Taking an exam without studying? You can, just follow our suggestions.The oral exam has always been one of the most hated tests by students. Just the thought can make you anxious: between speaking out loud in front of everyone, the fear of not being prepared enough (or worse, of not having studied at all!) and the hope of getting a good grade, the oral exam can really be a nightmare .
The ideal is to be able to maintain the calm and tranquility necessary to overcome it without too many obstacles. In this guide we explain how to face – and survive – an interrogation without having studied!
HOW TO SURVIVE AN INTERROGATION
Everyone has been there, from the youngest to the oldest, and yet just thinking about it makes your heart race and anxiety still takes over. We are obviously talking about the oral exam , one of the most feared moments by students of all ages since school has existed. An oral exam in which each student is called upon to demonstrate his or her preparation in front of everyone, the oral exam scares even the student who has studied the most precisely because in this circumstance various factors come into play such as anxiety, shyness and the fear of making mistakes .
Of course, studying helps and is the first step to take but it is not everything. Even if it may seem absurd, there are students who with a good basic preparation always manage to get by more than admirably, sometimes better than those who have spent the whole afternoon with their head bent over books. Luck? No, or at least not always.
Being prepared is only the starting point : then you need to know how to untangle yourself from the questions, the various anxieties and those two or three notions that just don’t want to enter your head but that, punctually, the professors will ask you. In other words, you need to find the meeting point between study , self-confidence and that pinch of cunning that you should never give up.We know that it is not a simple operation: constant training is needed to defeat the fear and anxiety that take over when you find yourself in front of the professor.
. HOW TO DO WELL IN AN INTERROGATION: PREPARATION
The first step to being able to do well in an oral exam is, obviously, to be prepared . It is certainly not the only ingredient, but it is essential.
Probably no student wants to spend hours and hours of their afternoons on books but, with the right method , the time to dedicate to studying will be significantly reduced . To be prepared for the oral exam you will therefore have to:
1. Pay attention in class and take notes
This is probably the most important ingredient to be able to get a good grade in the oral exam. It may seem like trivial advice, but in fact there are few students who really know how to do it. Working at school means being able to complete at least 50% of the studying that you would then have had to do at home.
Not only that: paying attention during the professor’s explanation and taking notes will help you understand what the professor is interested in, what he thinks are the fundamental aspects of the topic being discussed and therefore what he wants to hear during the interrogation.
2. Study without distractions
Once you get home, all you have to do is take your notes and integrate them with what is important written about it in the book. So what you will have to do is:
- Reread your notes
- Get your manual
- Read the pages assigned by the professor
- Underline the most important concepts
- Fill in what’s missing in your notes
- Transcribe everything in a neat copy
Create diagrams and/or conceptual maps
Another trick that can help you do well in an oral exam is to create a conceptual map starting from your notes. You will then have to report the key concepts of what you have studied and connect them together through logical connections, in order to create a lesson outline that stimulates your visual memory.
With the help of only the key words, it will be easier for you to repeat the lesson without having to constantly peek at the book/notebook.
4. Repeat out loud
The last ingredient to do well in an oral exam is to learn to repeat out loud even when you are at home. You can do it with someone who does not know the topic, in front of the mirror or with the help of a voice recorder (in order to hear your voice again and try to understand how to improve where you seemed most insecure): the important thing is that you practice repeating out loud, in order to be prepared when it is time for the oral exam.
However, we know that preparation is not enough to make the test a success . It can happen that anxiety takes over preparation, forcing the student into an embarrassing silent scene even if in reality they spent the whole previous afternoon studying.
Finding yourself in front of the professor and having to repeat in front of the whole class can arouse a great sense of worry within you, much greater than what would happen during a class test . In these cases, it is your body itself that gives concrete signals to the professor that something is wrong, for example through:
- Stuttering
- Exaggerated gesticulation
- Long pauses between different periods
- Total memory blank
These are just some of the symptoms that can make the professor understand that something is wrong, and he will immediately be led to think that you are not adequately prepared.
How to defeat this problem? You can choose two paths:
1. Go voluntarily
This is probably the simplest solution . You spend an afternoon preparing for the subject, you ask your parents or someone you believe can advise you adequately to question you and you make sure you know how to correctly present the entire topic.
The next day, go to the professor and ask to be questioned: he will appreciate your good will and you, given the abundant preparation on the presentation, will be able to not get confused.
2. Let the professor question you
Although we recommend you adopt the first strategy, we know well that you do not always have the desire and time to prepare so precisely, as we are aware of the fact that not all professors accept volunteers. But we also have some tips for this eventuality:
- Listen carefully to the questions asked by the professor, trying to understand what he is really asking you;
- Take a few moments to think about it and formulate your answer carefully , so as not to appear too hasty and imprecise;
- Avoid gesturing too much;
- Fill those pauses between the different sentences with standard phrases such as: “As I was explaining before…”; “Although this does not happen…”; “Referring to what was said by…” etc. This will help you to quickly regain your lost lucidity and continue the thread of your speech;
- Try to understand what kind of answers your professor likes , also listening to the questions of others: whether short and concise, or long and detailed. Whatever his preference is, adapt and try to answer in a way that conforms to his tastes;
- Maintain a tone of voice that is neither too high nor too low;
- If you don’t remember something, don’t dig your heels in : leave out that detail and move on to another topic that is possibly related to what you were saying.
