Are you familiar with such questions?
“I guess my Optics is complete.”
“I am just gonna nail all questions on Calculus on the exam day.”
Many students keep on saying such things throughout the entire year to convince themselves that their preparation is in full gear. But when they finally give the exam, they get to know that neither Optics nor Calculus was so-called ‘done’ or ‘sorted.’
No matter how clichéd it sounds, I cannot stress enough on “Practice makes a man perfect.” We all are familiar with this famous quote. For getting through competitive exams like JEE Mains/Advanced, BITSAT, NEET, KVPY and others, practice is the key factor. And one of the best ways to practise for such competitive exams is taking mock tests and solving as many questions as possible. Referring to many questions builds a winning exam temperament. Read about tricks to clear Joint Entrance Examination (JEE).
Let’s understand why solving more questions/mock tests will be beneficial in cracking competitive exams with better scores.
Why Should You Practice More Questions?
Benefit 1: Makes You Confident
Taking a maximum number of tests helps you to keep up your question-solving abilities. You will get an overall idea about the type of questions, approximate time needed for solving different types of questions, etc., which makes you fully prepared and confident to face the final exam. You will also know your strong and weak areas by solving more and more question papers. These tests will benefit you in building a positive attitude and combating nervousness, which will ultimately help you get an “Yes, I can do it” outlook.
Benefit 2: Familiarizes with Real Exam Environment
Before appearing for the actual exams, it is very important to get used to the exam environment. By solving questions papers and mock tests, students get accustomed with the exam pattern and time frame for attempting each question. It gives students a glimpse of what really happens during the real test.
Benefit 3: Reduces Number of Mistakes
Sometimes, in spite of having ample knowledge and proper practice, the candidate is not able to score good marks. This is due to those “silly mistakes” he commits in the exam. He loses those valuable marks, which affect his ranking adversely. Since there are multiple-choice questions in exams like JEE, even small mistakes like lack of attention or wrong calculation may lead you to mark an incorrect response. It will waste your time as well. Thus, practicing more questions will keep you more alert during the actual exam and help you avoid mistakes.
Benefit 4: Helps in Revision
When you solve questions from all topics, you eventually land up covering almost all the important areas of the syllabus. Solving mock tests sincerely will aid you in brushing up almost all subjects in a better way. Also, by analyzing the results, you can decide yourself which areas need more attention and which ones you can leave.
Benefit 5: Helps in Time Management
When it comes to competitive exams, time is the most crucial factor. Attempting many questions in the given time is not an easy task. It is seen that many candidates are not able to answer some questions or sometimes even some sections of the question paper, due to the shortage of time. This problem can be easily resolved by solving more questions regularly as it helps students improve their time-management skills. Practice also helps a lot in improving the speed of hand calculations and devising shortcuts that are helpful later. Read how you can make your calculations faster.
Benefit 6: Understanding Concepts Better
While good understanding of theory is the first requirement for solving a problem, depending on just theory only helps little. The part of problem-solving, which requires us to know how a concept is applied, is something we only gain through practice. Tougher questions need better application of concepts and hence require a lot more practice.
By attempting more questions regularly and rectifying the errors, a candidate’s score increases with every test and so does his rank among his peers. If you go this route, you’ll definitely see a rise in the performance graph and needless to say, your confidence grows manifold.
So, we can sum up by saying that questions are like the steps of a ladder; it’s a ladder which leads you to your dream of qualifying for competitive exams. Take each step carefully, use it to climb the next step and rise to achieve your goal.
You could also read about good study techniques here.
All the best!
