All of your life you’ve had to take tests and exams to show that you are learning.
Finally, the end of the school year has come, and you say “Yes! I never have to take another exam”.
Well, that may be true depending on the path you choose.
However, all of those test taking skills you’ve developed over your educational career will come in handy and prove to be actually useful.
If you think about the mental and physical process that occurs when you are preparing for an exam, it’s not too different from the process that you go through in your summer internship or first job.
When preparing for exams you first need to set aside time to devote to studying which is known as time management which we all have to use in the world of work.
During the mental and physical process of exam prep you also probably had to organize subject matter and break it down into learnable sections. This happens on the job as well and is called project management. Most projects have deadlines and deadlines are best met, when a project is put together piece by piece, until it fits together like a puzzle. When all the pieces fit perfectly, you feel accomplished in knowing that job was really organized.
There is a learning curve to beginning any new job. With that, you will learn new terms and industry jargon. This isn’t much different than understanding basic concepts in most of your Intro courses.
The better you understand the industry jargon, the better you’ll be able to contribute to office conversations.
Taking exams often times requires you to think critically through a problem to get the correct solution.
Problems exist in all industries. The better you are thinking through a problem to effectively offer solutions will help everyone on the team and you’ll be viewed as a capable leader.
As a student of life you will be faced with test questions all around you. There will be True/False, Multiple Choice, Matching, Fill in the Blank and Essay Questions.
They may not seem like it at the time but they are and they occur on the job daily in the form of communicating with colleagues and clients, writing reports, analyzing data, developing programs and training.
The world of work is a lot like taking exams and there will be times when you just don’t know the correct answer, so you’ll scratch your head, look up to the corner of the room and give your best guess.