Do you have exams coming up and are contemplating how to prepare for them? Well, here are some tips to help you prepare an effective timetable, for you to study for your exams! Remember, that though timetables might sound redundant to you, they help reduce stress! Here are some ways for you to make the perfect timetable!
The first thing you should do is to look at your calendar and mark out how many days you have left before the exam! If you are preparing for something major, like a board exam good idea would be to see how many weekends you have before the exam! Keep each weekend as a deadline for a particular topic to be covered. If you have a smaller exam coming up, like a semester exam or a monthly exam, then it is probably best to keep it a week or so before it! Regarding the latter, remember- the test is the final point, and you should have ample energy! It does not do to have burnout with all the syllabus and information before the exam! Once you have these things clear, you can start assessing how many subjects you have to cover!
One of the things that sometimes students think they should do is perfect every piece of knowledge in the textbook! However, sometimes this leads to overwhelming focus on some parts while others, potentially crucial parts remain unworked! Unfortunately, exams also happen to have a lot of times, those very parts which you skipped and there is no worse feeling when that happens! The point is to distribute time in such a way that you cover all topics, but it is best not to be a perfectionist about it! Ditch the rote learning method and focus on learning the concepts. Once you get those in place, you can write the exam paper in your own words! This is probably not done much, but it is good for your future capabilities as well! One good method to sort out what to work on more, and what can be glanced over, is by looking at older question papers! You will know what questions are generally considered important and prepare those thoroughly. That way, you will be more prepared for what’s coming!
The truth is, a lot of times, especially with smaller exams, we don’t start a month early! You have a week before the exam, and you do need to crack it! The best thing to do in these cases is to look at your syllabus, and go over it properly once, make detailed notes, or underline- whichever helps you learn best! Once you are more or less familiar with the syllabus, over the last two days, just go over the notes, and make sure you can recall them- use mnemonics if necessary to learn points! Take a piece of paper and write things down from memory, then using another coloured pen, fill in the gaps and learn the forgotten points.
While no one likes to admit it, everyone has faced this situation before: they started studying the day before! The best thing to do in these times is probably to go straight to your class notes, correspond with important questions, and mug those points up! Check to see afterwards if you remember, and revise on the way to the exam hall the next day!
Good Luck!
