Preparing for examination

Preparing for Your Examinations

• Stay positive.
• Eat properly.
• Get enough sleep and exercise.
• Take regular breaks.
• Draw up a revision timetable early and allocate study time in proportion to how much the exam counts towards the final grade.
• Take time off work if you can.
• Find out exactly what is required for the exam – talk to your lecturer or tutor, refer to the unit outline.
• Check equipment needed, eg special pencils, calculator, or texts/notes for open book exams.
• Form a study group.
• Ask your lecturer if past exam papers are available.

Dealing With Anxiety and Stress

• Be thoroughly prepared for your exams.
• Be well informed about the time, location, format and types of exams that you have to sit. You cannot be given special consideration for turning up to an exam on the wrong day, at the wrong time or in the wrong location.
• If your anxiety stems from the expectations of others such as family members, discuss your fears with them so that they can understand your situation.
• Practise relaxation and stress management techniques.
• If stress gets the better of you, remember there are ways of dealing with it. The University’s Student Counsellors offer strategies and suggestions about how to relax, develop positive attitudes about yourself and your abilities and how to combat stress.

In the Examination Room

• Know exactly when and where your exam is to be held so that you can arrive comfortably on time.
• Read the exam instructions carefully, checking on the format, time limit, number of questions to be answered and the marks for each question.
• Skim through the whole paper to gain an overview (reading time is often allocated for this).
• Follow the instructions on the exam paper exactly.
• Divide your time equally between all questions in terms of distribution of marks. For example, if a question is allocated only 5% of the total mark, then you should only allocate 5% of the total exam time to answering it.
• Answer every question that the paper asks you to.
• Read each question carefully so that you focus on the question asked. Be careful to read the question for its overall meaning and purpose, rather than just identifying the topic and then writing everything you know about that topic.
• Answer the questions in order of preference - e.g. answer the questions that you feel most confident with first or perhaps you prefer to attempt the harder questions first to get them out of the way.
• Make sure your name and student ID number are on each examination script.

Ten Study Tips in Taking Exams.

1. Give yourself enough time to study

2. Organize your study space

3. Use flow charts and diagrams

4. Practice on old exams

5. Explain your answers to others

6. Organize study groups with friends

7. Take regular breaks

8. Snack on 'brain food'

9. Plan your exam day

10. Drink plenty of water

Tips on taking exams.

I would like to share some practical tips before taking the exam which I think the most basic.

1) Pens and Pencils

Some exams require the use of PENS, while others have to be completed in PENCIL. Make sure you know what you should be using in every paper before you go in.

2) Websites

All the major examination boards have websites these days, usually with sample papers and examiners' reports that you can download. These sites are well worth a visit as they may offer a lot of sound advice. The examiners' report, for instance, can give you an idea of exactly what it is that they are looking for.

3) Take Spares

Take spare pens and pencils just in case the one you are using stops working.

4) On time not In time

Allow for problems, hold-ups and traffic jams on the way and make sure you arrive with time to spare so that you can go in calmy rather than in a frantic rush.

5) It may sound stupid, but ...

Don't forget to read the instructions and make sure you know what you are being asked to do. You should go into the exam well aware of what is expected of you, but you should always check. Don't, however, waste a lot of time on this.

6) Honesty- 1

A language exam is not a test of honesty and you will not be penalised if you tell the examiners that you are CANCER rather than SAGITTARIUS in a written question simply because you are sure of how to spell it. Language Tests are quite simply that; they are designed to test your language and not your honesty- don't worry about lying or being economical with the truth in order to show off your accurate language use.

7) Zzzzz

Try to get a good night's sleep the night before any exam.

8) Hangovers

Try to avoid alcohol the night before an exam, especially in quantity, as a bad hangover is among the very worst things to be suffering from in an exam room.