Do you ever
wish there was a way you don’t get frustrated every time the word "exam" comes
out of your professor’s mouth? If you want to ace every test or exam from now
on, there are certain steps you can follow and just a few things you should
avoid. Without any further delay, let’s
dive into the dos and don’ts of an exam preparation.
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| Photo by Clarissa Watson on Unsplash |
Prepare for your exams
Dos
1. As soon as you come home from school start studying for the exam.
That’s obvious you are going to say. Yes, but how many times have you started doing your homework and left the test for later in the evening? Then, you ended up being really tired and all you wanted is take a shower and relax. It’s very important that your mind be fresh and well-rested in order for you to revise for the test efficiently. That’s why, the moment you return from school, grab a bite (something light ideally) and start studying for your exam. Even if you spend more time on it than planned, you will complete it eventually. Take a moment to celebrate and then go on with the rest of your homework. You are really exhausted by now. Well, at least the really hard stuff is gone.
2. If you have known about it for some time now, start revising earlier.
Your Math professor announces that you are going to take a test on Algebra next
Wednesday. Anxiety starts to build up in your body. No need to stress. You have
to act early. You have about a week’s time ahead of you; you should study a bit
every day. First thing to do is divide your topic into sections. After that,
you should manage your time. Write down how much time each section is estimated
to take. Schedule to revise a bit on a daily basis and allow yourself more time
at the weekend when there is no school.
3. Take notes onto a separate piece of paper or on your book directly.
Taking notes helps. It helps tremendously. Not all people have the same weaknesses and not all people learn and understand in the same way. Therefore, to every point that needs clarification, write down your explanation so that it’s comprehensible for you. Another technique you could try is questions and answers. That works really well for the theoretical parts. For example, if you have to memorise World War II (facts, dates, figures) or a bunch of definitions in Science, you could turn them into questions to which you have to make sure you know the answers. Trust me! It’s worth the extra time.
4. Always review the same exercises.
That applies
mostly for the practical subjects such as Algebra, Geometry, Chemistry,
Science, etc. There is no point in trying to solve new exercises especially if
it’s about a test. Redo those you have solved in the classroom. Why? Because
you already know the correct answers and you can check yourself. What is more,
these are the exercises your teacher has focused on. So, most likely these are
the ones you are going to see in the test. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
5. Have a good sleep of 7-9 hours the previous night.
Running the extra mile here is not the solution. Sleep is crucial to your
performance. Your mind needs to sort all the information it has taken in and
this process occurs while you sleep. Every time I have shown up sleep deprived
for a test, things didn’t go really well. I am not implying it can’t be done.
However, truth be told you can’t reach your full potential if you lack sleep. Benjamin
Franklin knew what he was saying: "early to bed early to rise makes a person
healthy, wealthy and wise".
Don’ts
1. Don’t leave it at the last minute.
I have said
it before. Preparation ahead of time makes perfect. It’s not only about making
it on time and being ready for the test. It’s also the psychological aspect.
How would you feel if you had large topics to revise in less than 4-5 hours? Overwhelmed
and stressed for sure. You don’t know where to start and you can’t organize
your revision easily. You will try to memorise all at once which will prove
really difficult and sometimes ineffective. In other words, you are going to be
less productive.
2. Don’t rely on others’ notes.
It can be
timesaving and tempting but every person’s notes are unique. Things you think
are important may not be for another person. Plus, each and every one of us has
their own writing style and that may make things harder. At first, you thought
it would save you plenty of time but now you come to realize it will take you
double that in order to decipher the information that someone else wrote down
in their own way.
3. Don’t get distracted.
Turn off all notifications, tablets,
TVs (I wonder who watches TV these days). "It will only take a minute", I have
said multiple times and I find myself on the couch half an hour later still
looking at pictures on Instagram. Time flies people, without even realizing it.
Even music can be a distraction if it doesn’t help you focus (I prefer
concentration music or study music… Youtube has lots of it). Friends can be
distracting too. Movie at your best friend’s house the night before the test? I
don’t think so. You had better take a rain check. In a nutshell, make sure to
break free from all kinds of distractions.
4. Don’t leave out the "easy-breezy" topics.
You think it
is wise to concentrate on the hard stuff that needs memorizing or the most
difficult exercises that call for deep understanding of every step to the
solution. The mistake is that you don’t fully revise but you select the hardest
parts and focus on them. You run the risk of excluding some topics that may
very well be on the test. In addition, you consider yourself capable of acing
it without studying them. No matter how strong your memory is, there is always
the possibility of forgetting stuff you haven’t actually caught up in a while.
That is why revision should go over all topics, even the ones that are a piece
of cake in your opinion.
Now that I
have covered both dos and don’ts let’s recap:
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| Photo by mindyourbrownie |
These are my key strategies in order to boost my performance and excel every test or exam. What about yours? Comment down below and let me know. Like and share this post with your friends.
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