How to prepare for exams

Most of us mere mortals out there (fact: there's at least one or two aliens in every school who will do well at almost everything, usually with the exception of sport) have a time where we do badly at exams. Now, there's a time and place for fails. I'll tell you now, the acceptable place to either metaphorically or physically faceplant is NOT at your desk in that quiet hall full of people. It's usually on a Friday night when you're out with mates, getting pissed and doing silly things. On holiday when you go skinny dipping and your clothes get washed away. On the weekend, when you plan to try and get up and end up in bed until gone one pm. NOT as you sit down in the Room of Doom. Don't let your mind go blank. better still, don't let your mind be blank.

I have some tips which should, hopefully, help you study a little more successfully.

Firstly, pick subjects you're interested in if you're going to attempt to do any good amount of work to an acceptable standard. This goes without saying, really.

Secondly, accept that sometimes you'll have to sacrifice time you'd have spent doing other things in order to get work done. You want to play WoW? You want to read some of that HILARIOUS book you got for Christmas? Fine. Just do it AFTER you finish your work. Some level of prioritisation is useful.

Set yourself a goal. "I will do ten essays today" is probably not achieveable. "I will revise one whole topic of (Subject X)" is better. Subject X will be all the more understandable if you don't flood yourself with it.

Past papers. Oh my god. They're beyond useful. They help you with timing, with clarity of work. And they'll teach you, if nothing else, to READ THE QUESTION and proof read your answers. When your hand is spewing out words as fast as your mind tells it to, there are likely to be a few silly mistakes. Go back and check. Clever people don't not make mistakes, but they do correct them before others get the chance to catch them out.

Mark schemes! Don't do a past paper without having the mark scheme to hand to check your answers. That being said, don't read it BEFORE you answer. You won't improve unless you know how to rewrite and evaluate your work.

Extra essays. These are the bane of my life, but boy are they useful. Write an essay, send it in, get a lower grade than you want? Keep a copy and update it. Trust me, three weeks down the line it's much more useful because you've learnt what mistakes you've made. ALWAYS read what you've written.

Stress a little bit. No stress is the same as saying, "don't worry about missing that bit out". Of course you should. Just don't let it get to the point where you feel like you're imploding. When something is set, try (and really TRY) to do it that evening or afternoon. You get it out of the way and it's usually better quality than the piecemeal shite you'd have written much later on (say, the night before the deadline).

Revision timetables. These make revision manageable instead of daunting. They also mean you can actually go and see your friends and chill when others are stressing. Keep your work under wraps, and you won't miss anything out. Good organisation is tantamount to exam preparation and studying. You need a set time to do things, because that way you can get into the routine of it.

If I've missed anything out or you have anything you'd like to add, comment below.

Happy reading, folks!