way of enhancing reinforcement of the particular concept gained. This signifies that wherever you are capable of making someone learn something then you must have understood it in its fullest sense. You can use study groups, or even explain it to yourself to improve memory.
Prioritize Weak Areas in Revision: One can be so used to revising topics that they are familiar with and this is wrong because better results are achieved when weak areas are given the most priority during revision. Spend more time on areas that you need time to understand to ensure that students have equal preparation time.

Chapter 9: Exam Day Strategies: How to Crack Competitive Exams

The final phase of the preparation is during the examination day when all you do is to sit for the exams. This day is not an exception since how one schedules his/her time and how he/she tackles stress will determine his/her performance.

Get a Good Night’s Sleep: Being refreshed makes one to be more productive in their activities. It is very important not to pull an all-nighter the day before the exam and try to have some rest, at least 7-8 hours. Having a new brain means that you will be able to devote more of your time to understanding the questions on the exam.
Arrive Early: Get to the exam centre early enough so that there is enough time in case there is a challenge. Coming well-prepared cuts on barbs incurred in the final minute of preparation reduce on-time frustration and enable you to prepare adequately for the exams. This is especially true for all the documents and materials that would have otherwise been likely to circulate when you are away.
Time Management During The Exam: Time management is one of the complications that are known to plague most people sitting for competitive examinations. It is better to begin with those questions that you are sure to answer and then jump to more challenging questions. Do not take too much time trying to answer a single question, and always remember to keep an eye on the time available.
Control Your Emotions: Stress and anxiety if experienced will always affect one’s performance. You should take deep breaths to help you overcome the anxiety which may be caused by the exam. Lastly, do not forget to stay positive and assure you that the more prepared you are the better your chances of coming out on top.

Chapter 10: Using Papers of the Previous Years

Among all the preparations, the best one could consider is to study papers of the previous years. They let you know the kind of questions which may be expected of you and the level of their difficulty.

10. 1 Identify Patterns
If you can go through through various papers, you will see that there are repeated questions or sequences. This will give you an idea of what topics to study most to fit the requirements of your target company.
10. 2 Familiarise yourself with the marking criteria
Each test has some other pattern of marking. There are some tests where a penalty is given in case the candidate gets wrong answers while in other tests replication precision is encouraged. When you are going through previous papers, it assists in getting a feel for how marks are awarded.
10. 3 Simulate Exam Conditions
By solving previous years’ papers under time pressure conditions, it will be easier to know the actual examination conditions. This shall assist you in managing time effectively as well as minimizing examination stress.
10. 4 Your Preparation How Far Are You
You are thus able to have an impression of your readiness through practising from the previous papers. When you are getting well-prepared results in practice exams then you can be more confident about your preparation.

Chapter 11: Relevance of Assessment and Preparation for Self-Care

But study and quality learning is not the only essential thing on every student’s balance sheet; so is the attention paid to one’s mental and physical health. This is especially so because the personnel involved neglect self-care which results in burnout and lowered productivity.

Eat Balanced Diets: Your diet determines whether you will be able to focus or not. Take your meals balanced diet that contains fruits, vegetables and protein. Do not take junk food and snacks that are sweet they will make you lazier and fatter within a time you will be lazy and sleeping.
Exercise Regularly: Exercise is a good way of managing stress and at the same time, it enhances the brain’s capabilities. You may not believe it but a 20-minute power walk or a session of stretches can turn you right around and have you concentrating a whole lot better.
Get Adequate Sleep: Memory consolidation and cognitive performance are the functions that require the resting process by availing sleep. Make sure you are taking proper rest of about 7-8 hours per night, especially during the period preceding the examination. Take BreaksWhen studying, one should not get tired in one sitting and thus taking some time off while studying can help increase productivity. Techniques such as the Pomodoro technique where one breaks after every working period to allow himself or herself to rest can be embraced.

Chapter 12: Staying Motivated Throughout the Journey

Preparation for competitive examinations is a tortuous process and often requires a lot of time. Motivation always gets hard though it strikes the interest of people to ensure that they continue exerting efforts.

Celebrate Small Wins: Praise every accomplishment that you make, whether it is in understanding a complex concept or in a simulated test. It is always good to mark achievements no matter how big or small, they are good motivators to go on.
It will also be useful to make a Vision Board: It is good to pen down your goals and then you should try to visualize them. Some of the suggestions include the preparation of vision boards and these could be a picture of the career you want to pursue or the university of your choice.
Stay Positive: Life will not be rosy all the time and signals of negativity will appear but positive attitudes must be upheld all the time. It is recommended not to get into negative thinking patterns and go over not-so-favourable words about yourself while recognizing achievements made towards the goal.
Motivate yourself with the Success Stories: This is very encouraging and one can get so motivated by stories of other successful candidates in the same exam. Get ideas from their plans and more importantly, copy their demeanour because they never gave up.

Chapter 13: Ideal Revision Strategies for How to Crack Competitive Exams

It goes to show that a second revision is as necessary as the first process of learning. Most concepts that once were well understood when taught may require a review after some time most likely because of this.

Revise Regularly: Include revision into your daily study schedule. This activity prevents one from forgetting important information which has been covered because it is a way of reviewing what has been learnt.
Prioritize Important Topics: In the case of revision favour issues which are most likely to be in the exams and issues which one finds most challenging. During your revision sessions ensure that you are covering the following areas.
Use Visual Aids: Revision should not be boring, based on charts, diagrams, and mind maps are helpful in revision. They assist in presenting large chunks of knowledge in the form of images which are easier to recall.
Collaborative Learning: Participate in group materials studies or group discussions with fellow students. If you control the knowledge and teach the concepts to others as well as answer their questions, this also makes knowledge revision more engaging besides sharpening your understanding of the same.

Chapter 14: Handling Setbacks and Failure

Some people are not able to clear competitive exams on the first try they give and that should also be alright. Failure should therefore be embraced as an important step since it offers experience that can be applied in future endeavours.

Analyze Your Mistakes: If you fail to make it through the exam do well to analyze the causes of your failure. Some of the things some participants were lacking included adequate preparation and time management skills which should be determined by one’s performance.
Seek Professional Guidance: If you find yourself in a stale, perhaps seek the help of your advisors, or join a coaching course. It is good to get a new point of view as well as advice, which can ultimately help you in future tries.
Don’t Be Too Hard on Yourself: It is quite demoralizing once a candidate undergoes the paces of interview screening only to be rejected, but it is important to know that we are not alone; many other candidates have gone through this hard time before coming out successful. Forgive yourself, accept the fact that you are a learner and remain focused.
Re-focusing and Start All over Again: After being denied the prize, understand that it did not happen because of the reasons that you have identified, and then redesign, reposition and get back to the game. In as much as one may wish to be through with an examination, she or he has to endure to the end to perform well.

Conclusion on How to Crack Competitive Exams

It is by now clear that cracking competitive exams is not simply about cramming facts and figures but aspects such as strategy, stamina and time consciousness. Following the tips and strategies contained herein, one will be effectively positioned to go about study time optimally and reduce stress while increasing the likelihood of success. Always keep in mind that in competitive exams what matters a lot is consistency, patience, and a proper attitude towards work to overcome all the hurdles on the way.

The Ultimate Guide to How to Crack Competitive Exams