If you are thinking of or currently preparing for an exam, you are probably not interested in my exam and my experiences so thoroughly described in the previous post. You have YOUR OWN EXAM to pass. To start immediately with structure and plan which you can follow until the exam day I described the following nine steps for you to follow in order to succeed:
Step #1: Prepare the list of subjects to cover for the exam
You need to write down all the subjects you have to cover for the exam and estimate how much time it will take you to cover each one of them. Once you have an idea, write down the exact dates, by which the particular subject/ chapter should be learned. Once you have that in written form, attribute to each subject the references/ documents/ books you will need to read, to master the subject eg. particular chapters in the book of your choice, private notes, other files, with the exact number of pages you have to read. Having prepared that, you should know how much time it will take you to get through the entire material.
Do not forget to include breaks in this plan (eg. vacation, travels, Christmas etc.). These are periods of time, of which you already know, that studying will be challenging or compromised, or which you just need to give your brain a rest (please do not underestimate breaks, you will need them!). When all this is included eg. in an Excel sheet, add a couple of weeks for repetitions and you will know when you will be ready for the exam. Knowing that, you can proceed to step 2.
Step #2: Apply for the exam
Many professional exams have fixed dates. With your plan, you will know for which session you will be ready to register with realistic chances of passing. You can also reverse engineer your study plan. Knowing the date of the exam you want to sit, you can adjust your learning pace and the dates in your study plan, to make it before the exam.
There may be additional documents necessary to apply for the exam, like your professional licence or your educational diploma, which need to be translated if your exam, like it was in my case, is being held abroad. Check it in advance and prepare them. It often takes time, and it would be really annoying to invest time and energy in studying, and not be able to take the exam, because of formalities or some bureaucratic problems.
The sooner you sign up for the exam, the sooner you are making a commitment. Spending money on your examination fee and booking your travel tickets and accommodation is a powerful motivator. It is also better to take care of this at the beginning of the learning phase, when your mind is still relatively relaxed.
Step #3: Tell your boss and ask for time off
If there is no conflict of interest, it will be beneficial for you to tell your boss about the exam. Depending how motivated you are, or how much depends on passing the exam, you may want to talk to your boss before you register. In my case, passing the exam was more important than keeping my current job, so I registered first, and talked to my boss about it later.
Have lunch/ dedicated meeting with your boss and explain to him or her, what this exam is about, why it is important for you to have this certification and why it would be beneficial for the company to have an employee with this particular qualification. If your boss also took this exam at some point, chances are that he/ she will be more sympathetic and more likely to agree to your request. If the boss has a similar background, show him some example questions, to make him/ her aware of the level of difficulty, and to point out that studying only on the weekends will not be enough.
The latter was my case. My boss was a human pathologist and the exam he took differed in form and content from my board certification in veterinary pathology, but it was close enough for him to understand me. After seeing some example histopathological descriptions I would have to provide in the exam, and seeing how they were graded he was much more aware of the amount of studying that would have to be done in order for me to prepare for the exam.
I asked for three months off. I was being modest. My colleagues from my previous job would get six months. Unfortunately my boss did not share my point at that time. I could maybe get half of this time, and it would be my private accumulated vacation. Not the answer I I wanted to hear!
Chances are that your boss will say no to your request. Don’t give up! Ask him/ her to think about it, rethink your strategies, and ask again later. This is what I did, and it worked out. I had to come up with a plan at least how to escape the office for three months. I thought of spending this time at our mother company, where all the colleagues I would be working with already passed my exam and being in this environment would definitely benefit my learning process (at least this is how I painted it).
Lucky for me, our mother company is located in the USA and there is only 4 hours overlap between the US and the European office. This was a blessing! I was working as effectively as possible the first half of the day and was free to study in the afternoon. If you are not in such a lucky situation, maybe you can negotiate a remote work agreement for the study time or you have some other ideas that would work well for you. For inspiration I strongly recommend reading “The 4-Hour Workweek” by Tim Ferriss.
But to sum up this step: ask your boss and if he/ she says no, ask again and again. Very likely after a couple of iterations they will agree to some kind of compromise.
Step #4: Find a study partner or a study group
The best thing that could happen to me during my study time (followed closely by the quizlet app ), was to study with a group of people who were following the same study plan. Making these kind of commitments and studying with other people motivates me extremely. It has been scientifically proven, that revising study material together makes it stick much longer than when doing it on your own. Of course there are different learning types and you may belong to the individuals who learn best alone, but even then I still recommend a study group or a study buddy, at least for revisions after every chapter.
