Read but also rest during exams period
Senior Four students make last minute preparations as they enter examinations last year. Experts say many students forego rest in a bid to revise which is not good. FILE PHOTO
What you need to know:
- It is common to find students revising without any rest during examinations period. This gets tenser during the national ones.
- But this is not necessary if one took their time to prepare earlier in the term.
It is that time of the year when candidates write their national examinations. The Senior Four students are midway their Uganda Certificate Examinations whereas Senior Six and Primary Seven start this week. The rest of the students are also preparing for the end of year promotional exams. For most students, this is a period for extensive reading. They will read throughout the day and night and hardly spare time for rest. Anthony Kato, a Mathematics teacher, says although it is important for students to prepare thoroughly before Exams they also need enough rest during this period.
He recalls having missed his last paper of Health Science during his UCE exams because of exhaustion and fatigue.
“I would sleep at 1am and wake up at 4am and start revising. Unfortunately, I missed out on my last paper because I slept off during lunch break and by the time I woke up, I had a mental breakdown and I could not do anything at that time,” he narrates.
There are many students who find themselves staring at a book until the wee hours of the morning only to have a massive memory failure the next day in the exam because of exhaustion, says Michael Bhikusoka, the deputy head teacher Bright Secondary School, Seeta.
He says during the examination period, students need to actively participate in discussions with their colleagues rather than reading obsessively. He adds that resting will help the student’s brain to think well.
“When you do not get enough rest during examination period, the lack of sleep will actually cause your body more stress and you will literally be physically harming your body,” he says.
Timetable
To Veronica Mazzi, a Senior Six teacher for Literature in English at Paul Mukasa Senior Secondary School, students always get pressure towards exams because of failure to prepare enough prior.
She observes that some students have too much laxity during the course of the term only for them to start panicking towards examination period. She advises students to use the time before exams profitably.
In fact Marvin Ssemperaza, a Senior Six MEG/ICT student at Paul Mukasa Secondary School says when he joined Senior Six, he got accustomed to revising earlier in the term so he finds no issues now that he is starting national exams.
Similary, Jean Niwagaba, the head of the counselling department at Kyambogo University, says it is important for students to learn to revise systematically. She says students need to follow a specific schedule which they are used to so as to minimise pressure during the examination period.
Mazzi also advises schools especially those that have students in the boarding section to emphasise the importance of resting during this period.
“We always invite counsellors and external facilitators to talk to the candidates. They usually emphasise the importance of having a clear and fresh brain during examination period,” she says.
Medically, Dr Cohen Maliro of Blessed Medicare Centre, Nansana, says consistently getting quality sleep will improve the student’s mental, emotional, and physical performance.
He adds that enough rest also improves their immune system, balances hormones, boosts metabolism, and improves brain function.
He warns students against refusing to sleep at night saying this will make them dizzy, or sometimes cause headaches during daytime and as a result lack of concentration which will affect their performance.
