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Simple tips for successful exam preparations

 

Whether end semester or final exams, every learner's dream is to get good results or rather pass their exams. However, with different topics and concepts to cover and sometimes within a short time, examinations can sometimes prove challenging for most students.

Good news, there’s always something that can be done to get and improve results; the most important one is adequate preparation. Besides, not all students would thrive on last-minute cramming. So, every student should prepare well for their different exams.

Adequate preparation would guarantee success in your exam, give you room for unpredictable events, and help prevent exam anxiety while making you well conversant with different setting styles and resources. But, there's only one question, how well can you prepare to pass your exams?

Don’t worry! This article saves you from the hassle of information as we discuss some of the best tips for exam preparation that would guarantee you success. But first, let’s find out more of the benefits you stand to gain from adequate preparations.

Importance of early exam preparation

Even if the exams are in a month or a few months away, the earlier your start revising, the higher your chances of passing. So by starting your revision earlier you:

Increases your chances of good grades

Once you start creating more time to handle your different topics and courses or putting more effort into your revision. In that case, the chances are high that you'll notice a positive change in your grades.

Gives you time to nourish your weak areas

You can never be perfect in all subjects. So, depending on your way or revisions, like using practice exam papers, you can be able to identify your weaker topics and allocate more time to them. This gives you the chance to go back to those areas you particularly find challenging to handle.

Ensures less stress

Students can have no worse feeling than having tests or examinations in the near times, but they aren't prepared. The several topics and subjects to cover would even make it worse. However, with adequate preparation, you can plan your revision much earlier to prevent rush and worries weeks or days to exam dates.

Gives you enough time to grasp concepts

There are different types of learners. Each of these types has different levels of grasping contents. So, early preparation ensures the slow learner to have enough time to understand various concepts rather than memorizing ideas for the sake of tests and examinations.

By planning or earlier preparation of different course materials or resources, you stand a chance to enjoy your studies as you’d not have to strive to cram or learn everything. But shall have read and read and analyze different materials at your own time.

Knowing how you stand to gain from adequate preparation, how best can you prepare for examination success then?

Here are the simple tips for exam preparation

a)   Begin your preparation early

One of the most effective examination success tips is giving yourself ample time to study. Of course, it’s common that most students would procrastinate their studies and leave everything for the last minute. But, that should not be the case.

So, if you need to ensure you understand every concept, idea, of course, then you must start your revision much earlier. Therefore, make a study schedule that would fit your studying techniques and ensure you follow it to them later.

Within your study timetable, you can list all the courses or topics you cover plus their exam dates, among other timetable guide factors. This ensures that you don't over-concentrate on specific concepts or subjects while neglecting other areas. In other words, you must accordingly organize your study habits and give more time to those subjects that give you hard times.

Organize your space of study

Before you sit down to study, you must ensure your environment is friendly and pleasant. Your study environment can affect your studies. For instance, there are slim chances that everyone can concentrate on areas with loud music or noise. Or when you have stuffy space with limited space.

So, ensure you have a comfortable space with a comfortable chair, enough lighting, and a noise-free environment. In other words, you need to have an area where there's nothing to distract you.  

Vary your revision strategies and techniques

There are different ways through which you can use for effective examination success.  Besides, following the same revision over time can be tiresome, boring, and sometimes lose interest. So, by deploying different techniques, you’ll be able to spice up your learning and exam preparation life.

Here are some of the different techniques that would help spice up your revision exercises:

Practice on old exams

Pre-testing is one of the most essential tips for successful exam preparation. Using the old test or exams to study would help you;

Understand the layout of the exams- it can sometimes be challenging to face an exam that you're aren't familiar with—or attempting an exam that you don't know its structure and requirement. But, through pre-testing, you get to see the layout and the kind of questions to expect during the actual examination.

Identify your knowledge gap- it can be saddening to get into an exam room then realize you can’t handle even half of the questions and that you know very little of what you're asked. These are kinds of problems practicing with old exams would help you avoid or prevent. You'll get to know the areas that are set, yet you have very little information. You'll also be able to understand the places you are good at. Also, quizzes and old exams help expand your readability and help you put more effort into your weak points.

Ease your anxiety- it’s very common for students, especially those who aren’t adequately prepared to experience some tension when they are about to face exams. However, practicing with old questions would help you familiarize yourself with different concepts and setting styles. Even better, more practices boost your confidence to face exams. The more exams you take, the more natural you get and help keep your pre-exam stress and anxiety in check.

Develop a strategic schedule for a more focused study- once you have understood your knowledge gap, it’s time to identify and allocate the time you need to commit yourself to handle different concepts. Put differently; you'll be able to create an effective schedule that would help cover the remaining areas before the exam date.

Organizing study groups

Creating study groups with your friends would help give varied ideas and moral support to cover different concepts. Through such groups, you can get challenged, especially when you realize your colleague knows something you don’t. This can motivate you to work hard to surpass your group mates.

Use flow charts

Visual aids can be beneficial in your preparation for exams. As the say goes, “you remember what you see than what you read” you’ll find it much easier to process than you do to large amounts of information in text formats.

Therefore, you can condense everything you have learned into a diagram or map. Drawing a diagram means you record your thoughts in a different format that is easy to remember. That said, ensure you draw maps, images, or other summary diagrams to aid your understanding of specific concepts and ideas. You can then check them against your notes to identify if you have left out any detail.

Other tips for exam preparation includes;

Taking advantage of different learning resources

There are different learning resources. You can visit your school library and borrow books and other materials or group your friends and ask them questions while describing your answers to them.

Better still, you deploy different technologies to make your learning and revision more efficient. Therefore, take advantage of the internet and Google for other contents online. Research for various concepts that you don’t understand. This would boost your chances of achieving your desired academic goals or marks.

Take regular breaks during your study time

Though it may seem that taking more hours would result in more production. Actually, that may not be the case. In fact, taking a long time may drain you from leaving or make you lose interest in continuing with your study.

So, ensure you take regular breaks after a specific time indicated on your learning schedule or timetable. Such breaks would help freshen your mind for the following concepts or ideas. Even better, it boosts your memory and retention ability.  

Here are some of the activities you can do during your study break;

·         Take a walk

·         Watch, dance, or listen to music

·         Take a nap

·         Play a game- stretch and exercise

So, how best can you handle your exams?

How you handle your examinations would determine whether you get good marks or fail to achieve your expectation. So during your exam, you must ensure you:

·         Pay attention to details and instructions provided in the exam

·         Avoid rushing through the questions as this increase your chances of omitting essential instructions

·         Don’t panic- so find a way of managing your stress

·         Avoid guesstimating answers which may lead to negative marking

Conclusion

For you to pass your exam, you must be adequately prepared. And you can do that by following simple exam preparation tips that include starting your studies earlier, deploying different revision techniques, and taking advantage of various learning resources.