My study group was remote, and we were all dialing in on the dates when a particular chapter had to be finished. The task of each of the participants was to prepare ten questions on the current topic in the exam style. These questions had to be invented by us, based on the study material, and each question and answer had to have the exact reference (eg. book page, scientific paper). Our sessions would last one hour and everyone would quiz the rest of the group with their questions. This had not only the benefit of having a large pool of questions for revisions at the end of the learning phase, but also taught us to focus on the exam relevant material. We kind of put ourselves in the mind of the exam committee creating the questions, and believe me it helped us extremely!
Of course there were weeks when not all participants were there, or the level of preparation or contribution to the group was unequal, but all in all being part of the group made us follow the plan and kept us motivated till the end. In the last repetition phase we would dial in twice a day to work on the more difficult or more annoying subjects. Honestly, without my study group I wouldn’t pass. Thank you girls! I wouldn’t have made it without you.
Step #5: Plan your revisions
If you followed the previous steps, you have the revision time already scheduled in your calendar. You don’t have to plan it in detail straight away, but it is crucial to block this time in advance. As you accumulate revision material (notes, questions, powerpoint presentations) you will start having an idea how fast you can revise the topics. The minimum number of revisions for the best retention is three.
I only managed to revise the material twice. I knew that I knew a lot, but I totally lacked any feeling of confidence during the exam. I was lucky enough to pass anyway, but if I would get the chance to do something differently, it would be adding the third revision to the learning process.
For my revision I would plan one day for every topic and would only go through the previously prepared material (flashcards, quizlet questions, study group questions, powerpoint presentations). No more book reading nor searching for information in papers. Just repetition! Once I finished revising the chapter, I would move on. It is more important to go through the topics several times, than to spend too much time on them at the cost of repetition frequency. Repetitio est mater studiorum.
Step #6: Focus on your strengths
Your strengths should be high in the sky, as they will leverage your exam results. If you exam consists of several parts which contribute to a cumulative score (like it was this year in my case) focus on the parts you are good at. This will assure you a certain amount of points, increase your confidence and buffer the couple of questions you will be struggling with.
Step #7: Bring your weaknesses to the minimum passing level
Work on your weaknesses till you reach passing level. A weakness can be a particular subject, or a certain part of the exam (eg. in the language exams you may be great in grammar, but worse in speaking). It is highly improbable, that you will turn the weaknesses into strengths, and working that hard on them would deprive you of the precious time you need for the rest of the material, so don’t do it. It is crucial to identify and address them, but don’t dwell on them. Focusing on the weaknesses too much will stress you out and demotivate you. You need your motivation till the and, so once you have reached the minimum level necessary to pass, move on. The only goal here is not to let them screw you on your exam result. You will use the strengths to leverage it.
Step #8: Focus on the most relevant aspects
It is crucial to prioritize and focus on the most important topics. The study group approach I described earlier with inventing your own questions will help you, but to know better what is the level of detail you have to reach, practice with mock exams. They are usually available at the examination institution website or at some other websites supporting and encouraging the learners. If they are not for free, I would definitely make the investment and buy them. In case there are no questions online connect with people who already took the exam as they should have this kind of study material.
Focused effort is key. At all cost should you avoid getting lost in unnecessary details. The study material is very ample. Sometimes analyzing the details helps to understand the subject and retain it for longer, but it is also time consuming. In case of tight deadlines learn the concept by heart and move on. Talk to the people who took the exam and passed. What did they study? What turned out to be irrelevant? Use this input to re-prioritise.In my case the percentage composition of the exam was publicly available (how much % each subject would contribute to the exam). I used it to prioritize my learning and repetitions and I focused on the most relevant subjects and left out or only revized once the once which only constituted eg. 5% (vs. others that would contribute as much as 50%) of the exam.
Step #9: Relax
Remember to relax! Regular relaxation periods are crucial to keep you motivated for the long term. Have something to look forward to every week – plan a morning hike, nice brunch with your partner or friend, go dancing. You need regular detachment from studying to keep your effectiveness at a constant level and prevent burning out. In your initial study plan include vacation and periods when you will not study.
Staying focused on one project (your exam) while working full time is stressful. The tasks at work may be accumulating and there are only 24 hours in the day available, of which eight you should sleep. It will be a difficult time, but don’t compromise on sleep and breaks. Accept that you will not be perfect in all areas of your life during the exam preparation, communicate it appropriately at work and to your loved ones and focus. Focus, focus, focus and relax. Repeat.