Students, whether high school or college, need to get decent exam grades to be able to pass their respective courses. Having decent exam scores also enables a student to qualify for academic scholarships or other awards. Meanwhile, a student who fails on most exams is in jeopardy of repeating a particular course, and having his graduation date delayed.
If you’re someone who’s struggling with getting good exam scores, below are must-read tips for you.
Improve Your Chances of Getting Better Exam Scores:
1. Read and understand your course syllabus
The course syllabus is that piece of paper being distributed on the first day of class. Its main goal is to inform students of the topics that will be covered for the semester.
However, that paper also give you hints on topics you need to give emphasis. Majority of the time, if a particular topic or lesson is listed in the syllabus, that’ll surely be included in the exams. So, take time to read and understand your syllabus, so you’ll know what topics to focus more on to better your scoring.
2. Know the exam type components and look for old exam papers
Is the majority of the exam comprised of multiple-choice questions, or is it problem solving?
You need to ascertain this, because it will inform you of what fields to put more focus on. Of course, you have to study the entire coverage, but knowing the types of exam is a great help too.
If your professor didn’t mention anything, you can ask his past students about how he gives out exams. You can also borrow their old exam papers, and hope it’ll be the same one your teacher will give you.
But there’s really no shortcut in education, so give more emphasis to studying genuinely.
3. Anticipate and manage your time for reviewing
As for most students, it’s a struggle to go over almost half of the book the exact night before the exam day. There’s just too much information, and you’ll have less retention ability when you aim for studying it all the night before.
What you need to do is schedule your review days early. For instance, if you plan to review literature, you can start with Shakespeare’s works on the first night, then Ernest Hemingway’s the night after.
By compartmentalizing review days/nights, you won’t feel the need to rush. Hence, you’re more relaxed and rested on the exam day.
4. Never leave a question unanswered
If you left a question unanswered, for instance in a multiple-choice type question, then you’re abandoning the 25% random chance that it can be correct.
Meanwhile, problem solving questions, though often scored in chunks (e.g., 10-15 points each or more), can still be sources of extra points too even if you aren’t so sure with your answer. It’s because professors often score by milestone (i.e., your solution and how you arrived at the final answer).
What you need to do is just study up, and answer each question as intelligent as possible.
5. Be disciplined enough in studying
There shouldn’t be side distractions like glancing at your smartphone, chatting, or playing games. If so, it should be done on small breaks in-between your reviewing periods.
Follow your studying goals. Try to solve as much book problems as possible, for the book is often the guide of professors when making exam questions. Make sure you learned something helpful in every page. You’ll never know if a page you skipped can cost you.
6. Devise memory aids
If for instance you knew the exam will be comprised of identification and enumeration type questions, then use memory aids.
For enumeration, you can use mnemonics to hint your brain with long answers on the exam day. For identification, highlight a term that usually relates your mind to the answer (e.g., dates, numbers, events, etc.)
7. Have adequate sleep and arrive early on the exam venue
It’s hard to focus when you’ve only had 2 or 3 hours of sleep. Review, but don’t overextend yourself. Have plenty of rest too.
Meanwhile, if you’re late for an exam, you have less time than if you’ve arrived early. You become more tensed as the clock ticks and this’ll surely affect your concentration. To avoid any complications, arrive at least 15 minutes before the exam to account for contingent events (e.g., exam orientation, change of venue, etc.).
As a wrap-up, there’s no concrete formula to acing exams. The only thing you have control over is the amount of your perseverance and determination to study. Be confident, but not brash.