Must Dos and Must Brings for College Entrance Exam

If you are a senior wanting to get into a good college next academic year, then you have stumbled upon a very helpful article that will equip you with useful insights!

Almost all colleges and universities require students to take up entrance examinations or admissions tests before you can actually enroll. Failing to pass these tests will not enable you to go into these universities (even if it is your dream university). Yeah, that's the sad part considering that in some schools, you can only take the entrance exam once.

The difficulty of the exams vary among colleges and course (i.e. presence of quota). Some schools do not necessitate intensive preparation since stock knowledge would do. But prestigious schools often offer difficult exams. You will need to review your previous lessons and perhaps study lessons in advance. Hence, this article will help you out by giving important tips (must-brings and must-dos) in order for you to surely pass the admissions tests and enter the university of your dreams!

If you are planning to enter one of the top 4 universities in the Philippines, you may really need to prepare for their entrance exam.

I've found a great page where you can be updated about the test dates, date of results and other helpful tips. It's this one: Academic Clinic.

You probably heard this all over again from your parents or teachers but you must really prepare and study (for most) entrance examinations. Preparation is the key to arm you psychologically and intellectually in taking up entrance examinations.

Here are the things you must do for pre-examination preparations:

• Enroll in a review center and/or buy review books - some people are more effective when studying on their own. But others aren't. Hence, review centers would be there to help them out in reviewing. Plus, the best thing about these centers is that they provide Mock Examinations. These will give you (if ever you decide to enroll) the "feeling" and the "environment" of taking up the exams. In such way, you are being prepared, so you won't get shocked during the real college entrance examination.
• Prepare your application forms in advance - avoid procrastination, prepare all your application forms as early as possible, so you can channel all your time reviewing without being hassled because you lack something in your forms. If you haven't gotten your application, I advise that you get them now (some can be retrieved online).
• Be serious about the lessons you are taking up right now - if you want to ace the examinations, be attentive to the discussions in your class. That way, you would reduce the time reviewing on these topics because you already know them, and the only thing you would do is to master them.

So the day of the examination comes, what are the things you must-do to increase your effectiveness in answering the questions?

• Wear comfortable clothing - when taking up the exams, you need to feel comfy. And wearing comfortable attire will do the trick. Plus, it psychologically set you into a thinking that you are just taking up a normal exam in a normal day. This would loosen you up, and will result to better efficiency in answering questions.
• Remain calm and avoid panicking - by panicking, you increase the chances of having the so called "mental block". So, you must remain calm. Remember also that haste is waste (e.g. resulting to carelessness). All you need to do is to budget your time wisely, allot about a minute per problem. And once you exceed that, move on. You need effective time management during the exam.
• Develop a strategy in answering - because time is so precious in taking up college entrance tests, it is suggested that you develop your own strategy in answering the questions. Other people mark the circles of the answer sheet and shade them 10 minutes before the time is up. This way, they can save up more time in answering the questions.
• Randomize - this is the last resort. If you weren't able to finish the exam within the allotted time, you just answer the remaining questions randomly. You may either shade all the Cs or shade randomly. Who knows, maybe you'll get lucky!

If you want to ace the exam you should bring the following items with you

• Test Permits and Other Necessary Documents - if you don't intend to take the exam (or go into the university you're supposed to take entrance exam on), feel free to leave this in your home. But of course, you won't do this. Or will you?
• ID/s - Other universities require you to bring with you your ID, so keep this in mind.
• Watch - again, time is really important in this scenario. Hence, you need to keep track of your time as you budget it wisely.
• Jacket - some venues/rooms, where entrance examinations are held, are extremely cold. If you are intolerant of coldness, it may affect your focus. So bring a jacket with you just to be sure.
• Tissue - Who knows? Maybe you'll have some emergency. You'll never know what would happen. Maybe because you're all tensed up, you end up nose bleeding. Nah, I know you can do it!
• Snacks and Water - entrance exams usually take up half a day. So, bring in snacks. If have empty stomach, you might lose concentration.
• Pencils and Pens - emphasis on the "s". Yes! Bring extra pens and pencils.
• Sharpener - just in case you break the tips of all your pencils (because you are extremely tensed up, nah kidding!).
• Eraser or Liquid Correction Pen - this is needed just in case you change your answers.
• Lucky Charms - okay. I really don't believe much in lucky charms, but these are surely effective in helping you relax and in being psychologically assured. This might help you think more effectively.(What do you think of Lucky Charms? Answer the poll on the upper right)

Okay, now that you have finished the exam, what should you do?

• Breathe out and relax - it's already done! Breathe out! You need to tell yourself that you've done a great job!
• Give yourself a pat on the back - taking up college entrance exam is not an easy thing to do. It exhausts you physically, mentally and emotionally. That's why you should celebrate and treat yourself with some ice cream!
• Take note of your reference code/number - you may need this one for checking your application status (i.e. results).
• Refer back to Pre-Examination Must-Dos for entrance examination of other colleges - others apply for more than one college so that they can have options. Thus, continue preparing for other exams.

Hopefully you found this article useful. Don't forget to share this with your friends so that they will have an idea of what they will be facing in college entrance exams. I'm sure you'll be doing them a great favor!

Good luck in your college application! Kindly check out also my other articles below.