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WHEN you see purple flowers around you, the Jacaranda tree is flowering — it’s that time of the year again — time for examinations.
This is a very trying time especially for adult learners, some of who are family people. Balancing school, work and family is always a challenge. Having been involved with exams at tertiary level I want to share a few examination hints for exam candidates this year, especially adult learners.
When it’s exam time, if your job allows, just take study leave. It’s very difficult to prepare and write examinations from work. Some of us are bosses and there is really no time you can say you are free to open your books. Just take leave. Some bosses are afraid of taking leave because they are insecure at the workplace.

Adult education is all about sharing with classmates. You need to meet with classmates and discuss past papers and other related literature for the exams. That mentality of hiding what you think are good notes from your colleagues is high school mentality. At tertiary level there are no report cards; there is no “number one”.

Share what you have with colleagues and they will also show you what they have. At times we hide literature thinking it’s the best, but on sharing we discover our colleagues have even better stuff. When you meet for discussions participate in the group discussions, don’t just stare at people saying nothing, taking down their points like you’re taking minutes in a meeting.

Having been involved with exams at university level, I have discovered that most students fail not because the exam was difficult but just because they didn’t conduct themselves well before and during the exam. I once invigilated a paper for a certain university where the students were using laptops. One student came with a laptop which was not charged. This is poor exam conduct. Her plug was square and the exam hall had round sockets.

We finally managed to get her an adaptor 10 minutes later and I could tell she was already panicking. Always prepare for the exam — some of us fail before we even write the exam. You find an adult going for an exam without a ruler, a rubber or pencil. They call the invigilator “may you get me a ruler from my colleague.”

Honestly how do you pass an exam where you are borrowing other people’s property throughout. Now it’s not the invigilator’s job to get you rulers, rubbers and pencils from other people, you must bring your own things.

Another student came without a calculator in an exam that had calculations. I’m not exaggerating. The student asked me to get them a calculator from a colleague who refused because they were using it. How does one come for an exam which requires a calculator without a calculator? At times you believe when people say maybe someone’s departed ancestors are interfering with their learning.

The evening before the exam you must have enough sleep. The evening before the exam is not for burning the candle till morning. Have enough sleep so that you are fresh and fit for the exam the next day. The habit of taking “wake up” tablets and energy drinks is very unhealthy. Just function naturally for your exam. I’ve seen cases where people dose in the exam. Yes the spirit will be willing but the flesh will be tired.

You cannot cheat sleep; it’s a natural process. In fact what causes these sleepless nights at times is lack of preparation. You suddenly discover there is so much to read and the time is little. This is where again you see someone reading right to the door of the examination hall. You need to relax and settle down just before you enter the exam. Reading to the door will in most cases unsettle you.

This might work for some people because we are different but I know reading to the door normally causes exam blackouts. You will agree with me that at times when you read to the door, you enter the exam and you open the question paper and you discover that what you were reading at the door is indeed in the paper but you can’t just recall any of those things — suddenly you are blank. This is the blackout. I am not a psychologist and cannot fully explain how the human brain functions but suffice to say it happens and is caused mostly by not settling the mind before the exam.

Some adults because of lack of preparation will bring “discs” (prepared answers and formulae) in the exam written on rulers, rubbers, the inside of caps and hats and at times on hands and thighs — this is suicide. Invigilators will catch you and you are disqualified.

The other behaviour that fails candidates is poor time management. Recently again I was invigilating and a candidate called me and whispered “Sir, how much time is left?” I whispered back “ten minutes”. He immediately said “Oh! my God”. Yes “your God” but it’s too late. He started writing wildly like Mr Bean when he had taken the wrong exam.

Take your clock to the exam; do not depend on the clock provided for in the exam hall. At times the exam hall is too big and the clock is not quite visible from certain points. Take your stop watch to the exam and allocate your time accordingly. In 3-hour exams where you are doing four questions, you know you have 45-minutes per question. At 43-minutes, wind up your answer and go to the next question. When you finish the question in 40 minutes, you know you have 50 minutes to do the next question and so on. Many a time candidates don’t finish exams because of poor time management.

When you choose your questions to answer, rank them in terms of your strength, beginning with the easiest and finishing off with the question you find the most difficult on your choice. I have heard people say you start with the most difficult question while you are still fresh . . . this advice is “poison”.

During the exam do not peep to check on what your neighbour is doing, mind your own business. You can unsettle yourself by being a peeping Tom. You peep and you realise your neighbour has written a page while you are still planning; leave him alone, it’s not a competition. When in the exam just forget about your neighbour.

When the Jacaranda is flowering we again start our countdown for Christmas. May I take this opportunity to wish all candidates this year the best in their coming examinations. There are those employed young adults (below 40) who have not written an exam in the past 10 years — be warned — you are decaying — soon you will be manure.