Exams are the bugbear of most students , yet they need not be so. It is possible to appear for an exam exuding confidence and even with a certain anticipation of thrill. This comes from a number of factors like studying a subject that interests you, preparing well, mastering the subject and studying for purposes higher than just passing the exams. Your answer script can be almost like a rare piece of art by a well known artist put up for auction at Christie’s. No one doubts the value of the painting and the only point of speculation is how high the bid will reach. When you present a well written answer paper before a judicious examiner the case is almost the same. He cannot help giving you top credit .
Orderly and attractive presentation
The secret of success is in the packaging. Just as a product in the market should not only be of good quality but should also be attractively packaged your answers should be presented in an attractive manner. Even average products that are well packaged or stunningly presented have a good chance of being bought.
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Present your answer scripts well. A proper margin all round and proper spacing of lines and words are important. A good and pleasing handwriting is of untold value. A good handwriting always adds value to the script and puts the examiner in a good mood. If your writing is not good it is still not too late to take handwriting practice book and practice cursive hand writing. Illegible handwriting is certainly an irritation and even correct answers may be misread. Ornate handwriting which is illegible also is a nuisance. Legibility is the number one rule regarding handwriting.
If you are filling up blanks in sentences or passages underline the filled up words out of courtesy to the examiner and his eyes will go straight to the answer. Write your answers clearly. Ambiguous answers, overwritten answers, illegible writing are all likely to affect your credit.
If you need to correct some thing neatly score off what you wrote first then rewrite instead of overwriting or smudging your writing. Have a proper spacing of words and lines. Having too many lines to a page will make reading difficult. The same is the case with words packed together without sufficient spacing in between.
Underline your titles and subtitles. You may use colour pens to advantage for this. If you do not underline the subtitles you will irritate the examiner to your own disadvantage. Elementary things like numbering the questions and subdivisions, numbering the pages must not be overlooked. The key words in a running essay may be underlined.. But it is not a good idea to underline words indiscriminately in literary essays particularly.
Proper paragraph divisions are an absolute must. To do this the points should be clear in your mind and presented in proper and logical sequence. There must be flow and development of thought from paragraph to paragraph. Muddled thinking will result in poor presentation. A good outline in your mind is like a road map for a motorist. It is useful to put down the outline at the head of your essay. After listing the points for your essay at random in your rough work, group similar points into clusters and order your points in a logical manner with an inner thread running through all of them.
Let me know the truth
1. Is my presentation neat and tidy or unattractive with much overwriting, poor hand-writing etc.?
2. Do I allot time for underlining headings, important points etc?
3. Do I have the habit of writing an outline or plan before I answer general essay questions?
