tips to succeed in exams

You are now armed with a plan and ready to start studying for the exam. Try to study in a location where you can concentrate and won t be interrupted. You can work with others or join a study group if you find it helpful, but be careful to keep it from turning into an inefficient use of your time. Some proven study tools and techniques are listed below people respond to different learning styles, so use what works for you.

Allocate sufficient time in your study plan for revision towards the end of the exam preparation. Going through the whole study text when only two or three days remain in the exams is not recommended. You would probably feel overly exhausted and stressed from trying to retain the information contained in the study texts in such a short span of time. A better approach would be to draft your own study notes through out the exam session which you could then use for revision purposes right before the examinations. Exam Pass Cards from one of the approved publishers could prove handy in case you are not in the habit of making your own notes.

Ever got the feeling that you are suddenly forgetting everything you have learned right before the exam? It was probably because you stayed up too late the night before the examination. A good rest before the exam is essential in order to remain alert and focused during the exam. While it may be very tempting at 3 am in the night before the exam to study one final chapter , fact is you would probably be doing yourself more harm than good. Sleep early and rise fresh on the exam day.

Effective use of the 15 minute planning and reading time could help you to produce more relevant, well planned and structured answers in the exam. Reading time is ideal for highlighting and understanding the key requirements of all questions. Remaining time could be used to draft brief answer plans and in case of Professional Stage examinations, you may use this time to select the most appropriate optional questions you wish to answer.

lose attention should be given to the precise requirement of each question. If it appears to you that two parts of a question are asking the same thing, don t congratulate yourself but rather read the question carefully again. It is important to have understanding of what the examiner is demanding before you proceed to answer the question. It would be a waste of time if you realized half way through the answer that you have misinterpreted the requirement of the question.

Examiners always appreciate well structured answers. A little planning at the start could help you give the necessary structure and coherence to your answers. Try to insert short answer plans before the answers which should be crossed afterwards to avoid confusing the examiner. This gives examiner the impression that you have tried to organize your answers and also, in case time runs out, an answer plan mentioning the key points could be rewarded few marks even if the answer was left incomplete.

If you have another exam scheduled soon, try not to waste too much time discussing the exam you have already given with your friends especially if it did not go too well! . Go home, get a good rest and come fresh and well prepared for the next exam. I hope you have found these tips helpful. Please share this article with your friends if you found it useful! I will be posting some exam specific advice for ACCA students soon. Best of luck with your Exams.

This prepares you for the types of question you will be asked, and the time you will have to answer each question. If there has been any major change in the format of the examination, then you will have been told about this in the course literature.

In a few Honours examinations you might be asked to write long essays time allocation of 1.5 hours or even 3 hours . However, this does not mean that you have to write for 1.5 or 3 hours. Instead, it means that you have enough time to assemble your thoughts and construct your answer carefully. The answer itself might not take more than 1 hour or 1.5 hours to write.

In all other examinations the essay style questions are shorter. For example, you might be asked to answer four essay style questions in a 3 hour exam see the Microbiology 3m examination papers, for example . These essay style questions require a large amount of relevant factual information, and understanding of the subject. However, you would not be expected to produce a polished and grammatically correct essay. The important thing is to write down as much relevant information as possible, while sticking rigidly to the question that was set.

SAQs typically have 8 10 minutes time allocation but check this carefully, because the time allocation does vary . The best approach to these questions is to produce short notes, with as much relevant information as possible in the time allowed. If you really know the material you should get full marks for these questions.