学会考试

Learn How to Take Exams

> By Li Xiaolai · 2007-09-25 · [Original (web archive)](https://web.archive.org/web/20111113102027/http://www.lixiaolai.com/archives/148.html) (Chinese)
> Our translation from the Chinese original.

There's almost no one who doesn't hate exams. Because in the end exams have only two incarnations: either a pass, or a tiger blocking the road. No one likes a tiger blocking the road. The dislike takes many forms: fearing exams, loathing exams, or, the other way round, mocking exams.

Actually, everyone likes a pass, especially when only a few people have one. In fact, there are many roads in this world that can get you to the happiness you want, but every road requires a pass. It's just that, besides exams, passes come in many other forms: common ones such as money and power; less common ones such as beauty, talent, or hard struggle outside the system; and even rarer ones such as winning the Mark Six lottery or the like.

I taught TOEFL at New Oriental for six years, which in a sense completely changed my former attitude toward exams. Those six years, in a special environment, gave me the chance to witness the hard struggle of tens of thousands of people struggling one after another to get a pass, and also to witness how precious the pass is—in the end only 10% of people got one.

Sometimes changing your attitude really can change the world. At least, if you change your attitude, you'll find that your world has changed. If you calmly weigh your own resources and find that you have to get your pass by way of an exam, then you'd better start loving exams today. A certain exam may be stupid, but the fact that a certain exam is stupid can sometimes prove this conclusion: if you can't even pass such a stupid exam, then it's not only the exam itself that's stupid.

The reason to love exams is simple: it's a pass; it means opportunities, opportunities that others without this pass can't get. Although some people may get that opportunity in other ways, since you have no other way, don't complain—complaining is useless anyway. Complaining wastes the most time, even when the complaint is right. Take an extreme example. If this society really is unfair, there's of course nothing wrong with complaining a bit. But complaining not only takes time, it also triggers negative emotions and makes you lose your fighting spirit. At the same time, complaining by itself won't change any facts. Rather than waste time complaining about unfairness, you'd do better to spend the time on efforts that can really change something.

You, loving exams, should certainly be motivated to do a lot of preparation for them. First, figure out how much this exam weighs for you. If it matters a lot to you, then you must put in hard work. If it doesn't matter that much to you, then learn from Yang Zirong taking Tiger Mountain by strategy!

For example, in your first and second years of university, none of the exams in school matter. Don't go for high marks; good enough is fine. "Good enough is fine" means a bit above the passing mark is enough. If you have a transcript like this: an average of 70 across all subjects in first year, an average of 80 in second year, and an average of 85 or even 95 in third year (all specialized courses by then), then when you apply to study abroad you will have a huge advantage. But the vast majority of applicants to study abroad have transcripts like this: an average of 90 in first year (they hadn't found a romantic partner yet, and all they knew was studying every day), an average of 80 in second year (romance takes so much time!), an average of 65 in third year (the specialized courses got harder, and on top of that, rotten luck, they got dumped!), and the result can well be imagined.

For another example, for many university students the CET-4 English exam is very important, because it more or less affects whether you graduate; but the CET-6 English exam isn't that important. In terms of preparation, the TOEFL is very important, because it directly affects whether you have a chance to study abroad after graduating; and if you prepare well for the TOEFL and get a high final score, there's no way you'll trip and fall in the little gutter of the CET-4.

