Once again, exam season is upon us. This is the most stressful time of year for any student, as these few weeks determine an unreasonable proportion of our futures. I have not had any experience with this level of formal examination before, as I’m in year 10, however I did feel relatively prepared before entering this period. I was wrong.
In my opinion, the entire premise of exams does not make sense. In the workplace you are very unlikely to be shut in a silent room, cut off from any kind of resources or help – then asked to complete a crucial task. I’m aware that the idea of exams is to test your knowledge and skills on the subject, but there are much more effective ways of doing this – in-class practicals for science, coursework, presentations etc. In a real job, most workers are not going to need to memorise huge amounts of information. Perhaps the idea of these qualifications is to measure how well you know a subject, but the skills that you need for an exam paper simply are not that transferable to a career.
Sadly, exams are unavoidable, So we all have to cope. Everyone has their own way of revising - I like to use mind maps, as writing out the notes helps me remember more than just reading notes. Making revision resources colourful also works well, as research has shown that the use of certain colours can help boost aspects of your brain’s performance. Past papers should be a part of every student’s revision; the hardest part of exams is applying the information that you have learnt, and they are also a great way of making sure that you are prepared for any of the unusual questions that could possibly come up. Exam boards tend to be more interested in how you can use your knowledge than how much you know, so going through these papers will give you a much clearer idea of the kind of concepts that they could include in your exam.
Stress is the monster always lurking around exams. I only planned enough revision time for my three main exams, forgetting that I was sitting an extra exam for my additional course. Starting too early is not possible with revision, and it’s much better to do a small amount of revision every day for a couple of months than trying to learn all of the information in the weeks leading up to your exams.
Revise early and plan your revision in detail. However, if you find yourself with a huge amount to learn the night before the exam, try to cover the aspects of the course most likely to come up in your paper. Don’t stay up all night cramming. Lack of sleep will have a detrimental impact on your results, and it’s more important that your ability to think isn’t impaired – this is crucial.
If you plan well and work hard, you’ll do well. Keep calm, don’t panic and think of that wonderful summer break after school’s finished.