How to study to improve your KCSE grades

Students are always advised to work hard to improve their grades. I advise students to work smart in order to improve their KCSE grades.

Students who study smart pass their KCSE exams, they have time to play with their friends, they have leisure time and they enjoy life.

There are five things you have to do to study smart.

1. Eat the frog.

Frog is a very disgusting amphibian, which is normally not eaten. What it means by eat the frog, is do the most difficult, disgusting and boring thing first.

In other words, never procrastinate revising or studying the difficult subjects.

In the morning, the brain is fresh and relaxed, study the most difficult and hard subject.  After getting tired, study the easy subjects.

2. Big stones first

A story is told of a professor who came to class with a jar, sand, pebbles and big stones. He asked student to put the sand, pebbles and big stones in the jar. If the students started with sand it was difficult to fit all the pebbles and stones in the jar. But if you put big stones, then pebbles and lastly sand to fill the gaps between the pebbles and stones, it is possible to fit everything.

Similarly, as a student, have the priorities right. Do important things first and the least important last.

Studies are your big stones; other extracurricular activities are your pebbles. Friends, and non core activities are your sand.

Studies should take center stage in your life. Friends, leisure, games, movies take the side-line.

3. Study before going to class

Develop a habit of reviewing material that will be taught in a day before going to class.

This prepares your brain before the teacher comes to class. This also makes it easy to follow the teacher and understand better.

4. You are clever than you think

There are three types of students, those who understand by seeing (Visual), those who learn by hearing (Auditory) and those learn better by doing (Kinesthetic).

Most education system caters for visual students, who see something for the first time and they will never forget.

The Auditory group has to repeat something several times for it to stick in their brain. The kinesthetic group is very good in practicals.

Know your style of learning and capitalize on it to improve your grades. Majority of students fall under the auditory category that has to repeat something many times for it to stick in their head. Do exactly that!

5. Know the exam

Look at past exam papers, see how questions are set. Scrutinize the order of questions. Check which topics are examined in each section and each paper. Compare papers from different schools, different district, different terms, and years. See if there are questions that are repeated.

By doing this you are well prepared on how to tackle the exam.

Go now and study SMART and not HARD!