You’ve done all your revision and are in the full swing of exams – it’s a fairly stressful time! We’ve compiled some tips to make sure you get the most out of your paper and to support you during your examination.
Six tips to support you during exams:
1. Calm your nerves
Anxiousness can be detrimental to your focus, so try to calm your nerves before you start. Take deep, slow breathes. Bring a bottle of fresh water with you and take small sips throughout the exam. Leave any thoughts of failure behind!
2. Do the easy questions first
Thoroughly read through your exam questions and answer the easy questions first. If you have studied sufficiently there should be questions that make you think, “Oh! I know this one!”. Once you have these questions out of the way, you can focus the rest of your exam time and energy on the trickier questions.
3. Read the questions properly
We’ve all heard countless stories from friends (and our own experiences!) who missed out on marks because they didn’t read the question properly and made silly mistakes. So slowww dowwwn. This will also make sure that you don’t waste time going back and trying to fix your answer.
4. Plan your answer if you need to
Planning your answer on the rough work pages can actually save time, and not waste it like some may think – especially for essay questions! Quickly planning your answer helps you to order your thoughts coherently, which means you’re less likely to make mistakes on your actual answer, thereby saving you time. Your method of planning can be a mind map, flow chart or rough draft. Just don’t forget to label your rough work according to the exam instructions.
5. Be aware of time
It can be easy to get stuck on a question and waste all your precious minutes on it. Before you know it, you look up at the clock and there are only 10 minutes left! You should have a rough idea on how much time each section will take to complete – try to stick to it. If your exam venue doesn’t have a visible clock, wear a watch so that you can keep track of the time.
6. Answer EVERY question
Once you’ve reached the end of your paper, be sure to go back and answer any questions you skipped. You may as well take a guess – who knows, you might get one or two marks out of it. Every point counts!
If you’re feeling stressed about an upcoming exam because you feel you aren’t fully prepared, or don’t understand something, Master Maths and Master Science provide tutoring and have study support centres all over South Africa. Our unique method of integrating personal contact from tutors with interactive computer lessons sets us apart from other tuition services.
Our lessons are authored by highly competent teachers who interpret the South African curriculum and translate it into a user-friendly and easy-to-understand format. Lesson content is regularly updated according to changes in the curriculum. With all of this mind, it’s clear to see that out centres make effective study support centres for students!