The 2024 Higher Education Institutions Exam is in its final hours. Üsküdar Üniversitesi Education Institutions and Guidance Services Manager Ertuğrul Tut advised, “During the exam, apply the tactic you've been most successful with, and don't get stuck on questions. You might experience mental blindness on some questions; mark them and move on to the next…”
Üsküdar Üniversitesi Education Institutions and Guidance Services Manager Ertuğrul Tut offered advice to students who will take the 2024 Higher Education Institutions Exam, which will be held in three sessions on June 8-9 and will be attended by over 3 million candidates, just hours before the exam.
It's a good thing for anxiety to be at a certain level
Guidance Services Manager Ertuğrul Tut stated that while candidates are anxious hours before the exam, parents are also anxious, saying, “It's actually a good thing for anxiety to be at a certain level. This also motivates the student. Basically, one needs to get the system used to the exam. Families also need to psychologically prepare the student. Some families exaggerate the process too much, starting to behave differently than ever before. This increases anxiety. Let's continue our daily routines. On the other hand, let's not forget the existence of the exam.”
They get motivated for the exam after the first 10 minutes
Ertuğrul Tut stated that motivation might fluctuate during the exam, saying, “Our focus point might start to disappear. It's not a negligible amount of time. Focus might not remain constant. Students might experience this even before the exam. But after the first 10 minutes of the exam, they become motivated for it. They focus. After half an hour, 40 minutes, there might be disconnections again. At that moment, they shouldn't be influenced by seeing other students eagerly solving or trying to solve questions around them.”
YKS is a ranking exam
Emphasizing that the university exam is a ranking exam, Guidance Services Manager Ertuğrul Tut offered the following suggestions on what should be done during the exam:
“When we achieve the ranking for the department of our target university, we have already succeeded. Therefore, to avoid falling behind in the race, it is necessary to pay attention to certain things during the exam.
Apply the tactic you've been most successful with!
There can be questions that students get stuck on. Or tactics they applied in previous practice exams. The student needs to apply the tactic they are accustomed to and most successful with during the exam. Secondly, they should not get stuck on questions. Sometimes we can experience mental blindness on some questions. Therefore, the moment we experience this, we should leave the question, put a mark next to it, and move on to the next question. Later, when we find another gap, returning to that question helps prevent mental blindness.”
The biggest problem in recent years is the time problem…
Ertuğrul Tut also touched upon the important issue of coding in the exam, saying, “What we recommend is not coding in blocks. When you finish a page, a column, and then code those questions, you reduce your margin of error. The biggest problem experienced in recent years is the time problem. Especially in the verbal section. Turkish questions have very long paragraphs. They want to distinguish between students who read and those who don't. When you look at the question, it's not very difficult; if you had a bit more time, perhaps you would easily manage. But it's also necessary to use time well in this regard. That is, candidates must have time control.”
As anxiety rises, the need for water increases
Guidance Services Manager Ertuğrul Tut also stated that as anxiety and stress levels rise, dry mouth increases, saying, “Therefore, the need for drinking water increases. There are also some breathing tactics to reduce anxiety, such as deep breathing, breathing through the nose… If candidates pay a little attention to these, they will at least suppress anxiety a bit more. When they get very stuck, when they struggle a lot, when they feel very bad, they should stop and take a breath for 10 seconds.”
The post-exam process is much more important…
Ertuğrul Tut also noted that the university exam is given more meaning than it should because it is seen as the first step in a profession or career, concluding his words by saying, “The process after the exam is actually much more important. The situation when choosing a profession is much more important.”