Exam times can be stressful if you haven’t planned your studies well. Managing your time, taking notes that are helpful, revising regularly and keeping the stress levels low are just some of the ways to make it through exam time with your sanity still intact. Here are a few notes in a series of blogs that we will be posting on exam time survival tips – whether you’re at school or on campus, so enjoy!

Managing your time

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Time is usually our biggest enemy – is there ever enough time for work, play and study? Plan to succeed. Use a diary and organise your commitments – work, meetings, studying and socialising. Use your term planner for mapping out subjects, exam times, study periods and so on. Compile a weekly TO DO list and follow through, ticking off tasks as they are completed. Separate subjects into folders (colour code if you like) and make sure that ALL of your study notes and anything useful for studying that particular subject are kept in ONE folder, so you don’t have to waste time looking for notes at the last minute. If you know you have a busy day the next day, pack your bag with your notes, lunch etc the night before.

Revision

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There are so many different revision techniques and everyone has a different style that suits them. Before you revise, know more about what is being tested, in what format you will be tested (i.e. essay, multiple choice etc) and what outcomes you are expected to know. Here are some revision styles that may interest you:

• Re-write your notes out again highlighting important areas in different colours; highlight keywords or summarise important areas.
• Have you tried making a mind map? Mind maps are widely recognised as an effective method to improve understanding and memory through the visual representation of information.
• Use colour-coding techniques to help you remember information more clearly
• Review past papers to see what sorts of questions are being asked and what outcomes are required.
• Arrange study sessions with friends and bounce questions off each other.
• Read and re-read your notes – some people are good at retaining information just by reading – don’t choose this method because it’s easy, choose it if you really are able to remember from reading.

Making Notes and Taking Notes

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What’s the difference between making notes and taking notes? Taking notes is writing down information when someone speaks. Note making is writing up notes from your textbook or other text based resources. Keep your notes short and to the point. Summarize the key points being reviewed in class or in your text book. If you are making notes from text, you may wish to put your notes into a mind map or diagram – choose a note making format that works for you. Put your notes into your own words to make them easier to understand if you use them for revision. This also avoids plagiarism.

• Don’t write down everything that the lecturer or teacher has said – write down keywords or phrases that will help you to remember the lecture down the line;
• Shorten or abbreviate words
• If you are allowed, type notes on your laptop if you’re faster at typing than writing
• Record a lecture on your phone and play it back later for a refresher
• Use an app to record notes – The best and most flexible note-taking app for just about any breed of smartphone or tablet is Evernote which is FREE.
• If you have to write and not type your notes, write notes on one side of that paper (right column) and leave the other side open for comments or additional notes which you may think of later – or you can take the right column of notes and reduce it further into the opposite column when revising.

These are just a few helpful techniques to assist you when planning for your exams. We’ll be rolling out a few more techniques in this series that you may find helpful, so watch this space!

Image Credits:
Image 1: www.cambridgepakistan.blogspot.com
Image 2: https://www.examtime.com
Image 3: www.nbcnews.com