Why Do I Go Blank on Tricky Exam Questions Despite Understanding the Theory?

[smart_worker]

i am trying to prepare for competitive exams.i purchased halliday and resnick.when i try to learn a chapter.i first go through the theory part.then when i come back to solve the numericals,my mind goes completely blank.i understood the chapter but when i come up with some tricky questions,i just don't know how.the same goes with chemistry and math.my iq is very low.what should i do to to solve them?

 

[BruceW]

yeah. I have the same thing, to some extent. I can read through a chapter, or listen to a lecture, and walk away thinking that I have a fairly good understanding. But then if I'm given a tricky question, I sometimes just have no idea. I think this is because understanding the subject is on a continuum. In other words, you can understand a bit, or understand well, or understand really well. And often I don't even realize if I understand something a bit, or really well. I think doing practice questions can help you realize how well you know the subject. Therefore, I always have to practice a few questions, or even just make up a suitable physics problem, so that I can test how well I know it. And if I don't know it so well, then I re-learn the stuff that I was not so good with, and practice again. That's how I do it anyway, everyone is different, but this might help you too.

 

[smart_worker]

Therefore, I always have to practice a few questions, or even just make up a suitable physics problem, so that I can test how well I know it. And if I don't know it so well, then I re-learn the stuff that I was not so good with, and practice again. That's how I do it anyway, everyone is different, but this might help you too.

What exactly do you mean by practising? Is it like understanding the solved example questions and then try to solve the unsolved ones?

 

[BruceW]

yeah, I mean ideally all the example questions would have solutions. And for each one, I would try my best to get the answer myself (without looking at the solution), and then check it with the solution. And if I got it wrong, then keep practising until I can do the problem all myself without looking at the given solution halfway through.

But if some of the examples don't have solutions, then for those I guess you can't tell if you got it right. But you can still try them anyway, it will still be good practice, as long as you give it a good attempt. Also, you can always just think up example problems in your head to practise. But this will maybe be less efficient for studying, since the examples in your book will usually be pretty good ones.

 

[Yellowflash]

You need to understand the concepts thoroughly and need to do more simpler or sample problems to get used to the material. Then, you should do better solving the more difficult problems.