Achieving exam success: A step-by-step preparation guide

Exam season can be a really stressful time of the academic year, but, having a checklist to guide your revision helps maintain consistency and prevent burnout. Throughout my undergraduate degree, I followed these key steps as part of my exam preparation:

•    Creating a revision timetable – pace yourself!

•    Using exam preparation resources

•    Creating revision materials to help with knowledge retention

•    Meeting with peers to help with weaker areas of study

Creating a revision timetable:

In order to stay on top of your workload it is essential to plan your time. This entails creating a timetable for the days you wish to spend studying and allocating time to each module you have exams for. This will allow you to have structured revision sessions and create a routine, enabling productive studying. It is very common to feel burnt out when revising for exams and this is where procrastination can sneak in and eat away at your revision time; this is why it is highly recommended to take breaks when needed and to pace yourself when studying.

Use exam preparation resources:

It is highly likely that you may feel lost when trying to prepare for university exams for the first time or even throughout your academic journey, so using the resources that are available to you is crucial to feeling ready for the final exam. Here are the resources I would recommend: 

•    Warwick past exam papers – this online resource allows you to find past papers for the module you’re being examined on- (do bear in mind that most do not come with a marking scheme – but it does allow for practice!)

•    Online exam portal – I have found that most modules provide a number of mock exams in the lead up to the final exam, which will allow for you to practice within the time restriction and build your confidence on the topics. 

Create revision materials:

Whether you’re an auditory, visual or written learner, creating revision materials that work for you is key to retaining information you have learnt throughout the academic year for your modules. In my case, this was through creating flashcards, summarizing the key information for each of the topics covered within the course. Using these flashcards helped me to memorize important information in order to apply it to questions that could turn up in the final exam. For visual learners this could be through creating mind-maps, diagrams or visual prompts to trigger information recall. For auditory learners, re-watching lecture recordings and creating podcasts of your own to listen could be a great way to revise!

Meeting with peers to cover content:

Using your peers is a great way to expand your knowledge, bouncing questions off each other to delve deeper into your understanding of the module content, benefiting all participants! It can be daunting to discuss difficult topics, but it's one of the best ways to tackle weak areas of understanding. I recommend this approach, as it's easy to neglect these parts during independent revision.

So, give these tips a try and I hope they help bring routine and structure to your revision when preparing for your exams in term three. Remember to plan your time; pace yourself; take breaks when necessary and use all the resources available to you in order to feel confident before your exams arrive!

Finally, do try to take care of your physical and mental health during this period, as it is vital to maintain a healthy body during stressful periods.