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So you are about to take the board exam. Nervous? You should be.
A few months before I took mine, I have experienced what every board examinee
goes through: Unexplainable nervousness. Butterflies in the stomach. Catatonic
looks.
Am I ready?
For one thing, it's better to be nervous NOW than to feel your sweat dripping and
your veins popping ON the day of the exam itself.
Imagine yourself staring blankly at those test questionnaires. 45 minutes have
passed. You are already at question number 31, yet your answer sheet remains
blank - a complete mental blackout.
Your mind then wanders. As you look along the walls of the quiet classroom, you
begin to reminisce your days in college. How you wish you remembered what that
professor had taught you. You gaze up the ceiling and wonder about the future of
your career, hanging in the balance, through these test questions you are holding
right now. You inhale deeply and pour out a sigh of air. You pray for luck, hoping the
next question would be something that you have read in your 1-week review. You
turn the next page.
Tsk. Where in God's name did they get all these questions???
Mi... ni... mi...ni... mai... ni... mu.
This is a typical story of what could go through a mind of a board examinee. A board
examinee who did not prepare, relied on luck, and had no idea how to go about
answering the board exam questions. Thankfully, that did not happen to me. When I
took the Board Exams for Architects in June 2006 and for Master Plumbers in March
2007, my confidence was sky-high. All because I was prepared. This leads me to my
conclusion: "Talo ng preparado ang matalino."
So for almost 12 months now, I have been sharing to others through seminars,
lectures and informal discussions, how I prepared for the board examination. Allow
me to share with you some tips and tricks based on my own experience that can
help you prepare for your own review.
Now in order for you to work on that goal, you must have the RIGHT MOTIVATION.
This is the second and equally important tip. Your motivation is your drive in
achieving your goal. It could be anything from a person that inspires you (an idol, a
crush, or a loved one) to a material promise (like an all-expense out-of-the-country
trip or a brand new car). It's up to you! Use this to keep you going everyday. Use
this to get you up early in the morning when you normally wake up late. When you
are motivated, you feel like you can do anything. Yes, ANYTHING! So, this gives you
a psychological advantage.
The board examination, just like any other sport or competition, is all about how you
prepare for a fight. It is all about setting your mind, body, and emotions straight
before the main event. During the preparations, YOU ARE YOUR OWN ENEMY. The
less you know about yourself, the harder it is to succeed in this undertaking. That is
why you have to train hard. What you do to your time is all up to you. You could sit
back and relax if you want, but keep in mind, all the others might have already gone
far ahead in their reviews while you are still sitting pretty waiting for that right
moment.
Please. Please. Please. Submit the requirements ASAP! Don't cram. Getting all the
documents consumes a LOT of time (and money). Filing for a board exam
application should be the least of your problems once you are already studying for
the board exam. YOU DON'T WANT THIS TO INTERFERE WITH YOUR STUDY
SCHEDULE. Imagine yourself already 4 months deep in your review, and in the back
of your mind, you are still worrying if you going to beat the deadline for application
because you havn't got your documents ready yet. Believe me, it would take WEEKS
sometimes MONTHS to complete the requirements, what with all the red tape
involved. The diploma and transcipt of records usually takes 2 weeks minimum. NBI
clearance can be from 1 to 3 days. NSO-issued birth certificates can take 1 day to 1
week (depending where you were born). And expect long lines in the PRC building
when applying. It's not going to be a breeze. You will have to go from one place to
another to buy metered documentary stamps, take a picture, pay the cashier, etc.
By the time you are finished, expect yourself to be all tired and sweaty.
KNOW YOURSELF
The key to a successful board exam preparation is knowing one's self. Find out your
strengths and your weaknesses. Are you a fast reader? Do you easily comprehend
anything that you read? How good are you at numbers? Can you memorize dates
well? Would you appreciate a book by looking at illustrations or by reading the
article itself?
You have to know yourself and seek for self-improvement. There are a lot of ways
for you to improve. Use your strengths to concentrate on building up your weak
points.
TOTAL CONDITIONING
Believe it or not, preparing for the board is not just a walk in the park (especially if
you have set high goals in the beginning). If you really want to make the most out of
your review and achieve the goals you have set, then you must be prepared in all
aspects, and I really mean ALL: physical, emotional, spiritual, social, mental and
even financial :)
Most of us are night-owls, we begin to study at night until the wee hours of the
morning. This is our comfort zone. This is where we feel we are more progressive
studying. That's ok as long as you still have 6 to 8 hours of sleep. I usually study
from 11pm up to 6 am the next morning, then sleep and wake up around 2 pm.
