An examination is a very important aspect of studies. Anyone who is studying something or the other has to go through the process of examination. Exams will serve as a clear indication of whether you have gained an appropriate level of understanding in that particular section or subject, and you are appropriate to utilize that knowledge in your life or not. Exams are not written with the intention to catch anyone out or test on things that do not appear. An exam is only meant to assess whether a student has an appropriate understanding of the work that has been covered during their academic session. Experienced teachers usually write examination paper, in order to test the understanding of only those concepts which are being covered as part of the syllabus in the classroom. Thus, if prepared thoroughly about what you have been taught in class, you would never encounter any problem in scoring your exams. The idea is to be regular with your studies and preparing well for the exam.

For most of the people, examination time is the most stressful part of the school year or the college time. There can be a high degree of pressure to perform well, as there are many things like your job or admission into university dependent on your results.

How to Prepare for Exams?

Preparation is the only thing that is in the hands of a student, which definitely determines his result. There is no other way to clear your exams, other than preparing well for it. It is really hard to believe the student who says he only works just before exams and still gets through with good marks. Revision is not something that begins a week before the exams, although it might be more intense towards the end of the year or semester when examinations are approaching. To maximize the chances of a satisfactory result in your exams, it is advisable to start your preparation as early as possible.

There are different kinds of students, each having a different level of understanding and motivation. There are some students who study for a comparatively lesser time but still manage with satisfactory grades, while on the other hand there are also those who keep studying whole year and still manage to pass but with very low grades. Everyone has a different study plan of their own. The idea behind is to have an effective study plan. Though it is evident that there is no replacement for hard work, there is also a need to put that hard work in an effective manner so as to help you out in achieving your academic goals.

Many students try to make a study plan or timetable but are not able to keep up with it for a longer time and slowly begin to lose their interest in that method of studying. The most important thing about being successful is hard work and intelligent work. There is no shortcut to success; this is the first thing to be kept in mind. For this reason, any student who is preparing for exams has to study well first of all other facts behind. But the preparation technique and timings are different for different types of exams. There are different types of exams that a student goes through. These can either be semester exams, board exams or competitive. Some competitive exams need long-term preparation of one or two-year syllabus while your school level exams may need preparation of one or two month time at maximum. So students need to formulate a study plan accordingly.  There may be few tips that would help students to prepare well for exams:

• Starting on Time: There is no time as free time in student life; even leisure time for the student is also meant to be utilized well for leisure activities by the student as every second of their student life counts for their future. Preparing for exams, best is to start early. The earlier you start, the more time you will have to prepare for the exam. It’s a waste of time to sit idle and to wait until exam time approaches; students should set the stage from the beginning of the course and may start off by reviewing the material that they have and creating some quality notes after each class which would be really helpful before the final exam. Starting early with studying has a great advantage, by starting early and studying on a regular basis, you will have a better opportunity to absorb the information and it would be a lot easier for you to perform when it's time to put it all together at the time of your exams.
  Starting early has many advantages, you can easily make out if all of your course material is well organized or not so that you can find and fill if anything is missing in your study material or any book is missing so that you have enough time to arrange it from somewhere or the other. If you have missed any class, make sure you arrange the notes from your classmates’ right away instead of confusing yourself last minute. Proper organization will help you to get a better idea of the topics that you have to cover and the time you would need to cover it and study process that you intend to follow.

