How to handle mistakes in PLAB2?
How to handle mistakes in PLAB2?
You will make mistakes in the PLAB2 exam, more than once!
Did that leave you gaping at the screen in disbelief? Not kidding, no. You will make mistakes because, congratulations! You are human.
It is not possible for you to do everything perfectly under the stress and time constraint of the exam and sometimes the pressure can totally take over, leaving you lost.
BUT…rest assured! It is okay.
Tell yourself it is okay to make mistakes
It can’t be said enough and strangely, it is the fear of making mistakes that truly predisposes you to make them in the first place.
And then the stress of having made one overwhelms your mind and you lose focus, thus making more mistakes.
So, try and go easy on yourself. Being mentally prepared to make a few mistakes here and there removes the element of shock.
Remember that you need to clear the exam and not get a perfect score.
Do not carry your mistakes to the next station
You can make a mistake so big in a station that it costs you that station. You know it and feel devastated by it but think of all these stations as fresh chances. No two assessors or simulators are common. You don’t have to clear every station. Of course, it sucks that you ended up making a blunder and in retrospection, you probably know the right answers too but you need to condition yourself to switch off that station and switch on to the next one. Wipe the slate, in other words. Write afresh!
You’ll find it interesting to know that many a times, candidates pass the station they feel they make a blunder in and go on to flunk the subsequent ones just because they let the stress get to them.
Have a backup plan ready
A common fear among candidates is of going blank in the middle of a station. It does happen to the best of us and there is hardly anything you can do to avoid it. So should you resign to fate and stay in perpetual fear? No. you should have a plan B in place. Anticipating a problem helps you find solutions to it. Think what you would do if you go blank. A great way out when you lose your train of thoughts is to recapitulate. It helps you come back into the conversation, avoids the awkward silence and lets the assessor know you can handle stress. Win, win!
Do not let the confidence or lack thereof of other candidates get to you
When in the examination centre, be in your own zone! Sing a song in your head, visualise what you would do after the exam… or whatever calms you down while you are waiting for the exam to start. Do not get flustered looking at those who look too confident and wonder if you know even half as much. Also don’t get affected by those who seem to be cramming everything up right before the exam and make you wonder if you are being overconfident by not carrying a book to the centre.
Even when the exam is ongoing, do not look at the candidate who comes out of the room before you and let their expressions of having rocked the station or hit rock bottom take a toll on you. How you handle the station is all you. So, stay calm and be yourself. That is all that counts!