Whatever your comfy zone is, feel free to use it as you please. But as the board
exam nears, there is a need to re-adjust your study habits. About 2 to 3 weeks
before the exam, you have to practice waking up early and studying in the morning
- not at night anymore. The idea here is to get yourself comfortable "thinking" in the
morning because the board exam starts in the morning. Else, you'll feel sleepy and
nauseaous during the exam. Also, be conscious of the food you eat 1 week before
the exam. Nobody wants to have an upset stomach on the day of the exam.
The hard-core reviewing should end at least 2 weeks before the exam. By this time,
you should have studied what you needed to study. The 2 remaining weeks should
give you time to relax and psych yourself. Ideally, a week before the exam, you
should just be browsing through your notes to refresh your memory. No more allnighters. No more burning your eyebrows. So don't stay up all night exhausting your
energy cramming for more information. That was my mistake when I took the Board
Exam for Master Plumber last March. Since I only had a month's preparation
(because I was also working), I had to exert more effort in my studies - more than
what my body can take. Come board exams, I was on Tylenol because of a fever.
Sleep early the night before the exam.
A board examinee must also expect pressure from a lot of people. There are
pressures from your family, there are pressures from your relatives (especially those
successful ones), there are pressures from your friends and barkadas, from your
office and even from your girlfriend/boyfriend. The moment you decide you'll take
the board exam and tell it to someone, word really travels fast. They would be
greeting you 'good luck', but others would also expect you to do really good. I know
some people who did not tell a single soul that they'll take the board exam. Maybe
they were too pressured or shy. You don't have to be mum about it. Besides,
whether you pass or fail, in time, everybody will still know that you took the exams.
TAKE ALL THESE PRESSURES AND PUT IT TO YOUR ADVANTAGE. If you are
motivated, these pressures would even help propel you to study harder.
Depends on your religious belief, it's already a habit that board examinees be going
to Baclaran or celebrate Holy Week in Manaog or complete the midnight mass
during advent. We would even buy paraphernalia and bring our pencils, rulers, and
books blessed. Prayers help a lot. Ask for His divine guidance. And pray for others
too. But always remember all these will be useless if not complemented by
studying. As the saying goes: 'genius is 1% inspiration, and 99% perspiration.'
The index card would be your best friend in your review. Put information that you
need to memorize in index cards and always keep them handy. You could browse
through them while riding the bus or jeep. Use color-coded pens for highlighting old
and new data. Use post-it on books to help you keep track of notes and points of
discussions.
PRIORITIZING THINGS
An effective board exam review relies on discipline on the examinees part. There
are so many temptations around: your favorite TV shows, the billiards hall, online
gaming, etc. Learn how to prioritize. Think of the board exam as a one-time deal
(although if you fail, you can take the board exam again - but nobody really wants
to fail, right?) YOU WILL HAVE ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD AFTER THE BOARD
EXAM. Use your time wisely. Instead of watching TV for 3 hours, you could have
understood and memorized a large portion of the book your reading already.
MEMORIZATION TECHNIQUES
If you have good photographic memory, you have an advantage. Equally
advantageous is if you are a fast reader with good reading comprehension.
Try using play of words and numbers through word association. Example of
questions in our review: "Who was is the architect of Greenbelt 2?", "Who is the
architect of Greenbelt 3?". Through word association, I know that the architect of
Greenbelt 2 is "Recio + Casas" because they are two (2) individuals (note the
number 2 in Greenbelt). For Greenbelt 3, I know the architect is G.F. Formoso
because I associate the 3G phone (note the G in G.F. Formoso).
Use letters as symbols. Here's another example that appeared in the Master
Plumber exam. "Which is denoted by its Inside Diameter? a) Pipe or b) Tube"
I know that the PIPE is denoted by its Inside Diameter because I always write it
"pIpe" (note the capital I, meaning Inside). I know the the TUBE is denoted by its
Outside Diameter because I always write it "tubO" (tubo is tagalog for tube, note
the capital O, meaning Outside). Get the idea?
If your having trouble with numbers (like dates and laws) but good in memorizing
visual patterns, try using the cellphone keypad as a guide. You'll remember the
pattern you create while typing in the numbers more than the date or law itself.
Rearrange information found in books. Most of the time what is printed in books is
not the best way how you would read and memorize it. Take the case of the National
Building Code. I was memorizing 30+ types of pipe and their colors. In the book, it is
arranged alphabetically by pipe type. What I did was I arranged it by pipe color. I
found out that there are only 4 pipe colors so its easier to memorize. So I got 4
pieces of paper, painted them Red, Orange, Yellow, and Green respectively, and
wrote in each paper the corresponding pipes. Voila. Easier to remember and
understand.
There are lots of other tricks like forming Acronyms or Creating a Song or Story. Try
to create your own memorization tricks up your sleeves.