Best Tips for Exam Success

Let’s face it, every student or person who has to sit exams, wants some form of help for revision and taking exams. There are some students who feel that they do great when it comes to coursework, but fail when it comes to exams.So here are some tips for exam success:

Get Enough Sleep

Staying up late at night watching TV, being lazy or spending too much time on face book might be fun at the time, but leads to excessive tiredness during classes. It’s tough to be enthusiastic if you are dead tired. So pick a time your fun and serious side can agree on, and then stick to it. Set a reminder on your cell phone or computer if you need to. Just get some sleep you look tired.

Get Organised

Organisation is an inevitable step towards successful graduation. Time management, organizing your study room, effective filing of all the useful information and keeping track of all the lectures and exams to attend are only a few of the ways to get your life organized.

Be Tidy

I learned that when all my stuff was thrown all over the place, I couldn’t find everything I needed. In turn, this made me lose track of what was going on and I would lose a lot of time in the process. When I started my second year at university, I vowed not to have those untidy moments any more. My tidy strategy was a great success and my study seemed to fit into place a lot more easily. My advice is:
·         Use different coloured folders for different subjects/courses/books/essays
·         Have a stationery drawer and keep it stocked up
·         Set aside a part of your room (even if it’s just a section under the bed, or on your highest bookshelf!) that is dedicated to keeping all your uni work together and in one place. Then you won’t need to tear the entire room apart if you lose something. Oh, and you’re less likely to lose it in the first place…”

Brain Dump If You Have To Memorise Things

For example, if you memorized a bunch of formulas, write them down immediately on scratch paper or the test itself.  Then you can focus on using them instead of remembering them.

Get a Planner

When you get your syllabus for each class, transfer every single deadline into your calendar—reading assignments, quizzes, term papers, study group meetings and exams. Being able to look at one book or screen instead of four or five different stapled packets of information (each organized differently) will give you a better overview and idea of when you’re busy days and weeks will be, and you’ll be a lot less likely to miss a deadline.

Spend Time Studying For the Tests That Carry the Most Weight

Not all final exams and papers are weighted the same. Make sure you know what percentage each paper or final exam is worth to your grade. That will give you some perspective on how much time you should designate studying for each class.”

Get Creative

Everyone has a different studying style – some people are visual learners, others are better at listening. Find out what works for you, and do it. This can be anything from putting sticky notes with hard-to-remember facts on your computer monitor, to listening to podcasts of lectures while you eat breakfast.

Divide Your Time

Figure out what you actually have time to do. Tally up your total study hours and estimate how much time you’ll need to spend studying each major concept, allotting the most time to the material you are least familiar with. Tackle the most unfamiliar concepts first, while you’re still fresh, and save the material you know best for last. If you need to re-allot your time, donate more minutes to the lowest-ranked material to make sure you understand it fully.
Work steadily, but take frequent five- or ten-minute breaks to conserve your energy and avoid getting overwhelmed. Take a walk; get a snack and some fresh air. Move around often to prevent fatigue.

Do a Morning Review

Wake up a half hour earlier and spend that time reading from your textbook. If you’ve already read the chapters, spend the time rewriting the key concepts into a notebook. A half-hour out of your day in the morning probably won’t create a huge impact on your schedule, yet over the entire term it can be invaluable in boosting your understanding.

Use a Textbook Wisely

Reading an entire textbook is not an effective way to cram for an exam. Instead, try concentrating on the summaries that appear at the beginning and end of each chapter. Chapter end questions, illustrative examples and other sections that are located throughout the book may also prove helpful. If it doesn’t make sense, look up the words and concepts you don’t understand.  The glossary, a dictionary, or a basic Wikipedia search will probably be fine.

 

Use Flashcards and Visual Cues

Using flashcards and visual cues, such as drawing diagrams and putting them up on the wall, even if you’ve just copied the picture from a book or something can be very effective.  Your own copying down of the diagrams will help you retain more info than using the book alone.

Obtain Past Exam Papers

Get hold of past exams to get a feel of what’s required and to see how well you can cope with previous question papers.
Best of luck in all your exams this year!