Succeed in any Exam

The 10 ways to never fail an exam again.

It’s that time of the year again and we all know that sitting and revising for exams can be a daunting process, I have been in this situation quiet a few time and put together the top 10 tips I found most useful in the preparation for exams.

• 1. Plan- Preparation is the key so plan every step from revising to sitting in the exam hall. An easy way to achieve this is to buy a diary or calendar, in this make clear markings of the exam date and the current date. Then on a different piece of paper make a list of all the topics you need to revise, make sure you have all the topics even the ones you already know, it is revision so re-study all the topics. Split the topics equally over the time you have until the exam but also take days to rest (aim to rest for about 1/5 of the time you have), split the resting time equally over the days look upon these days as a time-out for your brain from all that thinking.

• 2. Revise – During each day look at your diary check the topic or topics of the day then revise those in depth, read over all your notes, make sure you spend more time on the topic you struggle on. Don’t over do your revising and more importantly don’t under do it. You have a plan so stick to it like glue.

• 3. Get useful notes- Another great tip in revising is by asking your teacher to write on a page everything you would need to memorise. For a maths exam this would be a formula sheet. For an English exam this might be a list of phrases that help you remember how to review something correctly or what technique you need to use to persuade. An example would be “mind the GAP”. GAP is used to remember how to review a piece of writing and stand for Genre, Audience and Purpose, then commit this page to memory. It is a maximum of 2 sides so memorising this should be straightforward.

• 4. You have time so use it wisely- DON’T leave everything until the night before the exam because this does more harm than good and would put strain on you by situating you in a state of panic, this would lead to more problems for instance not getting enough sleep, waking up late and most of all confusing your brain by trying to teach it a whole years work in one night.

• 5. Eat well – Take a fragment of time to research brain food and eat only beneficial meals. Cut off the junk food and meals high in sugar particularly the morning before the exam, all this for the simple fact that it slows down the brain, meaning it would take longer to think and junk food is dehydrating.

• 6. Equipment- Buy all the equipment you need a few days early. I have seen people running to the shops in the morning of the exam to buy a pen or a protractor. Remember most shops are closed at this time and of the few that are open only a hand-full sell stationery. Don’t relay on borrowing a pen from your teacher this is embarrassing and you’ll appear a fool for turning up to an exam without a PEN!

• 7. Don’t be late- This may seem obvious but still you see people coming 20 minutes late, some exam boards don’t allow extra time and your hard work will not become evident in your grades because you won’t have enough time, every minute of an exam is valuable. This is an avoidable situation, wake up early so you’re able to take your time and won’t have to rush. Leave 15- 20 minutes earlier than usual and make an effort it’s only one day.

• 8. Where? Know where you need to be some schools are quiet big so it could be anywhere. This is valuable information; certify if you’re not sure. It’s better to know this a few days early if you leave it to the last day you may find yourself running around school chasing teachers for the details, again this could put you in a panicky mood.

• 9. The real thing- when it comes to sitting the exam take your best shot at it, don’t let anyone make you believe that it’s too hard. Tackle every question, if you don’t know something take a guess (you might be right). Don’t stick to a question for too long. If there is a question which you know the answer to but cannot manage to remember it or find the correct approach to execute the sentence skip it and come back. (You might remember, but don’t forget about the question).

• 10. End of exam- you could be in a very stressful state after the exam, worrying about the things you answered, your results. There is an easy solution if you find yourself in this situation; Forget all about it, bluff if you have to and tell yourself that exam was too easy. Tell your friends not to talk about the exam; don’t regret anything as long as you know that you performed to the best of your ability there only one thing left, RELAX.

• 11. Cannot fail- I know it’s meant to be 10 but I have one last tip, when the BIG BROWN ENVELOPE comes through your door or you go to pick it up at school what ever you find in there you should never view it as a fail you tried your best and you cannot do more than that.