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Its
that time of year again. Whether you’re
twelve and salivating over SATs, eighteen
and awaiting AS levels or twenty-one and approaching
your Uni finals, exams are bound to mark the
capital letter at the start of your summer.
Every week this month we’ll be publishing
an article on the site on the different aspects
of exams, from purpose to perspective. To
begin with ALOVE draws on its own, not inconsiderable,
experience in the field of exam technique
to offer ten tips, some more serious than
others, on how to best prepare for the big
sit.
1. Eat a tuna sandwich:
Don’t laugh or turn your nose up just
yet; what you eat affects your mood, memory
and clarity of thought and according to MIT
tuna is one of the best fish foods to keep
mentally alert due to the high content of
Choline. A tuna sandwich eaten before an exam
will help stimulate your brain, make it more
aware and quicker to remember the facts and
equations you need to succeed.
2. Condense notes:
Start by making out your notes in full page
form - the more you write the more you remember-
take however many pages you need. Then put
aside all your textbooks and condense the
notes you made into two sides of A4. Condense
ideas into acronyms to make them easy to remember.
When you’ve done this with all your
subjects you should have one sheet of A4 for
every subject making last minute revision
simple and clear.
3. Go for a jog:
Mind, body and soul tip here. Get out and
do some running to get your blood circulating
and improve your fitness. This will help to
make your mind clearer and studying more focused.
When you run try to vary your speed of doing
30 second sprints followed by 1 minute slow
jogs as this is the best way to quickly improve
fitness.
4. Get out to the country:
Try not to study in your bedroom (where your
bed and computer are) as it is too easy to
get distracted. Try and go and stay with a
relative or visit the local town library to
study. A change of location can do wonders
to stimulate your mind and provide an alternative
backdrop to those study hours.
5. Get a good night’s
sleep: Studying hard all week and partying
all weekend can often ensure you lose most
of what you learned in the week. Sleep loss
or deprivation on a critical night after studying
(when your brain assimilates all that has
been learned) can cause up to a 30% loss of
information. Make sure when studying you augment
it with a good night sleep (an average of
eight hours) so you retain your facts!
6. Do your quiet times:
Meditating on Jesus will give you perspective
and peace: peace will destroy your worries
which, when allowed to get out of hand, can
rob you of energy, focus and motivation. Give
your studies, your exams and your future back
to Jesus and, as he commanded in his final
words to us ask for peace: “not as the
world gives; don’t let your heart be
troubled, don’t be afraid.”
7. Do something for someone
else: It’s all too easy to get
introverted whole studying. Sure, you need
to put in those hours and days and get the
most from your textbooks and year notes but
there is a world ticking away outside of your
all-consuming examination timetable. Do something
for your parents or a sibling to remind you
that, despite our human tendencies, the world
doesn’t actually revolve around us.
8. Get someone to test
you: Obvious one this, but one that
can make all the difference. Write out some
questions and get a long-suffering brother,
sister, friend, father or mother to sit down
and ask you them. Then spout off all you have
learned getting them to check your facts from
your notes as you go along. This will help
you top finally retain any of those facts
or equations that are still evading you at
the latter stages of revision.
9. Get there early:
Whether your exam is in the morning or afternoon,
make sure you are there a good hour before
you start. This will give you chance to calmly
look over your single A4 page notes and compare
facts with friends using your short term memory
to its maximum. Of course, whether your friends
want to exchange facts with you and your tuna
breath is another matter altogether….
10. Plan your exam time:
If you’re doing an essay subject this
is especially important. Do your maths at
the start of the paper: If you have five essays
to write in two hours then give yourself twenty
minutes writing each and a cumulative twenty
minutes planning for each. Keep your watch
on your desk and stick to the timings!
11. and finally: Start
on an easy question: You don’t
have to begin with the first question. Get
stuck in with one that you know the answer
to well so you can gain confidence. Getting
off to a good start will help get you in the
right frame of mind for that paper and will
ensure that you’re not wasting time
on one you’re less sure of to start
with.
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Youthwork -
The Partnership ...
ALOVE,
Youthwork Magazine, Youth For Christ, Spring Harvest and
Oasis are working together to equip and resource the Church
for effective youth work and ministry. |
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