Students like to think that exams are an objective measure of learning, but they’re really not. You might know the information like the back of your hand, but if you’re not equipped with the necessary exam skills, you won’t get the grades you’re hoping for. There are so many exam tips on the internet you can easily follow to get it right in your exam. However, making use of exam-taking techniques is one of the secret study tips to score highest in exam.
The basic point about exam taking principles and techniques is that it help you stay familiar with the structure of the exam. It’s important to know how many sections the exam will have, the differences between the sections, whether there will be multiple choice questions, open-ended questions, or both. This will give you an overview of the exam structure.
It will also help you manage your time. During an exam, every second counts. Knowing how to mange your time will help you keep track of the time more accurately.
7 Secret Study Tips to Score Highest in Exam
Before you start any exam, it is essential to look through the entire past exam or related exam questions at the beginning. This will also put you on track and also help you determine how much time you should spend on each question. Based on how long the exam is and how many points there are in total, you’ll know roughly how much time to spend on your upcoming exam questions.
Here are the 7 secret study tips to score highest in exam:
1. Establish Good Study Routine
The secret study tips to score highest in exam you cannot do without is creating your study routine which comprised of more than planning what to learn and when. One of the main concerns is your study environment. Your study routine depend solely on the environment. Find a place to study that is quiet and with few distractions. Alternatively, you could also try switching it up by sitting in a different place in your school library every day and seeing how this works for you.
2. Establish Effective Study Plan
The key to breaking the cycle of cramming for exam is to think ahead and establish effective study plan. Not only will this help you get organized and make the most of your time, it’ll also put your mind at ease and eliminate that nasty feeling you get when you walk into an exam knowing that you’re not at all prepared. As the old saying goes, fail to prepare and be prepared to fail. Establishing effective study plan is undeniably the secret study tips to score highest in exam.
3. Study With Classmates
You should know your classmates pretty well especially the brilliant ones. This is a good idea to select a couple of study partners who you know you work well with and are motivated to achieve good grades.
4. Develop a plan.
Most of the students I work with don’t plan for how they’ll prepare for an exam. They just tell themselves that they’ll study as much as possible then they’ll “hope for the best.” This isn’t a wise approach. Preparing for an exam is like taking on an important project.
Would you start building a bridge without first coming up with a plan? Would you just begin construction and “hope for the best”? I doubt it. In a similar way, it’s important to outline, in writing, a strategy for how you’ll get ready for an exam.
5. Take Regular Study Breaks
This may seem counterintuitive because study breaks would normally be used to sleep or relax. But, reading a novel could help your brain take a break from your studying for exam but still keep it activated. Reading actually reduces stress levels by decreasing blood pressure and lowering heart rates.
So it’s important to realize that you can’t maintain an optimum level of concentration without giving yourself some time to recover from the work you’ve put in. This can take the form of a ten-minute walk, a trip to the gym, having a chat with a friend or simply fixing yourself a hot drink. If it feels like procrastination, then rest assured that it’s not: taking regular short breaks not only help improve your focus, they can boost your productivity too.
6. Test Yourself
Self-testing is a potent learning strategy. Self testing is a good habit. It is based on the idea that trying to remember what one has studied actually improves learning and memory for the material. Self-testing is also effective because it helps students identify gaps in their learning, which is important for self correction.
It’s a strange thing, but sometimes simply entering an exam environment is enough to make you forget some of the things you’ve learned. The solution is to mentally prepare for the pressure of having to remember key dates, facts, names, formulas and so on. Testing yourself with regular quizzes is a great way of doing this.
7. Set Study Goals
Choosing individual reading goals sets the purpose for reading and helps students to know what to focus on when reading. It gives you instructional guidance for what to work on during your individual reading conferences.
There is lots of credible research suggesting that goal setting can be used as part of a strategy to help people successfully effect positive changes in their lives, so never underestimate the power of identifying to yourself the things you want to achieve. Just make sure to ask yourself some key questions: Am I setting realistic goals? Will I need to work harder to achieve those goals? If you’re happy with the goals you’ve set then you should aim to develop your study plan for the year ahead with your goals in mind.
