HOW TO AVOID COMMON ERRORS FOR THE GCE PRACTICAL SESSION

Knowing how to handle situations ahead of time gives you, as a student an additional advantage over those that don’t know what to do and this can help you to avoid making common errors in the exam hall. Be it practical, MCQ or paper 2 of any topic.

I’m not going to assume that we don’t know because I know that we are at least prepared for the worst even though we still have the challenges of edifying our grades. This article is not, written to replace your reading but rather a method to polish your grades and bring out the best in you. 

Practical’s (for practical subjects)

To know how to conquer every subject, you need to follow their patterns and concepts to be able to tackle the challenges that results from it. 

For example, if you are writing ICT, it is possible that you might not learn all the required stuffs in the syllabus but you always know that there are stuffs that ICT can’t do without. Like a businessperson, hustle marks anyway you can. It is better to hustle than never to hustle because hustling that grade can transform your 49 to 50, or 79 to 80. Say to yourself “ONE MARK MATTER”.

Imagine that you have learned EXCEL and HTML. Sure, these are already sure areas for your session. Learn them to your fingertips and don’t stop there. One you know this, move to the one you think is simpler for you first. This can be: Pascal or ACCESS. Then conclude by brushing your HTML with CSS. Once you're done, learn the hard one. From there you see that you've prepared yourself in no time. 

In excel learn how to use a function from there you can apply some formulae when asked not to express your answer in terms of function. 

Access: you must get to the level of creating relationships if not query.  A good way to do that is by solving 3 good questions under access. 

You can apply this concept to the other sections. Answer at least 3-5 good questions that enables you to use all the properties of that section like HTML tags for example. 

You can comment below with a phone number if you need a list of HTML Tags and it will be, sent to you.

BIOLOGY: 

I’ve written an article on biology practical already. You can search it or browse it through the “HOME” button.

To avoid common errors in biology; 

• Always read the instructions
• Display your organs to the direction in which you are to display and it should be same with the diagram you have drawn on your answer booklets
• Always keep your dissecting specimen moist
• Do not allow dirt around your working station
• Always report broken instruments before you start working. (Let them confirm you can use it).
• Always read the question repeatedly to make sure that you are writing the expected answer.
• Make sure you revise all the types of experiments at the last minute to know what is supposed to be, used where. For example, you should know what would happen to your potato strip if it enters H2O, NaOH, and NaOH.

 I always functioned with the principle of:

It is better to enter 5 minutes late than to enter not knowing what to write of forgetting something.

 Even though I prepared myself at home during my time, it have saved me marks in the university. It is good to revise.

CHEMISTRY: 

What to do

• Always fill your manual and take your time to annotate diagrams where necessary. This is because every manual when submitted can give you a mark. This can propel you. So, do not underrate any part. 

• Secondly, make sure your manual is marked so that you are not, penalized  
• Always focus on reagents and reaction conditions when reading. This is because they will tell you what is going to happen during a reaction. For example, you enter the exam hall without knowing that phenolphthalein indicator is, used for an acid-base reaction or you don’t know that potassium per manganite is an oxidizing agent. If you don’t know their use, you can’t know their function.
• Revise your manual before submitting or revise old manuals you have

PHYSICS:

• Always fill and mark your manual. Make sure it is submitted. (Same with the others)
• Always start with stations because they will save you, time. This is because mainstreams will take more time to conclude whereas you seeing some stations you already know their result. I’ll explain some of these things in details in my upcoming article on Physics paper III.

The top of the class is not top because he's very intelligent but rather because he fails to complain when others are complaining but uses that time to know how it works. They don't study different things. They study the same things differently.

Now that you know what to do to avoid marks loss. Let us go, study, and make sure we obtain the marks we don’t want to give out. 

You can comment below or read some of my articles written specially for you.