We admit it: there are certainly more than 1,000 activities that are more fun than exam preparation.After all, you want to achieve the best possible exam result, right? The good news is that preparations for exams do not need to be a drama – if you know how to do it best. Here are the best tips and learning techniques for the ideal revision preparation at a glance!
Exam Preparation – the Basics
Let’s start with the basics. Create a learning atmosphere where you can concentrate well. Cleaning up your room (or at least your desk) is not only good for your mood during exam preparation, but also ensures a distraction-free learning environment.
Distraction is one thing above all: make sure your phone is muted and let all your flatmates or household members (if any) know that you need absolute peace now. If this is about formalism, we want to reassure you, as it relates to your learning style. Are you more of an owl or a lark? People who get up early have their high concentration phases earlier in the day, while night owls prefer to get up a little later and are more receptive later on. Since it makes no sense to fight the individual biological clock, the learning phase should be timed in such a way that you can get the most out of it.
Exam Preparation Objective
Surely you have already come across YouTube and similar platforms with one or other motivation gurus who always talk about goals, goal setting, and visualisation. The right objective is also important for your exam. Is it about simply passing, or do you want to finish with top marks?
As the human brain, according to studies by the Max Planck Institute, can hardly distinguish between reality and imagination, you can take advantage of this fact and imagine how you get the desired grade. Boost yourself and feel how glad you are to have completed the exam.
Exam Preparation Structure
Structured exam preparation provides the necessary certainty. Have you set your mindset perfectly? Super, then you should now dare to tackle time planning. This is less complex than it might sound: just decide in which period you want to learn every day, and pay attention to regular breaks. Also note what other obligations you have to meet on the respective day (for example, a part-time job) and plan a time buffer to avoid being under pressure. The nice thing is, here too, you can count on help from the digital world. Time management apps such as Chaos Control or Evernote help you keep your schedule and are so much cooler and more practical than old-fashioned sticky notes!
Create Exam Preparation Learning Plan
Structured learning plans are the be-all and end-all in exam preparation. No one expects you to learn everything that happened in the respective semester. Therefore, ask your lecturers early on and collect the exam content as well as all slides, notes and scripts that you have available. When reading through them, identify which of these are important for the examination – and which are not. Then determine, in a logical sequence, what you want to learn first and how much time (plan properly!) you will probably need for it. Keep this in your learning plan. In general, you should also place an exam timetable within your learning plan that reminds you which exam you are sitting and when, and plan for the exam preparation accordingly.
Exam Preparation Learning Techniques
Of course, there are also some insider tips when preparing for exams. However, these have nothing to do with colourful pills or meditation techniques from the Himalayas, but with very practical learning methods. Here are some of the most important at a glance.
The Pomodoro method: No, this is not a clichéd mafia film that your parents still know, but a very effective learning technique. It works like this: you set a timer to 25 minutes and work with full concentration. Then you take a five-minute break and start again. After four of these sessions, you can take a longer, 25-minute break and then continue. Bet you can learn much more efficiently in this way? You will be surprised at how much you can achieve.
The SQ3R method: The abbreviation SQ3R stands for “Survey, Question, Read, Recite and Review” and helps you to understand the learning material particularly well and to imprint the core aspects of the content. With this technique, you first focus on the headings and the table of contents. Then you think about what the basic message of the text is and summarise the individual sections. And already you have captured the most important points from the text!
Storyboarding: Your creativity is needed here. Create a story around your learning material – one that is entertaining and maybe even has a personal reference. For example, imagine how a friend is telling you the learning material while they are calling you from Florida. Your imagination has no limits.
Further Tips for Exam Preparation
Food and drink: To achieve your exam goals, your body must function properly. Therefore, make sure to drink enough (water, tea, diluted juice) and eat healthily (whole grains, fruit, vegetables, unsalted nuts, light protein sources). Who wants to fail just because their blood sugar level played ping-pong?
Movement: Of course, you will be sitting a lot on the exam date. Therefore, if possible, try to walk briefly during your longer breaks or maybe even do some sport. This way you reduce stress and feel better, which has a positive effect on your ability to absorb information.
You are not alone: Learning groups can help. It is precisely when you explain what you have learned that it has added value for all participants. Furthermore, you can motivate each other and push the whole group forward. It is important that the group is not too big – it should not be more than four people. Party lovers or chronic worriers would not be the best choice.
Use recap lectures: Especially at the end of the semester, there are often summary courses or Q&A sessions in which professors can narrow down the content to be learned, thus sparing you a lot of unnecessary work.
Collect past exams: A useful idea to either learn from the mistakes of past students or to see “how to do it right” and what topics tend to appear in similar examinations.
Exam Preparation Conclusion
Exam preparation is not necessarily one of the favourite activities of students. Nevertheless, it is necessary to achieve the best possible grade. With some simple exam preparation techniques, you can not only take in the learning content more easily, but also save a lot of time with websites like satspapershub.co.uk, you can download KS1 SATs Papers, KS2 SATs Papers and many other resources.
