11 Exam tips for success

Screen Shot 2014-06-20 at 11.46.03 am1. Maintain a positive attitude

In the weeks and days coming up to your exam, keep a positive attitude and believe in yourself. Pay extra attention in class, as the teacher is likely to give special tips, hints and ideas to help with your exams. Ask your teacher questions to clarify anything you are not sure about. Focus on passing your exams and seeing a successful outcome. Avoid people that are stressing out about exams – just visualise your success.

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2. Make a plan

Spending 10 -15 minutes a week planning what you are going to study and when, will increase your efficiency and even lower your study time. Draw up a calendar and mark the times you have available to study. Now prioritise what needs to be learned within these times. Summerise your notes and revise them weekly. Remember it is extremely important to learn the information you DON’T know rather than continually looking over what you know. Get your old test papers, assignments and exams out and learn what you got wrong. Spend a little more time on the subjects you find challenging as well. It is easy to get sidetracked with the subjects you are good at, or the information you know, as this makes us feel good. However learning when you don’t know is hard and the more you work on this the easier it will get.

3. The night before

Revise your notes quietly and quickly. Cramming the night before does NOT work as your brain gets too ‘full’ and is unable to recall lots of information at once. Get a great night’s sleep – or at least attempt to. It is better to be fresh and relaxed the next day, than tired or exhausted.

4. The morning of the exam 

Have a great breakfast. You want to eat food that will sustain you rather than heavy, quick fix food. An apple will give you more energy than caffeine. Arrive 10-15 minutes before the exam and avoid people that are stressing. Stay focused. Ensure you have 2 pens, 2 pencils, an eraser, your calculator with spare batteries and anything else you might need, or are allowed. If you are allowed, take a bottle of water into the exam. Make sure you go to the bathroom before the exam.

5. Exam time

Keep your positive attitude and stay relaxed. Breathe deeply. When you are instructed to start, scan through the entire paper to give you an overview of what you will be answering. Start with the easy questions first. You do not have to start at question 1, then 2 and so on. Start with the simple questions to calm yourself and get your thinking flowing. Many times while you are working on the easier questions your subconscious brain will be thinking on the hard questions. The answers for the hard questions are sometimes in the easy questions.

Read the instructions carefully. Circle key words to help you answer the question correctly. Key words include; explain, give 3 reasons, summerise, comment, compare, contrast. These key words will be asking you to provide different kinds of information. In maths, always show your working. Read essay questions twice and plan your essay on the side of the paper, using key words, ideas and thoughts. Maintain a great sitting posture in the exam. Slouching will slow blood flow to your brain; so sit up straight – it makes a difference.

6. Manage your time

Pace yourself. If your exam is for sixty minutes, divide the time by the number of marks available. For example, if 100 marks are available in 60 minutes, that means you need to spend no more than 36 seconds per mark. So if a question is worth 2 marks,spend 1 minute on it (giving you time for checking later). A question worth 20 marks should take you 7 minutes, and so on. Keep an eye on the clock and leave the last 5 minutes for checking and rechecking.

7. I’m stuck

The harder you try and think sometimes the harder it is to remember. Take a deep breath. Breathing slowly and deeply, especially in and out through your nose will calm you down. Breath and relax and the information will flow easier. If you are not sure about a date, just leave it out and come back to it later. When you can recall a small part of the information but not all, jot it down in the column or on a piece of paper and come back to it. If you find you are completely stuck on a question, move on quickly to the next and come back to it later. Other options to trigger your memory might include asking yourself these questions: Where was I when I studied this? What letter does the answer start with? Where in the textbook do I recall seeing this? What am I being asked to find? What do I need to know to answer this? How can I break the problem up into parts? What steps should I follow to solve this problem? If you are still not sure, stay calm and move on.

8. The death grip

If your arm gets tired during the exam, chances are you are gripping your pen too tight! Without distracting anyone else, stretch out your arm, relax your grip and continue the exam.

9. Multiple choice

The key to multi choice is to answer every question. Your first choice is usually correct. Be aware of key words such as; all, never, always, now, exactly, only. Watch for negative words; no, not, never. Read all the choices before choosing one. If you are not sure, make the most intelligent guess you can. If you have to guess, choose the longest answer. If there are 2 choices that are similar avoid those. If there are opposites, choose one. Often the most general answer is correct. Don’t spend too much time on one question. Do your best and move on.

10. Neatness counts

It is very important to write legibly. If the person marking your exam cannot read it they will mark it wrong. Erase your mistakes or cross them out with one neat line – do not scribble errors out. Be careful that your numbers are easy to read – if your 7’s look like 1’s you will be marked wrong. Do not obsess with neatness, you do not have time for that, and avoid rewriting an answer out again.

11. I’m done

Stop and go back over any questions you have skipped and recheck those questions you have answered.

Grammar is important. Check you have capital letters, full stops and correct punctuation. Your spelling is also important – an exam is a formal writing time, there is no place for informal text language in your answers.

Double check your full name is on your paper and any extra pages you are handing in.

I would wish you good luck for your exams, however luck actually has nothing to do with whether you will pass or not. It is the preparation before and what you do inside the exam that makes the biggest difference.

Study Smart and pass.

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Karen Tui Boyes


Karen Tui Boyes is a champion for LifeLong Learning. A multi-award-winning speaker, educator and businesswoman, she is an expert in effective teaching, learning, study skills, motivation and positive thinking. Karen is the CEO of Spectrum Education, Principal of Spectrum Online Academy and the author of 10 books. She loves empowering teachers, parents and students and is the wife to one and the mother of two young adults.
Karen was named the GIFEW Evolutionary Woman of the Year 2022.