Exam tips (that work!)

Feb 5, 2020

Everyone associated with schools knows that at this time of year motivation and energy is at an all-time low, while stressful late nights seem to be trending.

You’ve guessed it!

It’s exam time.

Luckily ESCA has an experienced librarian and study guide who has tips that are extremely effective in breaking down the exam-time blues and making sure you are in top-form when the time comes to #acethattest!

Everyone associated with schools knows that at this time of year motivation and energy is at an all-time low, while stressful late nights seem to be trending.

You’ve guessed it!

It’s exam time.

Luckily ESCA has an experienced librarian and study guide who has tips that are extremely effective in breaking down the exam-time blues and making sure you are in top-form when the time comes to #acethattest!

Don’t be fooled. These tips might seem ever-so-simple, but they have proven essential in ensuring that you are mentally and physically ready to do your best.

So, without further ado, ESCA’s top 10 exam tips for acing your exams:

Everyone associated with schools knows that at this time of year motivation and energy is at an all-time low, while stressful late nights seem to be trending.

You’ve guessed it!

It’s exam time.

Luckily ESCA has an experienced librarian and study guide who has tips that are extremely effective in breaking down the exam-time blues and making sure you are in top-form when the time comes to #acethattest!

Don’t be fooled. These tips might seem ever-so-simple, but they have proven essential in ensuring that you are mentally and physically ready to do your best.

So, without further ado, ESCA’s top 10 exam tips for acing your exams:

1. Get Organised! Establish a Study Zone by finding a place that fits your personality and learning style. Understand how your own brain works and your dominant learning style. Have all your materials ready to go!

2. Be Positive! Positivity goes a long way to helping with self-esteem and retaining information. The amount of importance you give to work you study and what to keep and what to get rid of is based on the importance and relevance that YOU put on it!

3. Eat Well! Limit your sugar intake, eat low GI foods. Your diet should be rich in fruit and vegetables and essential fats (avocado, nuts and fish). Drink 2-3 litres of water a day. An exam is like strenuous exercise so be prepared physically!

4. Summarise! Highlight key words, make mind maps –write on index cards. Fitting the material into a set space forces you to mentally organise information, a huge step towards learning it. Break big concepts down into smaller chunks.

5. Walk outside! The change of scenery will stimulate your imagination and learning capabilities. Take an index card or study notes with you, and you’ll be surprised at how much more you take in just by being outside in the fresh air.

6. Study sessions - keep your study session short but effective (about 25- 40 minutes) and reward yourself with short constructive breaks.

7. Shout it out! Let the world hear what you have to study. You might feel ‘silly’ at first, but it is definitely worth reading your revision notes aloud. Teach your concepts to anyone who will listen.

8. Terminology - Ensure you understand all the terminology you are studying.

9. Revision Revision Revision! – Make sure you revise your notes all the time and especially the day before the exam. Jot down any key points you are battling to remember.

10. Sleep – at least 8 hours the night before an exam. Lack of sleep has the same effect as jet lag on the brain.

Your memory recall is all dependent on how you store the information in your brain. If you only used one medium of studying (eg: black printed text in a book), you can only take out a certain amount of information. The more colour and images, mind maps and trigger charts you use the easier it is to recall information during the exam.

Good luck and keep going!

Kind regards

Team ESCA