I came across a very nicely written article about coping with the exam failures – a situation that many of us can relate to. The article was written by Rob Sowerby and published in PQ Magazine’s February 2014 edition. I decided to publish the entire article here as I do believe this might be of use to me and my friends who are working day and night to slay the beast of CA Exams. I would love to know your feedback about this article.

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If you fail an exam you will obviously be disappointed. The fundamental issue is what you do about it. If you are not careful you will become negative and try to ignore the result. You may use displacement activities – throwing yourself into your social life, or working harder in your job. In other words, anything to avoid confronting the issue. Then you re-sit in the vain hope that a little extra work will get you through. This is likely to lead to further disappointment down the line. Difficult though it may be, you have to take a failure as an opportunity to look at the fundamentals as to why you were unsuccessful and, critically, what you would do differently next time. Reasons for failing are many and varied but they generally fall into a few broad categories, including commitment, time, understanding and exam technique. My view is that for your next attempt you must address all of these and look at your study process. By commitment I mean this: did you
really immerse yourself in the study process the first time round? You have to prioritise and to put your studies near the top. Consider your other commitments, such as work, sport, family and social life, and decide how you are going to change the balance for a couple of years to better free up time and attention to your studies. Make sure that you involve others in this process so that they understand how
important your studies are. If they are true friends they will understand. Linked to commitment is the amount of time you devote to your studies and when this can be carved out of your busy life. Keep a diary and plan your study time week by
week, keeping a close eye on whether you have kept up with the plan and, if not, how you are going to revise matters. It is possible that you did not truly understand what you had studied and as a result could not convert what you had read or been taught in class into an exam answer.

Failing exam is not the end of the world, but if you don’t take lessons from it you are doomed to repeat the same mistakes, says Rob Sowerby

I teach the sort of subjects where there is a need to understand not just what you are doing but also why you are doing it. Many of my students say that “its easy when you do it”, and so it should be. The difficulty in these exams is to be able to apply the underlying techniques to a wide range of questions. You will only be able to do this if you practise exam standard questions and fully debrief the answer with a view to
understanding why it is what it is. Exam technique to me is a simple process of converting knowledge and understanding into marks. This is not rocket science, but like everything, the more you practise the better you will become. Ensure that you practise at least one whole mock exam and preferably more than one. You need to have an exam strategy where you know exactly what you are doing in every minute of the exam to best effect. Furthermore, look at what you can do in the time limit – you are not looking to achieve perfection, you are looking at a reasonable answer in the limited time available.

In summary, you must use the setback as an opportunity to change for the better. It may be a blessing in disguise. The key is to get the ‘winning habit’ – as you pass you become more motivated, leading to more commitment and a virtuous circle of future success. You know this makes sense – so make it happen!