How to Pass Examinations
If I remember correctly, it was in March last year. On a radio program
an announcer interviewed young men who had succeeded in the entrance examination
for Tokyo University directly upon graduation from high school. He asked them how
they had studied in preparation for the examination. I had a special interest
in the answers which the best three of them gave to him.
The three students had one thing in common: trying to keep their study
rooms in good order, which means that their rooms were always ready for
them to study. They said that everything they needed in their everyday
planned studies was always found in its right place, by virtue of which
their rooms had a refreshing atmosphere.
If you contemplate their talks, you will find an important matter contained
in them. It is that their lives met three necessary conditions for success
in examinations; the first is that they made their study plans deliberately;
the second is that to carry out the plans they kept their rooms in good
order; the last is that their will was strong enough to concentrate their
efforts on their objective.
You should remember that your study is for yourself, not for anyone else,
and when you reluctantly study as if you were doing it for someone else, you will find your abilities become remarkably slower
in thinking and memorizing.
Your mind must be always kept in the condition of a sponge filled with
sea water; fresh and soft.
In order to keep your mind fresh and soft, you must concentrate your mind
on your studies, not disturbed by any idle thoughts once you sit at your
desk. Training yourself to do so will enable you to give full play to your
abilities and avoid "crying over spilt milk" in the examinations.
