Exam Tips

Jay-Jay_4

Good luck Justine, hope it all goes well and that you remember everything x x x

poochel

Great advice here so far. One thing that hasn't yet been mentioned (and really helped me get through my law finals last year) is to use a dictaphone. 20 quid from Argos, the best money I spent all year and got me a really good degree.

After I'd made my revision notes (much easier on a computer) and distilled them into the most vital statutes, cases, notable exceptions, important points etc, I then sat down and just read them off into my dictaphone. Its also really good if you do foreign languages (as I did) for learning all that boring but important vocab.

I found it really helped speaking my notes out loud, I guess the combination of reading and hearing makes it stick in your mind. You can also play the tape over and over again, on the bus, walking to uni, dropping off to sleep etc. The repetition was great, and it being in your own voice makes it easier to remember and you actually find yourself mouthing along to it as you play the tape!

I could remember the bare bones of the argument and was then able to develop it in my exam. It takes a lot of the stress out of it if you know for certain that you won't forget the name of that vital statute and then you relax a bit and concentrate on expanding your answer.

Word of warning though, don't just read off the notes in a boring drone, because that will send you to sleep! Really put life into it, as if you were delivering a lecture or something, emphasis onto the most important points etc. It's very weird at first hearing your own voice but you get used to it!

Has anyone else tried this method?

David_Brent

Thanks Poochel great idea, I will try that today!

zcaprd7

A can of redbull before each exam used to help me...


As for revision - use Google:

Get you hands on every past paper in existence and don't just do as an exam, answer every question on them.

If you're not sure about a question (and its too late to pester a lecturer) use Google - this can be done by typing the question into Google with some " around it and seeing what comes up - its basically researching aound an area.

The results can then be pasted into word (say a three page exam answer) and then you slowly boil this down to notes - eventually you'll have about 5-10 pages of bullet points covering every likely exam question...a powerful tool indeed.

After that its a memory job that will take a day or two for each set of notes.

For some of my exams I was coming up with stuff that my lecturers hadn't even taught us - it all looked like I had spent hours in the library swotting!


I only figured this out in my final year and realised I could have sat some of my exams without attending any lectures!

Poppy9

zcaprd7 wrote:

I only figured this out in my final year and realised I could have sat some of my exams without attending any lectures!

I did as after 3 weeks 1 lecturer was so bad it was not worth going so I just went to the library and worked through the text book.

The woman was so sad her opening lesson when she was describing the different types of computers then available (late 80's) and what they were like

"Well you have a mainframe computer, a mini computer and a micro computer". The mainframe looks like a big fridgefreezer, the mini looks like a fridge and well a micro looks like a microwave". There endth the lesson on different types of computers:eek: .

It really didn't get any better. She also used to turn up 20 mins late for a 2 hour lecture. Then disappear to get some photocopying - but she always came back 20 mins later with a cup of coffee in her hand, finally she used to finish 20 mins early cos we had covered so much . She couldn't understand why she had no one left in her lecturers by week 3.

Complaining to the college did no good as they didn't have another lecturer to take over.

student100

poochel wrote:

Great advice here so far. One thing that hasn't yet been mentioned (and really helped me get through my law finals last year) is to use a dictaphone.
...Really put life into it, as if you were delivering a lecture or something, emphasis onto the most important points etc.

Sounds like a good idea, although I'm not sure it would work for Computer Science or other technical subjects that are expressed in all sorts of non-verbal and unpronouncable symbols and things...

As for "put life into it, as if you were delivering a lecture"...it's a shame but most of our lecturers don't put much life into it themselves...:rolleyes:

jazzyjustlaw

Just wanted to update you. I sat my exams and I think they went okay.

Thanks to everyone for their ideas.

welf_man

A bit late now - sorry - but just to say that a consistent pattern of doing well in assessments and presentations and badly in exams is a classic pattern for dyslexia.

It's often worth getting a preliminary assessment from your college or university to check this - if nothing else, it will give you useful information on the best learning styles for your particular pattern of strength and weaknesses.

Mel.

student100

Well my first exam is tomorrow, and I almost forgot one important exam tip...

there's an unwritten law that all exam desks must wobble. So take a piece of plain paper to fold up and stick under the desk leg...

Chalky87

I don't know whether this has been mentioned already but I am lazy and didn't read through the rest of this thread so let's hope not...but I do psychology and apparently revising in the same enviroment as where you will take your test is meant to help with recall of information because of external cues etc. that just make you remember if you see them, sort of learning by association!

Anyway thats my two penneth.