• Prepare a Time Chart: Prepare a timetable chart before you start to study. This should include all the subjects that you need to cover but may not be with equal priority depending upon the toughness level of each subject. Tough subjects can be given more time and easier ones less but most importantly there should also be time for entertainment, leisure, and other recreational activities also at sufficient intervals between each subject.
  As the exam approach nearer, you will need to modify that plan a little bit and put in some more study hours as compared to your starting plan for studying effectively and minimizing stress. The first step is to figure out how much time and effort you must dedicate to studying for the exam and how much time is actually needed by figuring out some questions like:
  • The material you need to cover
  • Time left for the exam
  • Importance of the exam
  • Your preparedness for the exam
  • Some other priorities or engagements
  • How difficult is the exam
• Once you figure out the answers to these questions, it would not be difficult for you to realize how much study time you need to put in and where exactly you actually stand at present. To prepare the study plan, map out all of your material that you need to cover and make a schedule showing what, when and how much you will study for each day. If you have kept up with the coursework right from the beginning studying will not involve anything tedious and would only involve revision of the material that you have already covered. There can be few suggestions to make an effective study plan:
  • Budget your time smartly
  • Make small study sessions, which would help you keep fresh for a longer time
  • Divide your study materials into parts and accordingly plan study sessions
  • Give priority to tough parts
  • A clear set of your goals
  • Involve a variety of topics in your study sessions and also some leisure activities to prevent yourself from getting bored
  • Avoid cramming before the exam
  • Include proper time for socialization
• Never Fear Exams and be Confident: Fear of the exam is very common. Some students study well whole year but still may be really afraid of exams as the exams approach closer, and due to this reason they get distracted and won't be able to perform well. So it is advisable to leave all your fears and free your mind before starting to study. You need to be really confident about what you have prepared and nothing can stop you from performing well. An individual has to be confident and that is the most essential power that one should possess for attaining victory and achieving what they dream of.
• Proper Atmosphere: Proper study atmosphere is something that does not have anything much to be explained about. Obviously, you cannot expect a student to sit in a cinema hall and prepare for an exam. The proper atmosphere is very important for effective studying. Study atmosphere has a very important role for students. No one can study well while watching TV. So select a place where you feel comfortable and peaceful, a place where you feel relaxed and can concentrate well on your topics. And you have to make sure that there is nothing at your study place that distracts you and while you are studying something you are concentrating on it only and nothing else is going on in your mind. It is also advisable to keep the books of other subjects away from you so that you won't have a feeling of rushing things for other subjects or a sense of confusion and be upset about the things you still have to learn. It is better to study early in the morning when all the surroundings will be in silence and you can concentrate more because of a fresh mind as well as atmosphere. Your concentration levels really count, so choose a time when you can put in your whole energy to concentrate the topics that you need to cover.
  Besides this, also look out for a place where you have seating at proper posture. Wrong sitting posture leads to lack of concentration. Make it a habit that you have to sit in a proper manner while studying. Don't study in bed or lying on a chair instead you should always sit straight keeping your spinal cord straight. Try to place your legs parallel to the ground, a little bit raised from the ground, as placing the legs on the ground causes ionization and induces sleep and also be alert that legs are not above the head level. This will affect the blood flow direction and causes sleepiness. It is better to place the legs almost parallel to ground but a little lower.
• Material Utilization: Once you are equipped with proper study material and have a right place to study you are ready to start studying for the exam. Try to study in a location where you can concentrate and won't be interrupted. You can also opt for group study if you find it helpful, but be careful to keep it from turning into an inefficient use of your time. Now start with making quality notes from which you start learning and have it in your good possession for revision. These notes should be a condensed version of your readings and class notes by creating summary notes that include every aspect of the topic you are discussing. Pinpoint the key terms and concepts and make sure that you understand them and highlight important facts and formulas. You can identify key terms and concepts by paying attention to what has been emphasized in your classes, textbooks and course syllabus. You can also refer to previous year question papers for this reason. If there is a topic which was repeatedly asked in previous year papers, then it means you need to prepare that topic exceptionally well and it has a good chance of appearing in your exam too.
  The process of making summarized notes can help you to retain more information with probably less time in revising them before the exam. By writing the information thoughtfully instead of just seeing it, you can develop a greater understanding of the material being processed by you. To take this further, activate your other senses: you can recite the summary notes aloud, and even record and listen to them which is also very effective.
• Sleep and Eat Well: Eating and sleeping are two important aspects of human life, without which human existence is not possible. Both are of equal importance for sustenance. Sleeping is something that makes human different from a machine. A machine can work continuously for any number of hours if provided with sufficient power, but it is not so in case of humans have to sleep well. Sleep deprivation study shows that optimum hours for sleeping are 6hrs. Especially on the night before the exam, it is advisable to sleep well, at least 6 hours and not more than 8 hours. Remember this will have a great effect on your exam. And have your food plays an important role as in your daily diet. Avoid fasting on exam day. Fasting may have a reverse effect on your exam, so please have food properly. There are some food items you have to avoid and some other you have to include in your diet on the exam day. Avoid excessive eating as it can make you sleepy during the exam. Also, try to have mood elevators like chocolate or hard candies in your mouth while you write your exam.