How to Prepare for Exams

This can mean two things.

1. Start in the morning rather than the evening. When you have exams approaching, it's important to prioritise them. They're probably the most important thing in your life right now, so act like they are. Don't go out shopping and then come back and start revising at 7pm. Not only will your mind be tired and you won't be able to think straight, you'll also not be as motivated because you'll be wanting to go to bed and settle down after a couple of hours.

2. Start preparing a couple of months before your exams, rather than a couple of weeks before. Don't leave things until the last minute. It's a really bad mistake to make. Not only will you absolutely panic and do everything really quickly and not thoroughly, you won't be able to revise everything that you need to get through in time, meaning that in the end, you will get results which could be a lot better.

When you first start revising and preparing for your exams, it's a really good idea to make yourself a timetable. If you are doing several subjects, you could decide how long you will spend each day on each of the subjects, or which days of the week you will do certain subjects.

You could also give yourself one day off each week, e.g Sunday. This will give your brain and mind a time to rest and relax, so that you are ready to get revising again the next day.

If you want to be really organized, then you could set yourself an absolute complete timetable, where you decide when and for how long you will do each subject, or if you only have one subject, when you will do that one.

Example:

7:30: Wake up and shower.
8:00: Breakfast
8:30-9:30: Revise Maths
9:30-10:00: Have a break
10:00-11:00: Revise English
11:00-11:30: Have a break
11:30-12.30: Revise Science
12:30-1:30: Lunch

1:30-2:30: Revise History
2:30-3:00: Have a break
3:00-4:00: Revise RE
4:00: Finish for the day and relax; leisure activities.

If you followed that timetable, you will have done 5 hours revision. You can juggle your timetable around as well, so that you can do certain subjects one day, and then different ones the next.

This is your own timetable, so it can be as flexible or as strict as you like!

When you're revising, always keep in your mind quality, and not quantity.

10 minutes of good solid revision is better than 30 minutes sat there watching the clock ticking in front of an open book.

Revision is the bit that you have to do, after your teachers have taught you all that they can. So remember, you do really get out what you put in.

Don't try and tell yourself that you're doing revision if really you're just daydreaming while sat in front of your Maths books. The only person you can fool is yourself. If you don't do it, you won't revise thoroughly; if you do it, you will revise thoroughly and get good results! Simple as that!

I know revising can seem really really boring. I'm revising for exams as well, and believe me, it's tough. I don't enjoy doing it, and it takes discipline.

As it can sometimes get so boring, if you have some friends who are also revising for exams, invite them over to your house (or you go to theirs) and revise and prepare for your exams together!

They don't have to be revising for the same exams as you, although it does help, because then you can talk about exactly the same things. Your friends can help you with the things that you are struggling with, and you can help them with what they're are struggling with!

If you're in a house with three little kids who are playing, laughing and screaming, then you're not going to get that much work done, even if you're in a different room from them.

Rather than trying to concentrate with lots of noise, find the right environment before you start revising. If you have friends who are revising or don't mind you going to their house, then try and arrange to stay with them for a few hours.

If your grandparents live nearby, contact them and see if you can go over to theirs for a couple of hours to revise.

If you have no friends or relatives living nearby, then why not go to your local library or community centre? It's usually very quiet there and there are areas provided for those students wanting to study and prepare for their exams.

I know it might sound daunting to make a list of everything you can't do, but believe me, it will motivate you so much when you start crossing them off and your list gets smaller and smaller.

As you revise each topic that you struggle with, either cross it off your list or put a tick beside it. As the list gets smaller, make a new list with just the topics you have left. Compare it to your first list and see how much you have learnt.