How To Improve your Exam Performance

Although this high percentage is not unexpected, it still raises concerns about how competitive and demanding the educational system may be.

We are adamant that education ought to be about much more than just test scores. Exams won’t be eliminated from schools anytime soon, so students would be wise to develop the best coping mechanisms for them.

The following five strategies have been developed to help you perform better on exams:

1. Develop a plan.

Most of the students we work with don’t have a plan for their exam preparation. They simply promise themselves they’ll study as much as they can and “hope for the best.”

This is not the best strategy. Exam preparation is similar to starting a significant endeavour.
Would you begin constructing a bridge without first developing a plan? Would you simply start the project and “hope for the best”? Probably not. Study Material For NEET

In a similar vein, it’s critical to write out your preparation strategy for an exam.
The following inquiries should be kept in mind when you create your plan:

• When will you start studying?
• How many hours each week will you block out to study?
• Which topics do you need further clarification on?
• Which homework assignments will you review?
• How many practice exams will you do?
• How many times will you review your notes and your textbook readings?
• What distractions are you likely to face, and how will you overcome them?

“Failing to plan is planning to fail,” as the saying goes. Therefore, be sure to prepare for each exam you take.

2. Get on a sleep schedule at least one week before the exam.

Early in the morning, when students typically feel least awake, many exams are planned.
If you’ll be taking an exam in the morning, start adjusting your sleep schedule at least a week beforehand to give your body time to acclimate. If not, taking the exam won’t be in the best mental state for you.

Generally speaking, getting eight hours of sleep each night is a good idea. If you want to enhance your memory and mental attention, it’s imperative that you get adequate sleep.

In the days and weeks preceding the exam, it can be tempting to stay up late or even pull a few all-nighters, but doing so is counterproductive. If you get enough sleep, you’ll perform better on the test.

3. Don’t do any last-minute studying right before the exam.

It’s typical for students to study briefly in the final 10 minutes before an exam. This might offer some psychological solace, but generally it hurts more than it helps.

You either know the necessary facts before an exam in 10 minutes or you don’t. You’ll feel more agitated and anxious if you hurriedly examine equations or facts at this time. This will have a detrimental impact on how you perform.

Instead, take advantage of the time before the exam to unwind. Think about accurately answering the questions, and picture yourself feeling calm and confident.

Breathe in deeply. Four seconds of inhalation followed by four seconds of exhalation. To calm down, say this as many times as required.

4. Turn your focus towards the process and away from the outcome.

When professional athletes perform under pressure—for instance, when they make the buzzer-beating, game-winning shot—intriguing it’s to see how they respond when reporters inquire about their thoughts at the time of the shot.

You could anticipate them to say something like, “We thought about the crowd’s reaction if we missed the shot,” “We focused on the amount of time left in the game,” or “We thought about how we didn’t want to let my teammates down.”

But I’ve noticed that they hardly ever say things like that. They typically respond, “We just took the shot the same way I’ve taken it thousands of times in practice,” which I’ve observed to be the case.

Ironically, professional athletes are able to achieve better results because of this emphasis on the process rather than the result.

This means that you’re unlikely to ace the exam if you focus primarily on the result (for example, telling yourself repeatedly, “We must ace this exam. We must ace this exam.
Instead, focus on remaining composed, carefully considering each question, and determining what each question is actually asking if you want to ace the exam.

5. Make use of exam-taking techniques.

Exams are not, despite what we’d like to believe, a reliable indicator of learning. If you don’t have the necessary exam-taking skills, even if you know the material like the back of your hand, you won’t get the grades you want.

Here are some fundamental guidelines and methods for taking exams:

Be familiar with the structure of the exam.

It’s critical to know the responses to the following questions:

• How many sections will the exam have?
• What are the differences between the sections?
• Will there be multiple-choice questions, open-ended questions, or both?
• How many points will there be in total?

Use a stopwatch.

Every second counts when taking a test. You can more precisely keep track of the passing of time by using a stopwatch.

Look through the entire exam at the beginning.

Do not begin answering the questions as soon as the exam begins. Instead, spend a few seconds quickly skimming each question.

Get a sense of the exam’s overall difficulty and note which questions will require the most time. Give yourself more time to answer such queries.

Know how much time you should spend on each question.

You will have a general idea of how much time to spend on each question based on the length of the exam and the total number of points.

You have one minute per point, for instance, if you have 50 minutes to finish a 50-point exam. Consequently, you should allot roughly 10 minutes to answering a question with a 10-point scale.

It’s time to speed up if, after 10 minutes, you still haven’t answered the question.

If you get stuck, move on.

Keep your cool and move on to the next issue if you are unable to resolve the current one. Time is running out. Return to the open problems after finishing the rest of the exam.

Conclusion

Finding a way to perform better in final exams is not an extremely difficult problem. Some of the most popular exam-improvement techniques that students should use in their upcoming exams include straightforward tactics, daily revisions, regular study, positivism, note-taking, teacher and parent support, and paying attention when necessary.

No matter how much you dislike (or love) them, exams are a necessary part of being a student.

We hope that by using the five suggestions above, your upcoming exam will be a positive experience with a positive outcome.