If you’ve got exams coming up, it’s important to get into the right mindset to give yourself the best chance of success. You can have all the relevant knowledge but if you let negative or nervous feelings take hold, you could perform poorly on the day of the test. Lacking self-confidence, self-belief and too much anxiety can all effect your mental state and ultimately, your grades. Here are some helpful hints to get into the right mental zone for your upcoming exams:
Use Past Papers
If you find you’re worrying about the unknown, then get hold of some past papers to familiarise yourself with what you’ll face on exam day. Past papers offer you the chance to understand the format, question layout and mark scheme for different sections.
Before Going to Bed
Just before you go to sleep, your brain is actually highly receptive to absorbing information. Tell yourself that the next day you will study hard in a calm manner, with a positive mindset and quickly scan through the notes you have made that day. This will help you to wake with a more positive mindset in the morning. Make sure your housemates appreciate that late-night music and partying needs to wait until after the exams have finished. For Gloucester student accommodation, visit http://studentaccommodationgloucester.co.uk/
Note Organisation
If long pages of notes just don’t do it for you, try organising your notes into smaller, easier to follow sections. You could use bullet points, diagrams and sub-headings to break up the work and make your time more productive.
Focus on Good Stress
Some stress is good, it motivates you into action and can help performance. Use any stress you feel to your advantage, turning it into positive stress. These small amounts of stress can help you to work harder and exercise your brain quicker.
Manage Your Time
You’ll feel stressed out if you believe you’re running out of time. Planning ahead and giving yourself plenty of time blocks for each important topic will help you feel more confident about studying. It’s an effective method for making sure no topic is missed as well.
Be Philosophical
It’s easy to let pressure get on top of you and to feel that the exams are the centre of your universe. Remember that all is not lost if you don’t do as well as you’d hoped. Focus on your internal mental state during the lead up to the exams and the more positive you are, the better you are likely to do. Fill up with positivity and get fired up!
Perfection is Unattainable
Don’t put unnecessary additional pressure on yourself by aiming for perfection. Nobody ever reaches perfection, as improvement and further learning is always possible. This should ease some of the pressure. Mistakes are inevitable and provide an opportunity to learn from. Exams are no different, so do your best and apply yourself but don’t be too hard on yourself either.