I have a good friend who is an excellent programmer. Due to some problems in the company's capital chain, he has been looking for a job recently. A good company contacted him and then conducted a 3-hour written test + interview.

After finishing, I asked him: "How was it?"

He said: "It's okay, but unfortunately there is a question that I didn't answer. It's actually quite simple. I remembered it as soon as I got in the car. "

The question is: 3, 1, 3, 6. In order, use +-*/ to get 8. Don't ask Du Niang, think about it yourself first.

1. There is no need to take exams after graduating from college?

People nowadays are likely to be exposed to various exams throughout their lives. Many professions require qualification examinations; even if it is not a school recruitment, many large companies will conduct a round of written examinations in social recruitment, especially for technical or consulting and analysis positions.

Unless you reach the level of Brother Qiangdong and can make a huge difference with the resources at hand, there is a high possibility that even if you graduate, you will still have to face various exams, so the skills in the exam are very important to you. Winning various opportunities is very important.

Many people say that they are not the kind of player who can improvise on the spot and can never perform at their best. In fact, exams, like anything else, have rules to follow. By practicing and mastering skills, you can achieve better results.

A few years ago, I read a book called "A Mind For Numbers" (translated as "The Way of Learning", not the book "The Way of Learning" by chess master Josh Waitzkin), written by It's Barbara Oakley, a professor of engineering at the University of Auckland.

This book discusses learning from a cognitive science perspective. Although judging from the English questions, it seems to be aimed at science students who deal with numbers, it is actually suitable for people from all walks of life. Later, because this book was very popular, it was adapted into an online course and placed on Coursera. It was given a more user-friendly name "Learning How to Learn". Barbara taught in person and was more interactive than a book. better.

The second half of the book and course talks about exam preparation techniques, which are very inspiring. Later, I applied the techniques and successfully passed the CPA exam with high scores.

2. Preparation before the exam: rest before the big exam

When I was studying, there were always rumors on campus that there were two or three people who stayed up all night to pass the high math test, or major physics (college physics) ) and other legendary stories. I myself have had the experience of reviewing late into the night many times before exams. In fact, with this kind of preparation method, it is basically impossible to get the best score in the exam - even if you have the ability. There are two reasons:

1) Being tired before the exam will affect your performance during the exam the next day. You don't push yourself to run 20 kilometers the day before a marathon. The same goes for exams. Staying up late before the exam will only make you enter the exam room with cotton under your feet and a head full of paste.

2) Focusing on reviewing a certain knowledge point before the exam will narrow your brain and lack overall thinking. Regarding global thinking, the following section provides a more detailed introduction.

The correct approach is: the day before the exam, quickly browse the materials one last time and review the knowledge you have learned. My own habit is to take out the mind map I summarized the day before the exam and review all the knowledge points from a higher perspective. The key here is to grasp the knowledge as a whole and review the connections between the knowledge instead of getting entangled in the details of a certain knowledge point.

3. During the exam: take a deep breath, and then go from difficult to easy, from back to front

1) Take a deep breath to drive away tension

Under pressure, people will Cortisol is released, and your heart starts to race, your palms get sweaty, and in severe cases, you may get a stomachache. To relieve tension, deep breathing and meditation exercises can be helpful. You can find a quiet place to do this exercise 15 minutes before the test. Regular practice will make it easier for you to enter the state on the spot and achieve better results. This method can also be used in any situation where you feel nervous, such as before an important presentation.

How to deal with stress is a big topic. Due to space limitations, I will not expand on it and will write a separate article later.

2) From difficult to easy questions

The advice most people get is to pick the fruit first and answer the easy questions first. But in fact, starting with hard problems but quickly moving on to easier ones is, in many cases, a better strategy.

This seems a bit counterintuitive. To explain this problem, we need to start with the two thinking modes of the human brain: Focused Mode and Diffuse Mode.

You can use the marble game you played as a child to illustrate the difference between the two modes.

In the focus mode, the marbles move along the habitual route of thinking (such as the red path in the left picture above), activating relevant areas in your brain. For example, if the exam question is calculus, then after seeing the question, you will naturally think of the Newton-Leibniz formula, then find the variables and use the formula to answer the question.

