With my last exam heading my way on Thursday I thought I’d write a post on how you can prepare for exams- like a Pro! (or at least a Katie sized Pro.)
First up is the most important thing: know the best way you revise, whether that’s a copy and paste style, past tests, spider diagrams or note cards being able to know what works best for you will keep you going. While revision might not be the most interesting, pairing it with something that’s works well can lead you to success- just make sure you have multiple ways to revise, I’m (unfortunately?) aware of how ‘boring’ it can get.
Secondly, colours are everything. At first, I often found myself stopping halfway through revising because it didn’t look pretty enough- starting off using colours can help you organise your revision notes, but also means you’ll take care in what you’re doing and taking in what your writing etc. It also means you won’t be starting all over again because black biro pen just doesn’t cut it. But also, what’s better than looking through you’re nicely coloured notes while you’re waiting for the impending doom of a date with the invigilator?
Make sure everything you need is around you! Making sure you’ve got your midway through celebratory snack is crucial because let’s face it; having to get up at any point is cause for distractions and a distraction means staying as far away from the subject you don’t understand. In all seriousness getting everything, you need before starting to revise means that you’re completely focused on the task at hand and may surprise yourself in what you can get done!
In at number four is The pomodoro technique. This technique very much saved my life for first year; mostly through tough assignments in which I had already spent horrific amounts of time just trying to understand. The technique is essentially giving you an amount of time revising (or writing essays etc.) and then an allotted time as a break. It could be 25 minutes revision and with 5-minute breaks (I believe that’s the normal) or you could adapt like I did to periods of time that fit you better. The only consistent is that the time working has to be longer than the break, heart-breaking I know.
Finally, stay motivated. It’s easy for me to tell you just to stay motivated, but actually doing it is harder than it looks- I’ve actually got a blog post on how I’ve managed to stay motivated throughout lockdown which might be helpful to you. For me, motivation is everything, if I don’t have motivation, nothings getting done which, upon reflection, has led me to some stressful moments. While I believe it’s good to feel stressed about exams, it can be used as a factor of motivation, try to use it to drive you instead of hinder you. Obviously, I can only talk from my own experiences, but I urge everyone to try and stay motivated, whether that be through your own mental strength or Jaffa cakes (I’m leaning towards the Jaffa Cakes.)
And there you have it! A quick round up of how to prepare like a (Katie sized) Pro for exams! Please note I am a very small person in general and so there are other ways out there to revise and prepare for exams, the main thing is finding your niche and applying it.
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