Concentration the key to success in exams
I.M. Soni

One difference between a person who comes out in flying colours in an examination and the one who fails, is that the former is focused, the latter, scattered in thought.

Watch the two sitting in an examination hall, answering questions. The former is a picture of concentration. He is totally immersed in writing. The latter is constantly rotating his neck left and right. He is busy overseeing his neighbour’s copy.

Watch two girls studying in a library. One is deep in her work. The latter is watching and studying the fashion of others.

Distraction, diversion and division of the mind are the culprits. Watch out for these 3 Ds.

Does your mind go a wool-gathering? Are you a scatterbrain? If you lack focus and concentration, you are wooing failure.

You have to write important letters, office reports, projects but are also distracted by entertainments. You want to watch television programmes. You want to visit a restaurant and so on.

There have other digressions. You have a library of video and audio cassettes. You want to play them. There are ads — silly and stale. They assault your senses.

Little wonder that you have difficulty in keeping to the task you should be doing. Your mind is working overtime, as it is on doing tasks on the fringe, neglecting the ones that are central and crucial.

The points that follow here will produce lasting results. Do not hurry. The mulberry leaf produces silk not in a day.

The girl who cannot focus on an essay on female foeticide has her mind focused on ‘Ash’ or ‘Sush.’ Similarly, the one who cannot give her mind to newspaper reading, has a lot of it on fancy dresses and fashion shows.

The girl whose thoughts wander from psychology notes gladly goes over matrimonial ads because she is looking for a suitable match.

This shows the way: concentration is easy when you are interested. Lack of focus means lack of interest. To concentrate on something, stop trying to concentrate on it. Instead, devote energy to increasing your interest in the subject.

For example: instead of saying to yourself: How can I become good at writing?”, say to yourself, “How can I be interested in the art and craft of writing?”

Watch the results.

Now, comes the question of techniques for improving concentration. The most important factor is to reduce the distractions. Reduce them to the minimum.

I happened to visit a friend’s house. His daughter was preparing for the civil services examinations. The television was on. She explained, “I can concentrate even when the TV is on.”

This is how youngsters nurse illusions. The hint to aspiring youngsters is clear: distractions should be reduced in number. Or eliminated if you are trying to go up the slippery ladder of success.

Fix the working hours. For example, 6 am to 7 am newspaper reading. Teabreak. Next one hour, preparing for college or university. All that makes for organisation and efficiency.

Make it known to time stealers that you are unavailable. You have eliminated time-wasters. Tell others that they should come only after a ring. Many distractions are eliminated.

You must make it a point to fix a place for study, writing work. It should be the same place in your house, where distractions are nil or negligible.

Gather all the things you need before you begin work. Be comfortable and at ease. See that you do not have to run for a pen, piece of paper, dictionary or even a pin. A small distraction may result in a big disturbance. You may not return to your work.

Study requires the examination of many facts and facets to pass an examination, to write an essay or report. These are typical situations in which you are likely to say that you cannot cope. You may even be tempted to say that you are mentally incapable of it.

Concentration is not linked to mental ability. It is linked with your ability to put your mind on focus. Just believe that you have the ability to work on the project in hand.

When Madame Curie was involved in her work, she often burnt her fingers. So intense was her concentration.