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
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