Last time I talked about the stress that you all feel before the exam, and you concurred with me that it’s absolutely normal, and more than that, it could push you forward to better achievement.

I’ve all the time been trying to assure my students, who are going to sit for the exam, as I believe that their psychological state is of paramount importance. Self confidence with good preparation play a pivotal role. I would rather call the sheet of the exam the sheet of the questions so that you would dispose of that fear and improve your self confidence.

The exam piece of paper may be easier than the tests that you’ve been doing with your teacher in class. So, calm down and go ahead.

The ideal student is the one who has gone through as many national exams as he can so as to get acquainted with the form and nature of the exam.

The first thing you should do before you start answering, get resourced with enough pens, ruler and a pencil with an eraser. The presentation of your sheet is essential.

Now that you have the exam sheet in hand, don’t be hasty. Take your time to cast a panoramic view on the sheet. You will get an idea about the text and the kinds of tasks in the language section and also the topic of writing that is coming up. I prefer that you start with the language section, then comprehension and finally writing respectively. You will give enough time to comprehension and writing that necessitate more concentration. You ought to let writing after comprehension, as you may make use of the ideas of the text in the writing section. Breath well, hold your pencil, and start interacting with the text! You would ask me:How? I would say: Circle any name of a person or place in the text or highlight them with a marker. Underline all the dates and numbers, too. You will need them later; so, you will have access to them easily. Make use of your concentration and answer the referring exercise on the text as you are still fresh and focused.

Until the next recommendation on how to deal with comprehension exercises, check if you are well equipped with enough tools: pens of different colours – don’t use the red colour-, a pencil, a ruler and don’t forget a watch not a mobile phone to check how well you are doing without disturbing the others.

Take care and get ready.