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I had a disappointment last week. A Masterclass on how to pass MCQ’s which I had been planning to run next weekend had such a poor response that I had to cancel it. Partly the reason was my fault – it’s important to take ownership of your mistakes. And partly it was down to an advert which was supposed to run on a critical date being forgotten by the publishers. Oh well, brush myself off, learn from the mistakes, and move forward to the next one in July (link).

It just goes to show that just like exams, running an event carries a risk of failure, and you have to accept that. Anything which is worthwhile carried a risk of failure – where, for example, would the sense of achievement be in walking along a wide, flat path on the floor (unless you were drunk)? Compare that to walking along a tightrope several metres in the air. What’s the difference between the easy path and the tightrope walk? It’s the skill and dedication required to do the latter, and the willingness to go ahead despite the possibility of falling off.

I had an exam coaching client recently, who told me “I have to pass this exam…I can’t afford to fail.” That’s quite a statement, and if it’s framed in a positive light, can be highly motivating. However this kind of self-talk can also be quite negative, and actually lead the person towards failure rather than away from it. If this client is saying to himself “I can’t fail…failing would be a disaster…I’ve got to make sure I don’t fail…” he’s doing two things. Firstly he’s focusing his attention on the thing he wants to avoid, which according to some NLP practitioners (this isn’t something you can easily prove scientifically) makes it more likely his subconscious will find ways of achieving failure (This is rather like walking along a tightrope saying in your head: “Mustn’t fall off…. Mustn’t fall off”) And secondly, he may well be increasing his levels of stress unnecessarily to the point where the worry itself starts to impede his performance. So what should you do about worries about failure?

Here are a few handy hints:

1. Accept that failure is a possibility (anything else is self-delusion!)

2. Perform a reality check on failure – what would actually happen if you failed the exam? For most people, a bit of embarrassment and annoyance, and the inconvenience of having to sit it again.

3. Tell yourself that you could cope with those consequences – not like them, but cope with them.

4. Now, focus on passing.

I talked previously about the ‘success mindset’, and I’m hoping that you’ve taken that on board, but sometimes it helps to be clear about the other side of the coin, just to ‘ram’ the point home. So is there a failing mindset that has been identified by educational psychologists? Yes there is! Now, like everything in psychology, I am describing tendencies and correlations here – so if you are a person who performs brilliantly in your exams, and have some (or perhaps all) of the traits described here, then all I can say is ‘well done and good luck to you’.

However, if you are struggling, and recognise some of your traits here, then maybe there are a few clues about how you might need to begin the process of change. The mindset which strongly correlates with exam failure and underperformance is often called the ‘surface learner’. The surface is learner is uncritical and unquestioning, as Schmeck (1993) described them:

"…we have adults who do not see it as their function to reflect, form opinions, evaluate, disagree, oppose, challenge, conceptualise or integrate information in meaningful ways. We have adults who plod along without thought until, at roughly 10 year intervals, they have what has come to be popularly known as the ‘mid-life crisis’ - permitting themselves for one brief period to ask ‘what does it all mean?’"

Ouch!

Surface learners are people who, in the psychological lingo, tend to have an external locus of control. In other words they believe that their success depends largely on factors outside of their control, and so there is little that they can do to change their chances of success. With this belief on board, it tends to become a self-fulfilling prophesy - believe that you are impotent, and you will tend not to put in much effort, and so your success WILL depend largely on external factors! Surface learners tend not to question or think about what they are actually doing. They tend to focus on the process of learning (turning up to classes, handing in work on time, reading their textbooks) rather than what it’s all about. Surface learners tend to view education as something that is done to them; rather than something they actively take part in.

If you recognise some of your traits in this description, then maybe it’s time to challenge yourself and make some changes. You are not a god. You are not totally in control of everything in your life. Sometimes you will have bad days, and rotten luck. But you do have a lot of ability to affect what happens in your exams. By taking control and responsibility, you change your own attitude and also have a big effect on your likelihood of success. Don’t be spoon-fed: grab that spoon and feed yourself!

I’m just finished writing a short series on Exam Technique for the British Medical Journal (BMJ), which I hope will be published in a few weeks. Now I can’t copy it here word for word due to copyright restrictions, but I will let you in on the basic ideas contained in the four articles.

You can think of exam preparation in three stages – study (lasting several months, hopefully); revision (a few weeks) and performance (the last 24-48 hrs). However, before getting down to any of these, we need to address the matter of attitude. With a positive attitude, you can address the challenge with a bit of energy and verve. With the wrong attitude, the most effective strategies or tactics will fall flat.

The psychologist Albert Bandura introduced the concept of self-efficacy, which is central to meeting a challenge like an exam. Self efficacy is more specific than just feeling good about yourself (that’s self-esteem), it means having a belief in your ability to make things happen. Without that belief, it’s difficult to motivate yourself into even trying to get anything done. Self-efficacy is strongly correlated to success both at work and in academic settings. Although it’s preferable to have a self-image based (at least largely) in reality, if you overestimate your abilities a bit, it will probably become a virtuous cycle, as your strong belief in your abilities motivates you to try harder, and so leads to more success.

How do you develop a sense of self-efficacy? Well it’s partly about just starting to realising that you have a lot more power in your life that you may think – the examiners may set the questions, but you are in control of how much study you do, how well you manage your time and stress, and so on. Once you realise that you have some power, use it. In a teaching context, taking an active rather than passive role can improve your enjoyment as well as the educational benefit you get from it. Ask questions, challenge ideas, think about what you’ve been told, rather than just accepting it all.

If you believe that your success is largely down to things outside of your control – your teachers or luck in getting the right questions, remember the story of the world champion golfer (this story has been variously attributed to Arnold Palmer, Gary Player and Jerry Barber, but the point of the story is the same, whoever said it).

A golfer made a brilliant shot near the end of a difficult round, and someone in the crowd was heard to remark, “Oh, what a lucky shot!”

The golfer turned to the spectator, and smiled:

“Yeah, and you know what?” he said, “The more I practice, the luckier I get!”

Get lucky – put in some practice for those exams!

Gosh, I just realised it’s been two weeks since my last blog – it’s really flown by! More talk of exams has been buzzing through our house lately, as my son has been doing the dreaded SAT’s. Actually I think a bit the old block has chipped off, because he seems to be one of those people who finds exams easy – he’s got the exam knack. I was going to give him a bit of a boost with a couple of sessions of hypnosis, but in the end I never got around to it, and he was still fine!

The SAT exams have been in the news lately, because of suggestions that UK children are among the most ‘examined in the world’. I’m not sure if that includes China, where the pressure in education from primary to postgraduate seems to be ferocious, if various documentaries are to be believed. However, there is a growing concern in the UK that the frequency and extent of exams in schools are becoming more of a distraction from education than a contributor to it.

As I’ve said before, exams can have several functions – measure of potential, measure of achievement, predictor and motivator. However, exams, especially pen and paper ones, do only measure a small proportion of a child (or adults) abilities. And in the ‘industrial scale’ education system we have now there is a great tendency to measure what is measureable, rather than measure what matters. As schools find themselves under pressure to perform in league tables, they push (this verb could be anything from ‘encourage’ to ‘demand’) teachers to take time to prepare children for the test. And for what? To increase standards, we are told. And how are these standards judged – by test results of course. Mmmm – tautology anyone?