So, what if after reading the question, you don’t know which knowledge point you need to use to answer it? This is when you need to use divergent mode.

In the divergent mode, the marbles can travel along random routes throughout the brain area (such as the red path in the picture on the right above). In this process, you can scan all your knowledge from a wider perspective, and then "aha", you find that this problem can be answered with another piece of knowledge (such as the black path in the left picture above). Binggo! Problem solved.

The mistake my programmer friend made in the written test was that he failed to look at the problem from a new perspective in time (omitting 200 words of spoilers here).

Once you understand how the brain works, you can easily understand why the following practices have unexpected effects:

Step 1: When you get the test paper, quickly browse it to understand Overview of test questions.

Step 2: When you start solving problems, start with the ones that seem the hardest.

Step 3: When you have no idea or are not sure whether your idea is correct, skip this question within a minute or two. Starting with a difficult problem will leave an impression on your mind and prompt the divergent mode to start operating in your subconscious mind. When you finish other questions and turn your attention back to this difficult problem, you will often be pleasantly surprised to find that you have new ideas.

An efficient chef can quickly prepare a cold cucumber and a stir-fried cabbage while waiting for the braised pork to be stewed. Then, you're done!

3) Check from back to front

When I was studying, I had this experience many times. No matter how I checked in the examination room, I couldn't find anything wrong. As soon as I left the examination room, I stared at the flow of people and slapped my head: It's broken, I did it wrong.

The human brain easily falls into a fixed focused mode of thinking (Focused Mode). If you generally answer questions from front to back, then checking back to front can help you look at your answers from different angles.

4. Extended application of strategies

The core of the above strategies is to help you freely switch between focused mode and divergent mode. This strategy is not only useful in exams, but can be used everywhere in daily life.

In my own job, I often need to send some important financial data reports to company executives. My habit is that after completing the report and before sending it out, I leave the workstation for a walk for 5 minutes and then come back. In doing so, we often make unexpected discoveries. This trick also works wonders when doing some analytical reports and your ideas are stuck.

Book review guru Mole’s Potato mentioned her habit of writing book reviews. After writing it the day before, read the article again the next day to check overall whether there are any mistakes.

Many famous artists and scientists in history are also masters of freely changing their thinking patterns. It is said that Edison had a habit of relaxing in his chair with marbles (ball bearings) in his hands and thinking about his work aimlessly. When he was about to fall asleep, the marble hit the ground with a "ding" sound, which woke him up. At this time, he could enter the focused mode from the divergent thinking mode and deepen an idea. It seems that many of the old man's inventions may have come from the inspiration of marbles falling to the ground.

Exams, like inventions and creations, have a certain element of luck.

However, if you skillfully use the exam strategies mentioned above and prepare according to the exam checklist (see below), I believe luck will be on your side:) Finally, I wish everyone success in the exam!

Attached: Pre-exam checklist.

This list was designed by legendary educator Richard Felder. Although this list was originally designed for engineers, it is applicable to a wide variety of areas.

1. Have you worked hard to understand the text? Just finding examples with solutions in the text does not count.

2. Have you discussed the homework questions with your classmates, or at least checked the answers with others? Have you ever tried outlining each assignment before discussing it with your classmates?

3. Do you actively participate in discussions in the homework group, contribute your own opinions and ask questions? When you have a problem, do you go to your lecturer or teaching assistant?

4. Did you know the answers to all the questions when you handed in your homework? Did you ask questions in class and seek answers to questions you didn’t understand in the homework? If you had a tutorial book, did you read it thoroughly before the exam and felt confident that you understood all the questions in the book? Have you tried to skip specific calculations and quickly write down some solutions to some problems?

5. Have you reviewed the content in the tutorial book and other questions with your classmates and asked each other? If there was a review class before the exam, did you take it and ask questions about the parts you were unsure about?

6. Is the sleep schedule reasonable before the final exam? If your answer is "no", then the answers to all the previous questions may not be important

This is the second article of my growth tips. The first article is: These 5 pitfalls in learning English. How many have you been hit by? ｜Use my 20 years of experience in learning English to help you clear mines

Comments, private messages, and exchange of your views are welcome:)