Advice – Exams

Exams and Stress, two words that have been linked together for years! Trying to limit the amount of stress you feel can help your chances of success in your exams…

It’s all in the Planning

 Make a timetable
 Fill in important dates and commitments
 Keep your revision timetable flexible and realistic
 Get the hardest subjects out of the way first – look again at the end
 Don’t forget to allocate time for breaks
 Have a day off to keep yourself refreshed
 Only look at two topics a day
 Focus on your weakest topics and subjects

Tips for Success

 Start early, no last minute revision
 Get on with it! Then you can ask for help if you need it
 Watch out for distractions, stick to quiet areas
 Manageable revision, taking breaks helps concentration
 Past papers can help show you what to expect
 Study Buddy, find someone to bounce your ideas off
 Revise often, doing a little a day can break revision down
 Key words can help prompt your memory
 Identify your strong and weak areas and target them
 Look after yourself, a healthy body means a healthy mind

Techniques

 Revision check lists or syllabuses
Use these as a starting point – identify gaps in your knowledge
 Summarise
Condense the topic onto an A4 sheet, you will learn as you go
 Remind yourself over and over
Top up your memory by looking at the subject every week
 Remembering Labelled Diagrams
Draw a diagram without the labels, then copy from memory
 Change the subject
Swap the subjects looked at for variety and confidence
 Change Techniques
Use different revision methods, from reading to being tested
 Word Power
Make a list of key words that will trigger revision work

Before the Exam

 Get a bit of last minute revision in!
 Keep calm and focus on what you know
 Get your stationary sorted, so you have what you need
 Take a watch so you can monitor your time
 Organise the things you need the night before
 Leave plenty of time to get to the exam

The EXAM

 Find your seat slowly and calmly
 Listen carefully to instructions given, and ask if you’re unsure
 Set out your pens and watch so it is visible
 Check you have everything you need

You MUST:

-Read the instructions carefully, you can miss things easily
-Speed read the paper to know the types of questions you have
-Pace yourself and allocate time for the size of the questions
-If you’re stuck, move on and come back to it later
-Look at the marks available; don’t write huge chunks for one mark questions
-Do the questions you feel confident about first, it helps your
confidence
-If you think a question is too broad, answer the question, but letting the
examiner know why you are answering in this way
-Relax as much as possible. Think clearly and keep confident. Stay Positive!

Time to Chill!

Once the exam is over…it is time to relax!
There’s no point fretting about how you did, or whether someone did better then you.
So put the exam behind you, and start thinking about revising for your next exam

(after a nice break doing something you enjoy!)

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