End of year exams: tips to prepare successfully

The end of year exams are coming soon and you haven’t figured out a way to study yet? Well, not to worry! I know that you may be intimidated by the long hours you have to put in to make it work but fear not!! There are some tips you can follow to ease your experience and actually be more productive and very well prepared.

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Know the curriculum. You may be laughing while reading that but over the years, working with multiple students I have come to the conclusion that very few students are aware of the exact curriculum for their end of year exams. Most of them have a bigger, more vague picture of their syllabus and when they start to revise, they go from start to finish without recognizing the key parts. As a result, they become tired very quickly and are very likely to give up their revision altogether. On the other hand, if a student has a clear picture of their curriculum, they can spend some time recognizing the key parts, assessing the most critical information and prioritizing it first in their revision method.

Decide to study. That is the first, most important step to take. End of year exams aren’t exactly anyone’s cup of tea. So, what most people do is procrastinate and keep pushing studying further away until it is absolutely necessary. Instead, you can make a decision (say out loud: I am starting my revision tonight) and start studying. That very moment, you are instructing your brain to get into study mode. It’s as simple as that; which leads me to my next tip…

Start early. You want to have as much time as possible to be able to plan your studying without having to spend endless nights staying up until 3am to finish your curriculum on time before the exam. How early? Well it could be a whole month before your exam. It could be 2 weeks. You know best what works for you. You will set the pace and plan accordingly.

Use all your resources. Many students just rely on their textbook. Well, this could help but to a certain extent. The notes you have been keeping the whole year can prove equally as important if not more. Your personal notes are the things you find important and decide to put down on paper. In other words, they serve as your map to what you should prioritize in your studying. Combined with the textbook, they can save you valuable time and help you study effectively.

Schedule meticulously. I can’t stress it out enough! Plan ahead! Plan your studying… each day separately. How many chapters you are going to cover, how many exercises you are going to solve, how many hours you are going to spend in the morning and evening. Time all those sessions one by one and don’t forget to add enough breaks so that you can keep going.

Get comfortable. Another thing that is very helpful and helps reduce stress is the environment where you will study. Whatever works for you and makes you more productive. Clean your office, find a quiet space if that is very important to you, adjust the lighting to your optimal level, wake up early or stay up late. There isn’t a one-fits-all recipe here. Just make yourself comfortable and ready to specifically focus on studying.

Now to run the extra mile…

Past papers and mock exams. Not a necessary step although this helped me tremendously in my student years. Find past practice papers or make mock exams yourself. Sit them, time them and then mark them. Mimicking exam conditions will familiarize you with the whole process. So, when you are going to sit for the actual exam, it is not going to be the first time and statistically you are likely to perform better. It’s as close to the examination as can get.

Well, these are the techniques that I find quite helpful when students get ready for their end of year exams. Comment down below your favorite tips and what you do to prepare for your exams. Share this post with your friends and let me know what you think.