by Vanessa Vakharia
2. The Actual Exam
Be Zen. It’s easy to start freaking out and get overwhelmed. Remember, you’ve studied. You’ve prepared. Now’s the time to chill out, go through the exam, and just do it. Avoid frantically flipping through notes last minute and just use the last few minutes of pre-exam time to clear your mind.
Extras. Before the exam begins make sure that you have everything that you need. Calculators, extra pencils, erasers…there’s no harm in having extra everything.
Your Choice. You don’t always have to start at the beginning if you know another question better. Start on a question you know well to give you confidence and get you going.
More Than a Number. Spend more time on heavier weighted questions. Questions that are worth more, require more info. The number of marks a question is worth is a good hint as to how much time you should spend answering it.
Read The Question. Sounds obvious. But time and time again, students fail to properly read the question, and spend time answering a question that was never asked in the first place! The worst thing EVER is when you totally know how to do something, but you don’t read the question properly and you end up doing it wrong. Read the question. Slowly. Understand what it’s asking you to do.
Over and Above. If you’re done your exam early, don’t jet right away. Check over your exam and make sure everything’s cool. It’s easy to make simple mistakes in the heat of the moment, and this is precious time where you can catch them!
Formulas for Success. If you have any formulas or little codes you’ve made up that you know you have trouble remembering, write them on the exam paper the second you get your exam so that they’re there for you to refer to later.
Save the worst for last. Pick up your exam and read each question slowly. If you can do it, do it. If you can’t, skip it, and save it for later. You want to get as many marks as you can. So get the easy stuff out of the way, and then spend the rest of your time on the hard stuff.
Part Marks, Part Marks, Part Marks. Write every little step along the painful way. Not only will this eliminate error, but you’ll get more marks. Even if your final answer is totally wrong, you will get marks for things you did along the way.
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