An Engineering batch will have a variety of students- those who study regularly from the beginning, those who get in action during the preparation leave, and also those who wake up a night before the exam. No student from any of these categories would dare call the off-day before a paper a holiday. There’s no time to have fun. It’s either preparing for the next day, or at least stressing out over the thought. Even the well-organized engineering student who manages to take breaks from studies would tell how joyous their breaks truly happen to be.

No matter how hard the world tries to convince you that marks don’t matter, skills do, as an engineering student, you should never forget the relevance of your semester exam scores. The scores not only add up to your GPA, but also reflect how prepared you really are for the challenges of real-world engineering jobs. There’s certainly a reason why companies visiting the campus want to meet the toppers first.

Your Engineering semester exam scores matter a great deal even if you are opting for higher studies. Besides the results of their individual entrance tests, some of the best higher studies’ programmes also refer to your undergraduate GPA score as the mark of your intellectual capabilities. There’s no dearth of reasons why you shouldn’t take that one-day preparation before your next exam lightly.

Here are a few suggestions regarding how to get the most of your preparations in those last 24 hours.

1. Beware, it’s not just 24 hours! If you are sharp enough, you would not miss that it’s actually a day and a half before your next paper. Preparation time for the next exam starts the moment you are out of your exam hall. While some of you may choose to hang out with your mates on the campus, and yet others would rush home to claim the sleeping hours sacrificed on the previous night, you should never forget that the time is running. Most concerned students utilize the time on this first half day to cover the tougher topics that might make you panic towards the end of your preparation time.

2. Allocate your time wisely keeping in mind that no part of the syllabus deserves to be left out. Until you’re someone who is satisfied with just the passing scores, you must care about the syllabus in its entirety. In order to distribute your preparation time evenly, you must first take a stock of the syllabus. Overspending time on tricky and difficult-to-crack questions on the last day is not a reasonable strategy. You would have lost a lot of time over just a small part of your syllabus before you realise that there’s yet a lot to cover. Ideally you are expected to maintain a balance in all sections of your syllabus. A key to improve your score is attempting most questions which is possible only if you study most sections.

3. Don’t miss out the Important Topics that your teachers must have shared with you before seeing you off for the exams. From a variety of important topics mark out the ones that you are really strong at, and also spend a reasonable amount of time on the ones that you might be weak at. Clarity of concepts is the most crucial thing to remember and if you have practised your topics and problems on a regular basis before the onset of your exams, you have already won half the battle. Many students tend to jumble topics under the pressure of a running-out time, and end up confused. Preparing topics one-by-one completely is the right thing to do.

4. Practise Problems and Diagrams keenly in those final hours as they would play a crucial role in helping you score better. Problems constitute 30%-40% of the questions in some of your crucial engineering semester examinations. Practising them on a priority will help better manage the 3 hours you get to finish your paper. While answering a theory question will consume 20 to 30 minutes of your time, a well-practised problem will actually help you attempt most particulars in the question paper comfortably. Block diagrams, schematic diagrams and several other types of diagrams are a great way of approaching your theory preparations. Understanding a diagram completely makes it easier to write a theoretical answer with clarity. While they increase the length of your answers, neat and clean diagrams also mean more marks.

5. Solving question papers from the previous years is a great strategy of getting a pre-hand experience of appearing for a particular paper. Solving question papers within the fixed time limit helps you better cope with the pressure of attempting all the questions before the bell rings. Also, as you solve question paper before each examination, you realise that every distinct paper must be approached with a different strategy in order to finish it in time. The practice equips you with different tactics and perspectives required for answering a diversity of questions. Above all, it’s a great way of improving your skills.

6. Never forget revision if you care about not making silly mistakes in your final performance. In the rush of studying the topics within allocated time, you tend to miss out crucial details. A revision helps you notice what you might have missed out. If you have ever experienced going blank while writing a paper, it’s mostly due to lack of revision. While allocating your time for thoroughly preparing a paper carefully make time for revision before the final call. Revising your syllabus 3 to 4 times before entering the exam hall is the best thing to do. As revisions help in refreshing your topics, you end up being more confident while writing your exam.

A strategy like staying up for an entire night before the examination might have a huge fan following among Engineering students. It may not produce results on par with strategic studying though. Also, it may take a toll on your health. Most indispensably, you’d be drained off of all your vital energies required to appear for an Engineering exam with confidence. Spend your preparation day wisely for a higher score in your Engineering semester examination.

This article about preparation tips for Engineering semester examination is presented by ARMIET College of Engineering (DTE Code: 3219), reputed for its standards of conducting semester exams.