Method 3 of 4: Preparing Your Body
Being hungry during a test may make it more difficult to concentrate. On the other hand, if you are stuffed full of food before an exam, then you will become very sleepy very quickly. Maybe a study breakfast will help, followed by a little fruit before you go into your exam. If you eat healthy as a rule, then you shouldn’t have any problems with your mental ability or thoughts.
Try to get into a good sleep pattern. Sleeping well is essential, especially since there are millions of students that seem to believe they can go without sleep and still function. The fact is that they can still function, but they are far from being on form. Well-rested people that have a good sleep routine are more on the ball and alert. They can also go for longer periods of time in terms of concentration.
Get all of your supplies together. Some students are so consumed with their worry about their exams that they forget the most basic and essential tools. There are plenty of people that have forgotten their scientific calculators and many more that have only brought one pen that has almost run out.
Do not drink too much water before you go in. There is nothing worse than needed to urinate during a test. Many exam rooms allow you to take a drink in with you. Do not drink too much before your exam, and then when you are in your exam you can drink all you.
Do not take advice if it means you do anything different. For example, there are some students that are so worried about their exams that they take tranquilizer (herbal) medication and end up slumped over their desks. There are also other students that stay up all night and so take energy pills, which causes them to be wired for around half an hour before they crash and burn in terms of energy.
Method 4 of 4: Acing the Test
Make a few notes before you start. Note a few bullet points for things you wish to include in your essay. They may help stop you getting writer’s block as you are working through your questions. Jot down anything that you think may be important.
Answer the ones you know first. Do not linger too long on the test questions for which you do not know the answer. Get the easier ones and the ones you know already out of the way. Tie them up with a bow and then leave them so you can concentrate on the ones you do not know the answer to.
Cross out the answers you think you got wrong and write the answer somewhere else. Do not scribble out wrong answers because your incorrect answers may sometimes influence the marker. If the marker can see that you were trying the right thing but getting it wrong, then he or she may assume your squiggly 9 is actually a poorly written 7 and give you the marks. Crazier things have happened, and you have to remember that essay markers are just people like you and the taxman.
There are sometimes clues in the other questions. For example, in math tests they often clump a few questions together that use similar functions. You may be able to determine the concept behind one question by doing another. In addition, you may have noticed that these concepts were also together in the same place in your textbooks. They may naturally live within similar areas, which may help remind you of how you do them.
Do not leave any questions blank unless they penalize you for incorrect answer. You can take a wild guess if you wish, or you can just write a bunch of stuff that seems right and hope the answer in nestled somewhere in that. If you are working on a multiple-choice exam, then you can often improve your chances of success by eliminating the answers that you know are incorrect. This leaves you with a smaller choice and ergo less chance of getting it wrong.
Try to pace yourself and remember that you need the use your time wisely. If you try to go as fast as possible, you will always burn out before you reach half way. The only sensible thing to do is time yourself with exam papers you find on the Internet. Time yourself to see how long it takes you, which will help you see how much time you really need. In addition, set a stop clock that goes off when the exam is supposed to be over. Once the stop clock has gone off, you can see how much of your exam you have left and figure out if you had enough time. If you didn’t, then you need to improve your pacing, and if you have time left…then what are you worried about?
