Preparing for Exams

Preparing For Your Exams

When at university, you tend to take a number of exams in quick succession. It can seem a lot of work to prepare for so many exams, but if you break things down and tackle each exam on its own, when you take each exam, everything will be much more manageable.

Reviewing The Material

It's important to review the material you have been taught during the year (this is called revising in the UK). This gives you the chance to go over once again what you have learned and remind yourself of the detail.

You should create a review plan and stick to it. To create such a plan, work backwards from the dates of all of your exams to today, taking into consideration how much material has been covered for each topic. If possible, get hold of some past exam papers that students taken in previous years and work out what is expected of you in each exam (checking that your exam is similar).

Work out how many subjects you have to review for in the time you have available and divide your time up so that you adequately cover each topic. By doing this early you can ensure you review the material well in advance. You will find it very difficult to cram a lot of information in a short amount of time.

Use your past papers to practise answering real questions under exam conditions so that you can practise your time management (see below). Don't focus on answering questions about your favourite topics, as they may not come up in your exam. If you can, ask your lecturer/professor who teaches one of your exam subjects to take a look at your practise answers and give you some feedback on them. They will have marked many exams and will have lots of good advice for you.

During this period of review, it's important that you live as regular a life as possible. If you are used to going to bed at 10 p.m., continue to do this. If you disrupt your routine too much, this can affect your ability to concentrate and perform well. To help with this, ensure you get lots of sleep as you won't be able to concentrate if you are tired. Remember, on the night before the exam, do not revise late into the night. You are not likely to remember anything more and you risk being tired on the day of the exam.

If you start this phase early enough and you stick to your plan, there will be no need to cram any information.

The Day of the Exam

On the day of your exam, stay focused, as you have worked hard to prepare for this moment. Make sure you eat before the exam as you won't be able to concentrate if you are hungry. However, don't eat too much food or too many sugary items, as you may be sleepy during the exam. To help you concentrate and stay alert in the exam, make sure you dress comfortably and take water and snacks with you. Use the bathroom before the exam starts as it is distracting for you to have to use it during an exam and it takes about 10 minutes, wasting your time.

Take a watch with you so that you can quickly tell the time. This is an important part of time management. Even though there should be a clock in the hall, there's no harm in taking in your own watch.

Getting Ready To Start The Exam

Once you are sitting at your exam desk, you should get ready to start the exam. Firstly, remain calm. You have revised this subject and are on top of it. You have put yourself in a position to be able to do a good job. You will be nervous (which is only natural), but try to relax by breathing in slowly through your mouth and out through your nose. Everything will be fine.

Follow all of the instructions of the people in the exam hall. Listen to them as they may tell you important information about the questions. There may be mistakes in the questions that they need to correct before you start the exam, so listening now will ensure you don't make any mistakes later.

When you are invited to turn over your exam paper, take the first 5 minutes out from the whole exam to read all of the instructions for what you have to do and to work out which questions you are going to answer. Plan to take another 5 minutes at the very end of the exam to review what you have done, to see if anything can be improved.

Planning at the start what you are going to answer will ensure that you have no surprises later on. You should be told how many questions you have to answer and you will know how long the whole exam lasts (minus the 10 minutes above). Therefore, you can calculate how long you can spend on each question. This is an important piece of information for your time management and you must stick to this limit. If you spend too long on one question, you may be throwing away credit you could get more easily by starting a new question. Ensure you answer the right number of questions, and not too many or too few. It's quite common to see people answer an extra question, which they get no credit for. This just wastes time that they could have put into their other answers.

This article is based on the author's 10 years of university-level teaching experience observing the habits of people who are successful at exams. Those that are successful tend to plan ahead and manage their time well.