Know your enemy -find out as much as you can aboutthe exam.
How much is theexam worth to your overall mark inthe subject?
What type of examis it? Is it a multiple choice,essay, open-book or take-homeexam?
Will there be a choice ofquestions or tasks?
How muchwill each question or task beworth?
2. Ask forhelp
Don’t feel bad ifyou need to ask for help. Talk toyour teacher or lecturer and pickthe brains of other students. Ifyou’re feeling really stressed youmight also find it helpful tospeak to acounsellor.
Check our ourCounselling page for info on howto find one.
10 Study Tips for Exams and Improve Study Skills
3. Sort outyour subjectmaterialCheck that youhave all the relevant handouts andget all your notes together fromthe subject. Read through thecourse outline or subject guide(if there is one) and use it toorganise the information you’vecollected.
It might help towrite your own summaries of eachtextbook chapter or section of thesubject guide. This will make iteasier to find what you need whileyou’re studying.
4.Check past exampapers
Get your handson any old exam papers from thesubject and familiarise yourselfwith the structure and format.Your teacher or lecturer should beable to let you know where you canget your hands on some. Yourschool or university library mighthave past exams on file,too.
Practise answering thequestions within the specifiedtime limits and check your answersagainst your notes to make sureyou’ve got themright.
5. Know where togo
Check your examtimetable for details on when andwhere you’ll be sitting the exam.Make sure you have everythingyou’ll need to take with you (e.g.calculator, pencil, ruler,etc).
Try to do some studyat the times your exams will beon. If you have an early morningexam it’s a good idea to practisegetting up and doing some studyearlier in the day.
6.Don’t cram
Stick towhat you already know whenstudying the night before an exam.You’ll only make yourself nervousif you try to learn newinformation. Review your notes ortest yourself on keypoints.
7. Keep yourcool
Don’t talk toother students about the exambefore the exam. It could confuseyou or make you lose confidence inyourself.
The same goesfor after the exam. Don’t hangaround talking about what was onit or you’ll start to doubtyourself and stress out if youthink you made amistake.
8. Use yourreading time
The wayyou use your reading time couldmake or break you in the exam. Useit to plan your writing time andstart thinking about someanswers.
Read theinstructions very carefully thenscan the whole exam paper. Be sureto check how many pages there areand how much each question isworth.
Plan how much timeto spend on each answer and theorder in which you’ll answer them.Start with the questions you’remost confident with.
9.Break the questionsdown
A great tip forany exam is to break the questionsdown to make sure you reallyunderstand what you’re beingasked. If you don’t answer thequestion properly you won’t getfull marks for it.
Look forthe key parts in the question andthese will give you clues on howto answer it. For example, for thequestion, "Explain the differencebetween study and revision", youcan split this question into fourparts:
Explain - givereasons to show how or whysomething is the way it is
Thedifference - what are thedistinguishing factors betweenstudy and revision?
Study -what is study?
Revision- whatis revision?
10. Reviewyour performance
Whilethere’s no use stressing out overan exam you’ve already done, itdoes help to look at what you canimprove on. If you didn’t do aswell on an exam as you would’veliked, ask your teacher if you cango through it with them and findout what you didwrong.
Come up with yourown strategies
Remember - thesetips are only some of the thingsthat you can do to get the mostout of your exams. There might beother things that work even betterfor you.
Ask around - findout what your friends do for theirexams - maybe some of their trickswill work for you too! Maybe yourteachers have some goodrecommendationstoo.
Whatever it is,whatever strategy when you findsomething that works for you, putit into practise and good luck!