Study Skills for Success

You may not realise it, but you are at an important stage of your life - what you achieve now, will determine your choices in the future. This time is not just about exam results – it is about developing the skills to learn and this is a skill for life. You’ll be working hard on homework and coursework at the moment, but do you have a good idea of what is expected of you in your course? This post will provide you with some ideas and advice.

Some tips for exam day

You may be familiar with some of the advice below, but all are good pointers to help you forward plan for your exams.

Before the exam:

• Try to eat before you go into the exam - your brain needs energy to work and that means food!
• You will be asked to write in black or blue ink. Do not use coloured pencils or pens, so come prepared with the correct writing tools.
• Planning how much time to spend on each question before you enter the exam might just stop you from getting in a panic on the day. For example, if you know you have to answer 3 questions in an hour and a half, take 30 minutes on each. This should include at least 5 minutes to read over what you have written for each question.
• A positive attitude goes a long way - if you sit down thinking “I’m going to fail” then you probably will – be confident in yourself!

Question time:

• Where a question has several aspects, make sure you have covered each part required in your answer.
• Don’t re-write the question in your answer - it wastes precious time. Just make sure you have clearly marked (usually in the margin) the question you are answering.
• Keep your answer simple and concise. It’s not about quantity, but quality. Get straight to the point – do not give a long introduction about “what you are going to say.”
• Answer the question! Don’t write everything you know about the topic, as examiners will be less likely to search for the correct answer when it is surrounded by “waffle.” Make sure you stay on the subject.
• Examiners dislike answers which are written to impress with lots of name dropping and quotes if they don’t help to answer the question or are irrelevant. Where possible, give concrete examples as evidence, as this displays your knowledge of the subject.
• To finish, make sure you relate all parts of your answers to the original question.

General advice:

• Examiners are not telepathic, so explain your thoughts as clearly as you can. Say exactly what you mean – you may lose marks for irrelevant and unnecessary information.
• Remember to show any working you do, as marks can be gained from correct workings even though the overall answer may be wrong.
• Tipex is a menace in exams. Students often waste time carefully painting over whatever error they have made, then forget to go back and re-write the answer. Score out any mistakes with a single line, but do not scrub over it!
• The difference between passing and doing really well is often down to re-reading. Make sure that you read over what you have written and correct the errors. Everyone is guilty of missing out words and punctuation at times.
• Poor handwriting is unacceptable.
  
  Handy hint

Stay positive! If you keep thinking about the enormity of exams, you’ll never get anywhere!