Tips & Guides

One of the reasons why some students excel and some fail their exams is knowing what to do before an exam (a day or just before the exam ). Below is a list of "do(s)" and "don't(s) of things to do before an exam. Of course some may excel without following recommended ways whereas some may fail having complied to the recommended.

DO

Sleep Early

Having a good night sleep and rest ensures that you're active and alert for the exam. If you overwork yourself and sleep late before the exam your body becomes weak, you feel dizzy and drowsy and focus is also low, worse you may completely forget simple terms or equations.

Eat and Drink

A full stomach ensures that your brain is active and alert. The brain takes most energy thus depriving it of food also deprives you of knowledge and ideas.

Revise

Browse through tough concepts, terms and diagrams. Here it is best to read summarised notes you have written yourself or found online than reading the entire book (you'll see later why).

Pack your stationery

Ensure that you have all your pens, pencils, rulers, rubbers etc and test your calculator for any errors. Borrowing stationery immediately before an exam is not ethical. Someone can give you a broken calculator without knowing that may break or give you wrong answers in the exam.

Pray

You can pray for wisdom and knowledge immediately before an exam.

Don't

Sleep late

As mentioned above you must sleep early and not overwork yourself to ensure your brain is alert and active. Sleeping late trying to grip and cram every content is not advisable as it overworks your brain. This may cause you to lose some permanent data that you might have in the exam. Sleeping early ensures that your mind is free and refreshed for the exam. Stuffing your brain with last minute content crashes it; just like a computer.

Fast

Fasting can cause your brain to freeze when you're in the exam.

Read the whole book

Reading the entire textbook immediately before an exam is not advisable. This overworks your brain and the new stuffed content can conflict with the already present content in the brain which can cause you to panic and forget completely. Reading small, summarised chunks of notes is advisable e.g mindmaps. Some may not even read anything at all immediately before an exam and are better off with content that they already know.

Tell your knowledge

Don't tell or share your knowledge to others as they may sham your knowledge which can tarnish your content or confidence. Its better off writing with things that you already know.

Borrow stationery

Borrowed stationery can break or malfunction in the exam.