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Whether you’re at university to land your dream job or simply wanted the uni experience, I doubt you want to come out of it all failing your exams. If you’re currently preparing for your exams, try not to stress, and follow these simple tips.

  1. Have Plenty Of Time

While some students swear that last minute cramming is the best option, this should only really be used to refresh your mind with short bursts of information, rather than used to relearn your entire course, or you’ll be sure to forget something.

  1. Be Organized

Ensure you create a study schedule or timetable, so that you know what it is you’re meant to be revising when, so you don’t forget to go over anything. You should also ensure that your study space is tidy and organized too. Ensure you have enough room to spread out your study materials and don’t have any distractions in sight, like your phone or a tv.

  1. Use Flashcards

Flashcards are an incredibly useful revision tool, as they engage active recall. This means you have to remember a whole concept and work out the answer to the question on the flashcard, rather than simply memorising passages of a textbook. You can create your own set of flashcards on GradeBuddy. Flashcards can be used with people who don’t even understand your subject, which means your friends and family can help you to study, so you don’t go mad in your bedroom alone.

  1. Try Flowcharts & Diagrams

Diagrams and flowcharts are helpful visual aids. Drawing a diagram for a tricky concept can be really useful when it comes to recalling that concept, as you simply have to envision the diagram, rather than pages of explanations. Flowcharts are useful tools for explaining a concept step by step. You can use these at the start of your revision to see if there are any gaps in your knowledge.

  1. Complete Past Papers

Completing past exam papers is one of the most efficient ways of studying and preparing for your exams. They help you to get used to the format of exam questions and can help you nail the timings of exam questions. They are much more useful than simply recalling from a textbook, as actual exam questions can be based on several different topics, which may not feature together on the same textbook chapter.

  1. Explain Topics To Others

As already mentioned, a person doesn’t need to understand your course to be able to help you prepare for your exams. Get them to pick a topic or a concept from your textbook and explain it to them. Teaching others will help you recall information more effectively in your exams, and will let you know of any areas that you’re not too sure of.

  1. Attend Study Groups

Study groups not only help you revise and prep for your exams, but they get you out of the house too, which is never a bad thing. The holes in your knowledge mentioned earlier can be filled by the knowledge of your peers, and they can explain simpler ways of understanding tricky information. There may also be things that you understand that they’re unsure of, so you can help each other. You can also share which revision tools and ideas you have found most useful so far.

  1. Take Plenty Of Breaks

You are in university now, so the “study for five minutes and then take a five minute-break” piece of advice isn’t really necessary, but that doesn’t mean that you should study for hours on end with no breaks. You should ensure that you have a short break every couple of hours, at the very least, and have a larger one at some point in the day, to allow your brain a much-needed break. Don’t feel guilty about getting out of the house to go the gym, shopping, or even just sitting around enjoying the sun; If you revise too much, you are sure to burn out, which would be incredibly counterproductive come exam time.

  1. Get Enough Sleep

As stated above, the last thing you want to do right before your exams is completely burn out or get ill because you haven’t had enough breaks. This includes getting enough sleep. It’s fair enough if you are more of a night owl and prefer to study at night, but if you intend to do this, you have to make sure that you make up for this sleep in the morning. You also should stay up late studying the night before an exam, as you are certain to recall less if you’re worn out.

Follow these study tips, and you should find studying for your university exams much less stressful and tiring. Just remember that whatever results you come out with, as long as you tried your very best, then you did your very best, and that’s what counts.

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