EXAM

How to Pass an English Exam 

with flying colors

BEFORE THE EXAM

Find out more about the exam:

Study carefully all the tasks that will be included in your exam card. Get past papers, do some online research or talk to other people who have already taken the exam. 

Notes:

■ Keep your notes tidy and complete. If you miss a class, get the notes from a friend or ask your teacher what you missed.

■ Organise your notes into different sections, e.g. vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, speaking, reading, listening, writing. This will make it easier to find the section you need to revise for the exam.

■ Look through your notes regularly, not just the day before the exam.

■ Use different coloured pens and highlighter pens to help you focus on the most important things you have to learn.

■ Make summaries of your notes. Include the most important things in your summaries. Write short summaries on small cards that you can carry around with you and read them on the bus or when you have some free time.

■ Make mind maps, visuals and diagrams.

■ If you don’t understand something in your notes, ask a classmate or your teacher to explain it to you.

Time:

Many students have lots of exams close together. It is useful to plan how much time you have to revise and make a revision timetable.

What’s a revision timetable?

Work out how much time you have to study each subject and complete a table or grid with the subjects you are going to study and when you are going to study them. Try to stick to your revision timetable to make sure you have enough time to do everything.

Don’t leave your revision until the last minute. Try to revise for each exam more than once to help you learn things well. Our long term memories remember more if we look at things more than once so look at your notes regularly.

Remember to take regular breaks while you study. Take a 15-minute break after every hour you study. This will help you concentrate during your study time.

THE NIGHT BEFORE THE EXAM

If you’ve prepared well for the exam, the night before the exam shouldn’t be too stressful. In fact, you should be able to relax a little and you should also have time to get organised for the big day.

■ Review your notes.

■ Get your bag ready. Do you need to take anything to the exam? Pens? Pencils? A dictionary? A bottle of water? A watch? An ID card? 

■ Do something you enjoy, like listening to music or watching TV before you go to bed. This will help you relax.

■ Go to bed early and get a good night’s sleep.

AT THE EXAM

Read all the exam questions carefully:

See how much time you’ve got and make sure you plan to complete all the tasks. Be careful not to spend too much time on any one section. The most important thing is to complete everything in the exam.

Trust your instincts:

While you’re doing the exam, trust your instincts. Sometimes an answer will jump out at you as either correct or incorrect. Once you’ve chosen your answer, don’t change it after following your instinct.

The reading section:

■ Before you start reading the text, look at the title, the pictures and anything else that might help you understand what it’s about. This will get you thinking about the topic and the type of information that might appear in the text.

■ Read over the text quickly to get a feel for it. Then, go back and read it more closely. Don’t panic if at first glance it appears to be really complicated. Difficult texts can be understood after reading over them a few times.

■ Don’t try to translate the text! Translating vocabulary and sentences wastes a lot of time. If you don’t know a word, look at the context of the sentence and the words around it.

The listening section:

■ Once again, look at the title, the pictures and anything else that might help you understand what the listening text might be about.

■ If you have time, read the questions first. But once the recording starts, just focus on listening. If possible, write a few key words while you’re listening to help you remember what you’ve just heard. For example: “expensive car, accident, police station”. This will help you answer the questions afterwards.

■ Make sure you know how often you’re going to listen to the text. If you can listen to a text more than once, use the first listening to answer the questions and the second one to check your answers and deal with missed questions.

■ Concentrate while the recording is playing. If you don’t know the answer to a question, guess. Then, carry on listening to the recording. Don’t look back at previous questions while the recording is playing or you’ll get lost.

■ Focus on the general meaning of what people on the recording are saying, and don’t worry about understanding specific words.

The speaking section:

■ Speak clearly and calmly – never rush. Take your time, breathe deeply and relax.

■ If you can’t remember how to say a particular word, don’t spend too long over it. Try to describe it in a different way or even say something different. Remember, the exam is to test your level of spoken English – the examiners aren’t too interested in what you’re actually saying in terms of the content.

■ If there’s another candidate with you, don’t just repeat what they say. Show what YOU know.

■ If there’s some preparation time, make sure you think about all the questions you’re going to try to answer. Don’t spend all your time on the first one.

■ If you don’t understand a question, say so.

Good luck at the exam!

References:

■ http://blog.learnhotenglish.com/10-ways-to-pass-an-english-exam/

■ https://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/exams/exam-study-tips/exam-study-tips