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How to Prepare for University Examinations

When exam timetables are released, many students get into a state of elusiveness and unnecessary panic. Some even go down with fever at the news of exams. This is often so because many students wait till that dying minute before thinking seriously of anything called examination. How else can you beat the heat of university examinations without inducing needless stress and panic into yourself? The following top-notch strategies will go a long way to help you get adequately prepared for your upcoming examinations. Ensure to practice them, that’s the only way they can work. So, what are the strategies?

1. Ensure You Attend Classes

In the university world, most times, you can choose whether or not to attend a lecture and most times, with the slightest excuse, some students ‘stab’ their lectures. The result of this, for most students is that they keep missing out on valuable hints, information, explanations, recommended materials for further study and answers to questions that are asked during the class. Plus, you can’t understand the style of a lecturer well enough if you’re always absent from his/her class. Note taking is another important reason for you not to miss class. This will serve to help you eventually in your preparation process as you will be able to relate more familiarly and practically with your courses while reading.

2. Start Early

No matter how exceptionally brilliant a student is, if he/she commences preparation for examinations in good time, early enough, there will be better output and score during exams. Also, there’ll be less stress. Just imagine you are ccarrying a 100-page notebook to read full of formulas and serious theories to juxtapose just 5 days to the exam. You’ll be too tense to fully settle and understand the details in a confident way. When you start early, you cover more, you grasp better and you can reproduce the knowledge you have in a more confident way.

3. Join or Form a Steady Study Group

As you may already have discovered that there are different types of cliques on the campus, good and bad. One good and very helpful clique you can have is a study group. If you find there’s already a study group of serious, intelligent students, and if they are not too many already you can request to join. But otherwise you can form a study group, simply approach some students that you know could be of help and you’ll be surprised they’ll be willing to oblique. You can even just be two.

4. Schedule Your Study

You should personally plan a reading timetable for your courses, in such a way that you can easily follow it with a good level of discipline. You can follow your normal timetable through the semester until the timetable for examination is out. You can then adjust your reading in the sequence that your examinations follow per course, per time.

5. Adjust Your Study Method to Your Assessment Method

There’s a pattern your examination will take. It could be oral or written, essay or objectives, fill in the gap or a mixture of these. When you study and you’re trying to access your level of assimilation, follow the pattern your exams will take to question yourself and reproduce what you’ve studied. This will aid your recollection during the exams.

6. Do a Mock Exam

After a whole lot of reading and study, probably few days to your exam, set a mock exam for yourself and answer it in just the format your examination is likely to be.

7. Use Past Questions

That lecturers recycle or repeat questions is no more news to students. So, practicing past questions is a brilliant way of preparing for the real deal. But only major on this technique for lecturers who you’re sure often repeat questions. Either way, it still serves to help. Past questions can lead you to study areas you’ve missed out in your reading; you also get to know areas of focus and less likely areas.

8. Make Notes as You Read

This is one of the best ways to aid your assimilation and also your recollection in the examination hall because you’re engaging your consciousness more than just reading with your eyes moving through the pages. Ensure your jotting is a form of summary that can remind you of more bulky content in the original text (note, textbook or material).

9. Avoid Distractions and Don’t Multitask

To maximise your preparation time, it is important to shut out all forms of distractions – phones, tv, internet, noisy environment, friends etc. Your concentration will be enhanced, and you’ll cover more in good time. Plus, your assimilation will be more orderly. Also do not be reading and cooking, chatting, eating or doing some other thing. Dedicate your chosen number of hours for reading, and let it be for reading alone. Remember good grades demand some level of denial too.

10. Practice Routine Revision

When you read at first, the information may be stored in the short memory, which is very limited. You have to revise over and over again, and while revising, don’t just revise vaguely, try to recall the details, the lists, the points, formulas. If you can’t remember them, refer to your jottings or notes, read through and try revising again.

11. Use Mnemonics

Mnemonics are powerful brain tools you should get used to. They can so help you to have the information at your fingertips with little effort. Form the habit of using acronyms, acrostics and rhymes.

12. Apply Knowledge

Always try to be in the habit of relating concepts, topics, courses to day to day life and events. Make it a fun way to apply knowledge and also stay in tune with things you’ve studied. It might also serve to fuel your passion for a particular course.

13. Maintain a Healthy You

When exams draw closer, many students refuse to sleep, doing all night reading and their eating pattern become something else. The whole brain and body tensed; they are unable to perform to their best. It’s much better to start early and take it in bits than to push everything to rush period when there’ll be so much pressure and panic.

14. Exercise

Short exercises can serve to help your mood and energy level. Your brain is put in a state where it is more alert and receptive to information.

15. Avoid Last-minute Cramming

Some students have very good cramming capacities, nonetheless, cramming at the last minute can be very dangerous and fruitless. It is advisable that you are at your best mentally, psychologically and physically on the examination day. Avoid discussions that can trigger bad emotions or places that can impair your psychological balance.

16. Give Yourself a Break

Don’t go on a reading spree with no break at all just because you want to cover a course or something. Put in your best while you’re at it, but also take necessary breaks to cool off, relax and refresh yourself for another round of study.

17. Master Your Lecturer’s Style

Different lecturers have their styles, ways they want their questions answered. Some don’t need long talks, just the points, others need all the talk you can give. Just prepare to give it to them the way they want it. That will better guarantee you a high score.