This post is a response to a request I received from one primary school teacher to advise on how his pupils can prepare for examinations, and especially the KCPE(2017).

I will give my response based on my experience and what I have learned so far. Mind you, at the time of writing this post(2017), I am still preparing for exams myself (Masters of Science in Electrical Engineering).
A little background on my primary school education. My primary school used to have one of the worst performances in our zone during my days there. I cannot say much about the reasons but in one way it had to do with the way we were taught. Here I was, used to scoring between 290-310 marks out of 500, yet I knew if I didn’t improve to get above 400 out of 500 in KCPE, my hopes for secondary education would be trashed. I had to work very hard to impress the scholarship bodies. So the motivation to work hard was there. Yet I couldn’t score anything beyond 310 Marks in our internal and zonal exams. I didn’t know what-else to do until a pupil from a better performing neighbouring school transferred to my school. We instantly connected, become great friends and I learned all learning and revision techniques I could from him. This proved to be a game-changer as I eventually earned 407 marks out of 500 in the 2004 KCPE, a record yet to be broken until now in the school. A JKF scholarship came calling and the rest was history. So what is it that happened within a period of one year? What methods did I employ?

1. Start taking personalized revision notes.

I can attribute my fast improvement in my grades to this one skill. Learn how to take personal revision notes. The teacher will never exhaust the curriculum and especially if you are studying in a public primary school. So look for all textbooks and revision books you can find and begin taking notes on your own. My school didn’t have modern text books so I had to borrow them from pupils from our neighbouring schools. For example, “Kiswahili Mufti” was the in thing for the Kiswahili subject yet my school didn’t have a single copy. We were still using very old editions of the “KLB, Kenya Literature Bureau”. I borrowed these “Kiswahili Mufti’s” from neighbouring schools (from standard 4 to standard 8) and read through all of them within one week all at the same time making “summaries” of the important points. I used the same approach for all other subjects. To improve my grammar and vocabulary I read as many novels as I could borrow and then watched my grades improve. I still have my composition and “Insha” primary exercise books and I still get astonished at the level of mastery I had for the English and Kiswahili language then. This effort was all self-guided and it bore its fruits. It was aided by the next action.

2. Hard work.

There is no substitute for hard work. You may have all the motivation to excel but if you are not willing to pull through the drudgery of hard-work, then your motivation is just that, motivation. I had to take long hours of study both at school and during the night hours at home. Many are the nights when I had to be woken up to put out the kerosene powered lamp in the wee hours of the night as slumber used to overpower me as well.
I had to peruse through a huge corpus of revision materials, books and summarize as much as I could within a very short period of time. I even suspended playing football (I used to be a great footballer then) just to concentrate on the urgent work at hand.
My main hobby was reading, both for pleasure and KCPE preparation. Occasionally, I would engage in my other hobby of tingering with my electronic stuff (digital watches, radios etc), I was the village repair man for these devices.
You will have to do a lot of study on your own. If you can afford, buy the damn books, if you cannot, then borrow. The habits I painfully formed then are still serving me faithfully to this day. I read daily, wrote my first book in 2014, will keep reading and writing.
Read all the past papers you can get your hands on. Analyze how the questions are answered and note down the tricky ones you would want to remember.
Write bullet points, important concepts and key ideas which you need to remember. These will come handy during revision times.
In a way, I started this website (www.eeducationgroup) as a way to share free revision past papers because I know what role past papers play. Take this advantage. I personally benefited hugely from past papers.
Again, there is no substitute for hard work.

3. No limiting belief.

You should think of yourself capable of passing your exams. You should never let the limiting belief that you will fail get into your mind, for when it does, you will be “done”. I personally had such high beliefs such that I even thought I could become the top student in 2004.
If you believe you can pass or you believe you cannot pass, you are right.
Do not think of your examiners or teachers as your enemies, they are there to help you. Never think of yourself as a failure. Never.

4. Understand the structure of the papers.

Understand the mark allocation per sections or topics.
You do not have to have exam practice. Because I had a very limited time, I used to think of practicing mock exams as waste of time. I did not have the time to take past papers and mark for myself. I  could take the said papers and their marking schemes and then cross-check the difficult questions. For Mathematics, I could attempt several difficult questions, cross-check the answers and then note down the tough ones for future reference. I did not have the time to take mock papers and then give myself marks.

5. Make use of as many sources of information as possible

Try and make use of a variety of sources of information in your revision of a subject, e.g. textbooks, library books etc. This will give you a different viewpoint of the subject and can often help you make sense of things that were previously puzzling you.
Do not rely entirely on only one author or publisher. If for example, it is Kiswahili; attempt to read all the available authors and cross-check any important information, record it. Read “Kiswahili Mufti”, “KLB Kiswahili” “Higher Flyer Kiswahili” “Golden Tips Kiswahili” etc. There is enough time to through all these subjects and books.
Never base your revision on predictions of questions. Try to do as much general revision as possible. If possible revise all your subjects fully.
Lastly, never base your revision on predictions of questions.

In summary (and bonus tips):

1. Start taking personalized revision notes.
2. Work Hard.
3. No limiting belief
4. Understand the structure of the papers
5. Make use of as many sources of information as possible.
6. Start your revision early.
7. Plan your revision and monitor your progress.
8. Revise regularly for a few hours at a time.
9. Be disciplined.
10. Create a good atmosphere in which to work.
11. Revise each subject topic by topic.
12. Listen out for hints and tips.
13. Revise each subject completely.

All the best in your exams!