Dear Aunt Noor,

I am studying the last year of high school. As you know exams are less than a month away. The problem is that I cannot concentrate while studying. Sometimes when I finish studying, I cannot remember what I studied. Therefore, I tend to quit and stop focusing. My parents always nag on me to study.

Honestly, I want to get impressive mark, but how?

Helpless Student

Dear Ahlam,

You have two problems which are common among students before exams. Let's talk about each problem and how can you solve it:

1- You can’t concentrate:

This happens because of the tension and the pressure of feeling that the exams are near and you haven’t prepared yourself yet. It also happens because of the exhaustion and the tiredness you feel caused by too much studying. Therefore, the solution for this problem is to do the following:

• Try to study at dawn time because your mind is fresh then.

• Stay away from anything that could distract your concentration while studying like voices, a messy place, and other interruption like answering the phone or chatting with family members who come in and out of your room.

• Pay attention while studying and try to study while sitting straight and avoid lying down.

• Use the summarize way while studying. Write down your notes and highlight all the important things. It would also help if you raise your voice while studying.

2- Forgetting what you have studied:

This happens because the pressure put on you by yourself or maybe your parents as I understood.

To help you to solve that problem I suggest you to follow this advice:

• Trust yourself that you can pass the exam and score high marks. Never feel that your information got mixed or something like that.

• Try to study different subjects in the same day instead of studying the same subject the whole time. For example, study a few pages of Arabic then a few pages of math and after that maybe you can choose English and so on. After that try to answer questions from previous final exams and try to evaluate what you have studied and if you feel any weakness in some parts then review those parts.

• Use most of your senses while studying. See, speak out, imagine, and write the things you are studying.

• Whenever you have the chance to explain to your friends, don’t hesitate because that would help a lot to keep the information in your mind.

To ask Aunt Noor for her Advice , email her at noor@yemenpost.net