Top 7 Exam Study Tips

It is time for my students to get ready for the exam. So I wanted to write some tips that will help them to 'be ready’ for the exam. Here are some 7 most important things you can keep in mind when you prepare for your exams.

1- Pray
One of the important aspects of life is to allocate time for the prayers. Prayers not only help you to feel good and closer to God but prayers also help to improve your concentration skills. It helps you to relax and be content. Praying helps you to be organized and do things at the right time in the right way. God is in every aspect of your life, and without god’s will there is no success. Praying can bring you closer to God and make you feel a little stronger and relaxed going into test time. As the saying goes, Do your best and God will do the Rest.

2- Build Positive Stress
Stress is an unsettling emotion every individual experience. It can be divided into positive and negative stress. A stress is referred to as negative when you take an action that is incongruent or brings the worse effect. For example: Due to exam stress, you do not prepare and watch television to calm yourself. But positive stress on the other hand enforces and pushes you to more achieving actions. For example: Due to exam stress you make a study schedule and stick to it for your revision. This in the end gives you better results in the exam.

3- Eat Well
You will notice that when you study, you require a lot of energy. Hence, most students are drawn to junk foods like chips and cookies. However, you may find that those foods are not very helpful to your study habits. These foods make you lethargic. High sugar foods may give you energy at first, but then it plummets pretty quickly. Try to eat healthy "brain foods" high in protein like nuts, fruit, and fish. If you really need a boost of energy, try a diet coke or sugar free energy drinks.

4- Plan You Way
Study, Study, Study and Study. It is important for you to have all the information and examples you can use in your exams. Study and read not only the manual but it are important to listen to current news, read magazines or papers relating to the subject. The most important thing when you do these is to have a schedule to fit all the things you have in mind. Prioritize the subjects, focus on the weak areas, and get assistance from a classmate or the lecturer if needed.

5- Find a Study Group
Whether you study at home or at the institution, having a study group can be very supportive and helpful. It adds to your knowledge and you can share real life examples when you that is relevant to the study area . Your study group can also take turns quizzing each other. You can provide insight into certain topics for one and other. Sometimes you can just laugh and do something together to blow off some steam when the pressure gets to be too much (this makes a strong group). Just be sure your study group is actually focused on studying.

6-Individual Study
Some students may find it easy to study rather than a group. Also the group you attach yourself might not be into studies but may want to involve in other activities. Then it is time for you to do individual studies. Do past papers, talk to senior students (who have done the same exams before) and also read/highlight/make your own notes of the chapters. This will help as a last minute skim and scan resource. You can also make your own exam paper based on the previous papers and try to time yourself and answer it.

7-Have Fun
When you look back at a later stage of your life, you will remember how you cope up with the panic attacks and the stress of the exam. Exam is a stressful time but it is also one of the important times of the study life. Having fun at group studies, meeting friends and family, going for a bite to eat and just taking a break every now and then to energize yourself is as important as studying itself. This bring more vigor and enthusiasm for your studies.

This article is dedicated to my students. Another article will be published here on Exam Tips in near future.