Do you feel the stress when revising for examinations?

Peter Tarbet is Assistant Head of Teaching & Learning at Roedean Independent School in Brighton. With over 15 years in the profession, he has seen his fair share of anxious students prior to their exams. His insight and knowledge on how to beat stress has helped hundreds of students during his tenure at Roedean, and he would know like to share his top tips with you.

An effective way to control nerves and stress is to feel that you are in control.

Familiarise yourself completely with your examination timetable, know the times and dates of each examination.

Construct a revision plan and stick to it. You should start revision about seven weeks before your first examination.

The first thing to do is to make a revision plan. Your revision plan needs to allow time for your usual commitments.

Talk to those around you; make sure you know of any planned events or trips and family occasions.

Integrate these key dates into your revision plan as soon as possible.

Using revision guides (ask your teachers for advice on these), specifications and the feedback from past papers that you have done, identify the topics and areas you need to revise.

If you have different papers for a subject make sure you know which topics may be examined in each paper.

Write down how much time you think you will need to revise for each paper; you ought to allocate more time for subjects which you find more difficult.

Your plan must take into account your examination timetable.

Look at the dates of each examination and plan on which days you will be revising each subject. Make sure you allocate time to all your subjects.

Spread them throughout your plan. Don’t be tempted to spend too much time on the subjects which are being examined first and do not leave any subject to be revised completely between examinations.

Break the days up into manageable blocks, with different subjects and topics in each block.

Be realistic. It is not possible to revise all day and all night. It is essential to do other things, e.g. sport, go to the cinema, see friends etc.

Revise often. Do some every day, even if on occasions it is only a little. You must have breaks. About every hour or so go outside for a walk or do some other activity like make a cup of tea.

Write down your plan. Put it on the wall above your desk. Stick to your plan and develop routines.

Consulting your plan and doing revision should become a habit. You may discover that you have allocated too much or too little time to some topics.

Be prepared to make small changes to your revision plan if necessary.

When revising, build in rewards. Stick to your plan but after working on a topic you find difficult, have a break and then switch to a topic that you enjoy.

After a demanding session listen to a favourite piece of music or watch a favourite TV programme. Always revise in a place which is free from distractions.

Get everything you need for your revision session ready before you start. Use a mixture of revision techniques.

You may find that reading through your notes or sections of a revision guide helpful, but try other things too. Reduce your notes to a simplified condensed form.

This can be done over a period of time so that a few words or a diagram will trigger you into recalling lots of key facts.

Working through past paper questions is essential, particularly in subjects such as mathematics where particular skills, as well as understanding, are tested.

Some students like to revise with a friend, testing each other’s knowledge, but be careful with this, you may think you are revising but in fact you are just chatting.

Ask people to test you but plan this by asking them in advance give them plenty of warning; they are not doing examinations and have other priorities. If your teachers are running revision classes then go along.

A very important point is to not over do it. Eat properly and if you are tired go to bed and sleep. Get a good night’s sleep before each examination.

Just prior to the examinations use any condensed revision notes that you have made to prompt your memory.

Do not try and cram in any new facts, this may confuse you and cause you to worry. Concentrate on consolidating what you have already revised.

Make sure you are familiar with the format of each examination. Check you have the correct equipment with you before you leave for an examination (pens, pencils, ruler, scientific calculator, etc). Look at the marks available and read the questions carefully, following instructions given in the paper (e.g. to show all workings, write only in the spaces provided, word limits etc).

Use the information provided on the paper. Work steadily and allow enough time to answer all the required questions.

Presentation is important; the examiners do not like marking messy scripts so write as neatly as possible.

Think before writing and read through your work, correcting any errors and neatly crossing out anything you do not want to be marked.

Once an examination is over there is little to be gained by having in depth discussions with other candidates about how you think it went.

You may upset yourself unnecessarily if your answers do not correspond with what others are saying.

Take a break, relax, get some fresh air and then focus on the next stage of you revision plan.

The examination period is a stressful and nervous time. Some people don’t show this but they are probably feeling it.

Stay calm, stick to your plan and the routines you have developed, remain in control. You need to eat, drink and sleep well.

Prepare well and good luck!

For more information on how to combat stress when revising, or if you would like to contact Peter Tarbet, please visit www.roedean.co.uk