8 tips to help you succeed in your exams
Posted on: 16 July, 2019
All across the world, UCEM postgraduate students will be heading to their local assessment centre to take their exams next week. Ahead of the exams, we have selected eight tips from the ‘Exam success’ guide available on the Study Skills section of the VLE (virtual learning environment) to share with our students…
Ahead of the exam…
- Use the revision forums
Each module page on the VLE contains a revision forum – use it to help you with your preparations and share your ideas for success with your peers. (Please note that the forum switches to ‘read only’ mode 24 hours before the exam.)
- Practise!
They say ‘practice makes perfect’ and while practising specimen and past exam papers won’t guarantee you a score of 100%, it certainly won’t harm! As well as the specimen and past exam papers on the VLE, sample questions can be found on the forums to help you consider what types of questions and topics may face you on the day.
Practical considerations…
- Gear up!
Do you have enough pens? Pencils? A calculator? Whatever equipment/stationery you need, make sure you have it, plus spares. Better to have too many pens than not enough!
- Check your arrangements
Know the location of your exam centre? Check. Time of the exam? Check. The date? Check. What you need to bring? Check. Familiarise yourself with all the arrangements so you don’t give yourself any additional stress on the day.
During the exam…
- Read the instructions
This should be a given but is worth re-emphasising. Read the instructions on your exam paper very carefully so you know what’s expected of you.
- Plan your allocation of time per question
See how many questions you have to answer and how many marks are allocated for each to plan the time you spend on each. Four equally weighted questions to answer in two hours? You do the math!
- Plan your structure
As the clock ticks down, the temptation can be to jump straight into answering the question without a second thought. If you can afford to, however, taking a moment to think about the structure of your answer may save you time further down the line and give your writing a more logical structure than if you don’t plan the main points of the essay.
- Proofread
Again, this is one which is dependent on how you are doing with time. If you have finished your answer with time to spare, look over your answer to run a quick check over your punctuation and grammar. In the heat of examination, you may have made a simple mistake and a proofread can help rectify any errors you might have made.
To read the full ‘Exam success’ guide, head to Section 8 of the Study Skills section of the VLE, where you will also find other resources which can help with your exam preparation.
For any further academic support, contact the Student Advice Team on +44 (0)118 921 4696 or raise an enquiry on Student Central.
Good luck!