There are also many unwritten rules at university. For example, some teachers, although they seem to set exam questions very seriously for the final exam, actually grade by attendance; some teachers will hint at the key points of the final exam in very veiled ways; you'd better spend some time asking your senior schoolmates about it, so that later you can attack when advancing and defend when retreating. [Translator's note: the original writes 进可攻退可首, a garbled form of 进可攻退可守, "attack when advancing, defend when retreating"; translated by the intended sense] Use your intelligence to put yourself in an unbeatable position; whether what comes is the Eastern Heretic or the Western Venom, the Iron Constable or Oboi, just block soldiers with generals and dam water with earth. [Translator's note: the Eastern Heretic and Western Venom are characters from Jin Yong's novels, and Oboi is the Qing regent; 铁捕 ("Iron Constable") is not explained in the original; translated literally]

As for very important exams, the ones that will eventually become passes for you—such as the gaokao, the postgraduate entrance exam, the TOEFL and the GRE—don't even think about outsmarting them, about shortcuts, about crash courses; none of it stands a chance. In fact, very few exams test your IQ; in essence, whoever prepares longer and more thoroughly is more likely to win—especially in well-designed exams like the SAT, TOEFL, IELTS, GRE and GMAT.

It's best to start preparing in your first year for these exams that are very important for your future. If you're not that hard up financially, try to take some prep course nearby, never mind whether it's New Oriental. A training course isn't like an exam, where you have to be prepared before you go; in fact, it's only after attending the classes that you know what to prepare. If you can't afford to go to classes, don't regret missing the jokes either: anywhere you go, good teachers are always a minority, and it's not your fault if you don't meet one. The internet is a good thing: as long as you can read and know how to use a search engine, you can always find a lot of useful information. Spend a month or so, and anyone can get to know a given exam quite well.

After that, find ways to collect materials. Past papers, question banks, and other reference books. Ask other people a lot, but before you ask, be sure to try your best to find the answer yourself; if you really can't find it, write it down. If all you ask are questions whose answers can be found anywhere, people can't be bothered to help you. If you bother someone over and over again, it'd be hard for him not to get fed up with you—so it's best to sort out all the questions you want to ask in advance, which is convenient for you and for others.

The best way to prepare for an exam is to do questions. Only, don't do them passively. Be serious about every question. Every question surely corresponds to some learning difficulty. If you get a question wrong, it means you haven't sorted out that learning difficulty; quickly write it down, and afterward do comprehensive remedial study. Even if you get it right, look at the other options too, and think about which common errors they target. [Translator's note: the original writes 那些 ("those"), a slip for 哪些, "which"; translated by the intended sense] People who don't have the habit of organizing as they do questions will never get a high-level pass in any exam, even with a good teacher watching over them all day.

Organizing while doing questions isn't enough. You also have to find time often to re-examine your records. Very often, the problem can only be pinned down through repetition. [Translator's note: the original writes 便做题边整理, a slip for 边做题边整理, "organizing while doing questions"; translated by the intended sense] Some days ago, a friend published a translation. When we had a meal together, he sighed, "I've found two more errors; how embarrassing!" I consoled him: "Actually, this is perfectly normal. You know, if you go and get your head shaved, no matter how careful the barber is, in the end there are always a few hairs left……" By the same reasoning, to get a pass, preferably a high-level one, what we can do is eliminate our possible errors. So the more times we repeat, the less likely errors are to remain.

If you're a perfectionist and always want to go one level higher, there is another ultimate technique—teach what you've learned to others. Teaching is the best method. Clearly expressing things you think you understand is not as easy as you imagine. Sometimes, if you fail to explain something clearly to others, it may be that you haven't thought it through yourself. More often, the questions of the person being taught make you discover that your ideas still have many gaps. Don't be stingy with your time, don't be stingy with your energy, and still less be short-sighted; remember, teaching others is the same as learning yourself, and only those who have learned well can teach others. In addition, as time goes by, your experience of sharing knowledge without stinting will eventually make you understand that this is the best way to take pleasure in helping others, and that what you gain from it can only ever be respect.

To sum up:

0. Love exams, because you like passes.
1. Distinguish how important an exam is.
2. Start preparing for important exams long in advance.
3. Doing questions is the best way to prepare.
4. Learn the key points and difficulties of the exam by doing questions.
5. Do comprehensive remedial study on the difficulties and key points, and re-examine them often.
6. Teaching is the best way to learn.

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