{"id":93,"date":"2020-12-02T13:16:57","date_gmt":"2020-12-02T13:16:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-skills\/?p=93"},"modified":"2024-01-26T09:36:30","modified_gmt":"2024-01-26T09:36:30","slug":"top-ten-tips-for-exam-preparation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/2020\/12\/02\/top-ten-tips-for-exam-preparation\/","title":{"rendered":"Top 10 tips for exam preparation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Whatever type of exam you'll be sitting this exam period, here are some general top 10 tips from former Academic Skills Course Leader Tom Reid on how to improve your exam scores.<\/em><\/p>\n

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1. Attend revision sessions<\/h2>\n

Revision lectures and workshops are designed to help you focus on key content from the Semester. Your tutors will probably provide lots of hints about what areas to focus on during exam preparation, so make attendance of these a priority.<\/p>\n

Make sure you find out where you can access these sessions and, if they're being recorded, on which Moodle page you'll find the Panopto file afterwards.<\/p>\n

2. Practise past exam questions<\/h2>\n

Practise makes perfect as they say, and working on past exam questions will help you revise content, identify gaps in your knowledge, and sharpen your exam writing skills and techniques.<\/p>\n

Try writing under exam conditions, and ask a classmate to check your answers. While exam types may vary, past papers can help you unlock your knowledge and tap into key ideas.<\/p>\n

You can access previous exam papers for your subject through the Library<\/a>.<\/p>\n

3. Revise a little often, and not at the last minute<\/h2>\n

There\u2019s a limit to how long the human brain can concentrate and the quality of our learning steadily decreases if we don\u2019t take frequent breaks.<\/p>\n

It's important that you study frequently, but in short bursts of highly concentrated effort. Establish a revision timetable and stick to it. Work on a specific topic focus area for around 20-30 minutes, then take a break - coffee, exercise, movie, lunch etc, then return again for a second round, but this time work on a different topic. Review, repeat, recycle.<\/p>\n

Do this every day and you\u2019ll feel much more confident by the time the exam day arrives \u2013 no late-night cramming sessions required.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0Active revision<\/h2>\n

Don\u2019t just read and read (or copy and copy) your notes and hope the content will sink in. You need to activate your learning.<\/p>\n

Try reducing notes from full length to one or two trigger words (usually the nouns that hold key ideas). Then rebuild content from memory without looking back at your original notes. This way you'll reconstruct meaning rather than recycle detached and abstract ideas, identify gaps in your knowledge, and most important of all, stay awake!<\/p>\n

5. Answer the question<\/h2>\n

Sounds easy, but it's even easier to misinterpret or only partially address all aspects of the question. You need to practise unpacking and analysing exam questions quickly, to identify focus topics.<\/p>\n

Look for:<\/p>\n