Top 10 Exam Tips

It’s the nail biting, vomit inducing, stress building, anxiety busting time of the year again; exam time. To help you through with a vestige of your sanity intact, and maybe even some great results, it’s time to revisit the best study and prep advice for exam time.

Top 5 Prep Tips

Snack wisely – Feed the brain so it can function. The brain is a muscle, if you wanted to optimize your biceps for strength, performance and endurance you would eat carbs and push weights. Do that for your brain prior to and during study. Eat foods high in protein and omegas. Omegas are commonly believed to be the key to brain function. Omega rich foods are fish, nuts and green vegies like broccoli and spinach or, food with flaxseed. I’m not sure what food that would be, but flaxseed trumps every other food for omega.

Exercise the brain – Again brain = muscle. Make it strong with exercise. Apparently NASA astronauts jump on a trampoline to wake up their minds. I don’t know if that’s true but it fits with the commonly held belief that doing a number of complicated physical things; like tapping your head and rubbing your stomach, wakes the mind. It can’t hurt.

Prepare physically – Healthy body = healthy mind. A brisk walk or a rugged workout; either will do to get blood flowing to the brain and the body in a satiated state fit for study.

Prepare your space – Space is important for study and what yours will look and feel like will depend on your learning style. However you like your environment to be for learning you should make it so, but however that is, follow the girl guides and be prepared. Have all the tools of study on hand before you begin.

Make time – Making a set time to study each day will preclude excuses and stop you from making other plans during that time. If exam study is a priority then it deserves the time required. The best time will vary from person to person; the brain is most awake first thing in the morning but most relaxed in the evening so it’s your call.

Top 5 Study Tips

Focus – Set yourself up for success by limiting the noise and commotion for exam study. If your place is never not noisy and chaotic, then set time aside to go to the library or study hall each day.

Study in bites – Trying to cram everything in at once is difficult and not conducive to storing information. Break down what you need to study into brain-bite size pieces. For example if you have a biology exam, break out the different systems and processes you need to learn into categories and sections. Then tackle them one at a time with breaks in between.

Take breaks – Don’t sit for hours on end. Get up every 15 minutes to ½ hour to stretch, walk around, eat some flaxseed and drink some water. Go for a short run around the block even, whatever feels like a quick respite to refresh and revive will be good.

Revise – That may seem obvious, you are studying after all! The thing is a lot of people sit down with their piles of books and they are overwhelmed. So this advice is simply, begin by re-reading, or re-writing, what you have already gone through to get the exam study started.

Take notes – It’s not too late. Even if the notes you took during lectures are now illegible hieroglyphics, glean what you can and then work through the workbooks, study guides and so on to re-create the notes you took in class. That process is probably the best exam study you can do.

Good Luck!