Exams Can Be Just Exams and Not a Nightmare

Exams Can Be Just Exams and Not a Nightmare

Essay writing as a separate field in professional writing. Advantages and disadvantages of essay writers job opportunities. Reasons to become an essay writer. When people talk about their university life, they always say they used to have a great time: gaining new knowledge, improving valuable skills, and communicating with other students makes student years unforgettable. However, most of them avoid conversations about midterms and exams. Every semester students miss two weeks of their young lives learning everything they should have learnt during the semester and feverishly reading tons of books. Students always feel exhausted because they do not know how to deal with stress. But there are ways to make exams just exams and not the biggest students’ nightmare.

What should one do during the semester?

To begin with, start studying from the first day of the semester. It might sound odd, but attending each class and doing every homework assignment can be easier than skipping classes and postponing everything till the last minute. It is natural that students who write their papers which were supposed to be submitted weeks ago during the exam week are extremely stressed. Our advice is to do everything on time and dedicate the entire exam week to exams preparation. Besides, very often professors write their examination tasks on the basis of what was covered during the semester, so you will be surprised to see that you know everything and can answer every question just because you attended lectures and paid attention. Do not forget that professors’ goal is to teach you, not to fail you, so they always explain important material and come back to it from time to time. Students’ task is to be attentive. Always take notes during the lectures. Even if a professor uploads his/her lecture slides on the university website, your personal notes can contain some valuable information that you won’t find in the slides. When we say ‘take notes’, we mean you should write them down. Today there is a tendency to bring laptops to classes and use them to take notes because laptops let students work faster and do more. That is true that laptops are very helpful because students can collaborate in online chats and prepare PowerPoint presentations, but taking notes with the help of a notepad and a pen is a much better idea. When students use their laptops, they manage to capture every single word that a professor says and have elaborate notes. Students who write notes on paper do it more slowly and, obviously, cannot capture everything that a professor says. Instead, they need to listen to lectures attentively, pick up the most valuable information, analyze everything, and write it down. This is why those who write notes down instead of typing memorize information better and need to spend less time preparing for their midterms and final exams.

What should one do before an exam?

First of all, final exams can be cumulative and non-cumulative. Cumulative exams test students on all the topics that very covered from the beginning of the term, whereas non-cumulative exams cover only some part of the materials, usually the ones studied after a midterm. Your task is to find out whether the final exam will be cumulative or not. Certainly, it is much easier to repeat only some part of the course, but a lot of exams are cumulative and it is better to know this in advance. Find your own way to study. You may hear from other students that they like to study in the library or they cooperate with other students and ask each other questions. In fact, there is no right or wrong way to prepare for an exam. If you feel that you need to reread some chapters and take notes again to memorize information better, do that. And do not hesitate to contact your fellow students and ask for help if there is something you cannot understand. Helping each other is the way to find out what you misunderstand and to fix it. When you revise everything, do not spend too much time on things you know well. Every student has topics that he/she knows better than other. Nobody feels confident before an exam, but there must be something that you feel you can stumble over and fall. Trust your intuition and listen to your inner voice; deep inside you always know what you should pay more attention to. Make sure that you know the date and the place of the exam. Find out this information in advance. If you do not know where the room or the building is, do not hesitate to go and check it before the actual exam date. The last thing you want to do is to be late for an exam. Universities have different policies, but usually students are not allowed to write an exam if they are late for more than 30 minutes. Besides, if there are some additional things that you may bring, such as textbooks, notes, or calculators, double-check that you have put them into your bag. During the exam you need to calm down and concentrate on the questions. Read instructions carefully. You do not want to spend too much time on answering five questions if the instruction tells you to choose ANY three questions. Read questions carefully as well. You do not want to realize that you have not answered the second part of the most important question 10 minutes before the end of the exam. Reading a question will take only 30 seconds, but these 30 seconds can help you earn a better grade.