By Victor Ochieng’
vochieng.90@gmail.com
Yesterday, when the sun was twilighting and the night was about to fall; Michael Masinde and I, joined Paul Wanyonyi for a speaking engagement in Loreto High School-Limuru. It is where we escorted the sun to sunset. We wended there to guide the candidate class on how to run the last lap (homestretch) with great grace. In our presentation: Mistakes Teachers and Candidates Make When in Close Range with KCSE, took the centre stage. It is what has prompted son of the Lake to write right about some of those grievous goofs.
- Candidates and teachers thinking about leakage
It is a massive mistake for candidates to stop working hard and begin relying on leakage. This is what makes some candidates to sneak phones into schools because someone somewhere lied to them that they would access success in KCSE through leakage. Lack of exam integrity is a mistake that can put the school, principals, teachers and students at a precarious position. Lack of exam integrity can lead to cancellation of results. This in turn can put the whole centre at a bad position. Also, when candidates cheat in KCSE and scoop good grades, KUCCPS may place them in careers which they lack both the attitude and aptitude to study. Lassitude, a state of physical or mental weariness and lack of energy, has been listed as one of the factors that causes students to drop various courses in colleges and universities.
- Candidates thinking about comfort
During homestretch, a lot of pressure is piled on candidates. The programme becomes air-tight. Tension tightens like a rope. They wake up early and sleep late. There are a lot of academic talks delivered by guest examiners. The revision programme is intensive and extensive. All these activities can invite fatigue. Being human, candidates can see the programmes to be tedious and tiresome. Most of them can feel tired. In such instances, the grievous mistake teachers can commit is to listen to calls for comfort from candidates. By and large, the intense pressure is necessary. Even gold and diamond are products of this intense pressure.
- Candidates requesting for their own time
This is a mistake committed mostly by the bright students. Some of them get to a point where they are attacked by stupid pride. Or hubris – excess self-confidence and pride. This is when they are tempted to jettison the experience of teachers, then they decide to skive lessons, revision programmes, exams, academic talks, et cetera. Some of them feel that they know better. Yet, some of them know very little, and the little they know they don’t it well. Teachers should not entertain such peccadillos at any cost. Candidates need strict supervision up to the last minute. Teachers’ eternal vigilance and surveillance is of essence.
- Indiscipline cases slowing up academic programmes
A major mistake committed by most candidates is choosing to walk down the path of indiscipline. Some of the indiscipline cases committed by candidates include: defiance of authority, disobedience, abusing drugs, wearing wrong school uniform, having unacceptable hair style, use of vulgar (obscene) language, vandalising school property, boycotting classes, refusal to perform duties, theft, assault, incitement, organising or participating in strikes and plunging in sexual perversion. In day schools, truancy or absenteeism, is a big issue that can dent KCSE performance. Coupling is mixed schools is a mistake that candidates commit. Such that when you get to candidate class you may think it is a couples’ seminar. In the process, administration and teachers waste time and dissipate energy solving cases. Instead of channeling the energy to teaching and tutelage, they spend eternity in correcting aberrant behaviour.
- Teachers stopping to run an examination system
Peak performance is preceded by ample practice and preparation. Practice makes perfect. Practice makes permanent. Practice is the battle field in which perfection is won. Therefore, schools prone to Best Academic Practices (BAP), run as many exams as possible. For when schools fail to run exams because it is late: How will they identify gaps? How will they teach the art of exams? How will they dispel examination fear and fever? How will they steady their nerves?
- Focusing more on revision at the expense of content mastery
After syllabus coverage, it is important to embark on intensive and extensive revision programme. Albeit, it is important to note that it is a mistake to focus on revision of past exam papers without putting premium on stupendous content mastery strategies. Candidates should focus on cyclic reading of notes and core course books from Form One to Four. They should engage in voracious readings of KCSE set texts so as to avoid textual and factual error. Reading that is (de)void of reading skills is also a big mistake. Good reading that enhances mastery, memory and retention focuses on four things: textual marking, textual annotation, repetition and note making. In addition, there are group discussion activities that enhances content mastery. They include: peer teaching, group consultation, group exams, making of marking schemes and copying of marking schemes.
- Students giving up
The biggest mistake candidates can commit is to choose to give up. In most cases, discouragement, disillusionment or despondency comes after a series of failure in exams and character issues. Yet, through several trials, every candidate can repair any form of despair. This justifies the essence of spiritual and pep talks staged to prop up candidates who are at the verge of giving up. The best person to learn from is Thomas A. Edison, the American inventor-cum-investor. After failing for 10,000 times in his attempts to invent the light bulb, he concluded: I have not failed, I have only found 10,000 ways that won’t work. No wonder, Winston Churchill had to say this about success and failure: “Success is moving from failure to failure without the loss of enthusiasm.”
The writer guides candidates on how to prepare for KCSE and KCPE with special focus on Examination Skills and Techniques.
