News Jan 22nd 2016

Exam Preparation Techniques

You take a look at the exam table, and anxiety suddenly hits you. How are you supposed to prepare for all those exams in such a short time? Plus, you realize that Man City plays against Man United the day before the most challenging exam, and you know that's a key clash you cannot miss. What will be your choice? 90+ minutes of unbelievable football with beer and mates, or a whole day spent over the books?

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Is there a way to have a life during exam week without sacrificing your success? Of course there is; all you need is a strategy. The following exam preparation techniques will help you handle the stress.

5 Productivity Techniques that Help You Prepare for Exams

Â Â Â Â Â 1. No Binge Studying! Take Small Bites
You know what happens after binge eating, right? You eat more than your organism can handle, so you have to throw up and it's like you haven't even eaten. The same thing happens with binge studying. Your mind cannot process all information you serve, simply because it's too much. All those chapters, facts and numbers create a complete chaos in your head, so you no longer know what's right and what's wrong.

The proper way of studying is organizing your time in intervals. Don't burden your mind with sessions longer than 50 minutes. Make sure to give yourself a short break of 5-10 minutes after each session of studying. Plan your time carefully and start early.

Â Â Â Â Â 2. Don't memorize. Learn!
Each lesson is related to the previous ones you already learned. You are not supposed to memorize all information. Many students are not happy with themselves when they can't remember a particular definition, so they try to memorize it word by word. Learning is much more effective than memorizing.

Ask some questions about the things you can't remember. Do you understand the matter in its essence? Try to find the connection with the facts you already know. Look for some additional information that will make things clearer. With this strategy, you'll learn most of the material during the classes, so you'll only have to remind yourself about them before the exam session.

Â Â Â Â Â 3. You'll Be More Productive in an Organized Environment
You have no time to clean the room, prepare yourself a nice meal and organize your desk. Your room/apartment becomes chaotic when you are stress, which means that your state of mind is reflected in the environment that surrounds you.

Did you know there was a reverse connection? When you organize the space, your mind becomes more focused too. It won't take much time for you to clean up and set some order among the papers and pens on the desk.

Â Â Â Â Â 4. Feed Your Brain
A greasy burger with tons of cheese and mayonnaise is not your best option. Your entire energy goes into the digestive system after such a meal, because it's difficult for the body to burn it. As a result, your brain doesn't get enough oxygen and you have difficulties to focus.

You need to snack on brain food, which contains nutrients that feed your brain and boost your memory functions. Fish, salads, seeds, yogurt, blueberries, cocoa, carrotsâ€¦ good meals improve your energy levels. Avoid sugar as much as possible!

Â Â Â Â Â 5. Make the Most of Your Visual Memory
If you're one of those lucky students who possess photographic memory, you can remember information by associating it to a particular image. For example, you can write the most important details of a lecture in different colors. When you see the question, you'll have an image of how the information looked like in your notebook, so you'll easily think of an answer.

Arrange your notes in a visually-appealing way, such as a spider diagram or a mind map. When you have that image in your mind, it will serve as a trigger to the answers on the exam.

It's All Possible When You Have a Good Strategy

Studying is like football. You have to plan the game and act in accordance with your strategy. You need clean moves that will guide you to the goal. Of course, the distractions, fatigue and frustration will be your challenging opponents. If you beat them with the right strategy, you'll be on your way to success.

A plan is not enough if you don't act in accordance with it. As the wise Will Rogers said, â€œEven if you are on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there.â€

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