Ok guys so exam times are coming up for a lot of us, including myself.
Therefore i would appreciate if we can gather general helpfull tips and tricks for all to enjoy.
Personally I have struggled with an extremely high level of hyperactivity moments before exams due to nerves. I always tend to do loads of push ups minutes before examination to sort of release energy and tension from my body. It looks absolutely ridicolous and always bring a good laugh my fellow students.
As I know many on OA are very experienced and successfull, I would love to know what YOUR best tips are to optimise your exam and what works best for you.
The biggest advice I can give is just to do every past paper available.
Firstly they tend to reuse (whether intentionally or otherwise) a lot of questions over a 4/5 year period.
And secondly a lot of exams are just as much about exam technique (in terms of ticking boxes to get marks) as they are about actually having the knowledge and brainpower to work things out.
It may also be worth looking at the examiners reports for past exams, and then for all the sections which the examiner says students struggle on, make sure you tick off that you can do them (or alternatively do some more work in that area). In all likelihood if you can do the sections which most students struggle with then you’ll be fine.
[From somebody who finds it hard to do revision in advance and always ends up cramming]
Im revising for bachelor in Social Work. Mainly focused on administration law, psychology, communication and social science. I fekin love it btw :mustafi:
I would say dont stress at all about results. Exams nowadays arent worth toilet paper. Wanna know why, there are 1000s of people with top marks out there that cannot get work even with top marks meanwhile there are dropouts that make millions. At the end of the day you go through this shit to get a good job and get good money but this stuff guarantees nothing but yet you hear people killing themselves over it literally if not literally they physically burn themselves over it. They then stress themselves to the max burn themselves out and then get top marks etc and then still struggle to get work etc so is it worth it. JUst do your best and as long as you feel happy with your efforts dont give a fuck it sure as hell isnt the end of the world.
Everyone’s different etc. here’s my routine: make sure you have the content of the course boxed in so that you know where the knowledge you are supposed to know starts and ends. Then sit down and condense all chapters into your own notes, it takes a few hours but it’s the first step. Once you have all the content in short notes, take a break and then read through them and make sure they all connect to the memories of the concepts that you need, i.e. you can get the info you want in your head just from the note you made.
Here’s where it gets harder, start asking yourself reasonable questions for each chapter/subject/concept. Like, say someone wanted to know where this theory comes from, can I answer that? or, say someone wanted me to solve for this given that, can I do that? do a bunch of that for a while for your topics. This is the reality check of how well you actually know the stuff. Use the book to try and answer your own questions all you want but his for me is the stage where you build confidence going into the exam, once you can start answering your own reasonable questions you start to feel good about the stuff. This is hard though.
Last, go through a few old exams from the same teacher giving your exam, get in their head a bit, figure out what types of questions they usually pose and how their problem solving method works or what they usually look for in an answer. Do not study too much the day before, just go over those notes and make sure your memory connects to the stuff the way you want it to, there is usually too little time left to form good memories the day before. Sleep well the night before, be ready for combat on the day of exam.
On the actual exam, leave partial solutions if you can’t solve the issue or answer the questions. Tell the teacher all the stuff “you think” even though it doesn’t give the answer, if you need an answer from a previous question, do the “I didn’t solve it but say it was this, then I’d proceed like this”. Write words, explain your though process, it often gives partial credit. If you don’t know the answer but can exclude alternatives, write that and why, it could give partial credit with some teachers.
Aferwards get drunk, hate life, consider becoming a sea pirate. Good Luck.
My advice would be: don’t do it under your desk in the exam room and remember to to wash your hands after.
There’s nothing worse than a sticky pen.
