Many students associate exam preparation with studying the night before and cramming as much as possible. They believe that getting as much preparation as possible into a short period of time will help them succeed. This is what separates high achievers from those who always feel that they “should’ve done better.”

What many students do not want to hear is that preparation for exams and assessments is normally a process over weeks and sometimes even months. Preparation for an exam begins when the student learns the content that will be in the exam. From this point, there is an important process that the student has to undergo to be ‘exam-ready’, this includes completing homework on the content to consolidate knowledge, doing revision questions and identifying areas of weakness and then moving on to past papers and exam-style questions.

An area where many students fall down in studying for exams is not doing anything across the whole term, and then when exam time comes around, the student has already forgotten everything they learnt. By this point in the term, high academic achievers will likely be prepared for the exam, as they maintained focus and stayed on top of content throughout the term.

The most challenging part of undertaking this continued process of revision is maintaining motivation. Some students may feel as if their progress isn’t visible, as they aren’t able to see how their work is paying off. However, the greatest benefit of staying on top of revision is not having to do mass revision in a short period of time. By the time the exam comes around, the student will be confident and in a clear frame of mind, being able to trust their preparation.

While many students hate to come to terms with this hard truth, studying consistently over a long period of time is essential.

Hayden McCarthy