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10 February 2010
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Student Life homepage > Revision & Skills > Exams : How to have a good exam

How to have a good exam

Very few people claim to look forward to and enjoy exams. But that doesn't have to mean you panic over them. Check out our top tips to help you get through the dreaded exam period.

8 steps to surviving exams

  1. Timing: Make sure you know how much time you will have in the exam, what kind of questions you will be asked, and how many there will be. That way you can split your time between the questions to make sure they all get answered.
  2. End of exam: When you're doing an exam that involves long answers - for example English, it's a good idea to leave some space at the end of the answer so you can add any additional comments or arguments that might come to mind when you reread your paper at the end of the exam.
  3. "Don't spend all your time on questions you know the answer to"

  4. Move on: Don't spend all your time on questions you know the answer to. Remember that you have to answer all the questions, and you will get a worse mark for answering some questions supremely well and some not at all.
  5. Handwriting: Make sure you're writing is legible, it's worth taking a little extra time making sure your work is neat enough for the examiner to be able to read it. Try to avoid spelling mistakes too!
  6. Be prepared: The more prepared you are the more likely you are to succeed.
  7. Keep calm: Most importantly, DON'T PANIC! If you feel yourself getting stressed take a deep breath.
  8. Exam post-mortem: Don't try to dissect the exam once you've finished it. There's no point going through what answers you put down compared to your friend. If you've put down different answers it's not going to help you in your next exam by worrying about it.
  9. Move on: Once an exam is over forget about it. There is nothing more you can do about it. The best thing you can do is go home and revise for the next one.

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