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How to prepare for college exams

Exams are won in the weeks before, not the night before. Students who fail usually revised late, by re-reading, alone and tired. Here is a plan that works for TVET college exams.

Know how your marks are made up

Find the rules, weightings and pass marks for each subject in your student handbook and subject guides in the first week. Every programme combines marks during the year with a final assessment:

• NC(V): a mark from tasks during the year (ICASS) and a final external exam. Vocational subjects also have a practical task (ISAT).
• NATED (N1 to N6): tests and assignments make up an internal mark. You usually need a minimum internal mark to be allowed to write the national exam.
• Occupational programmes: tasks and tests in each module, then the final assessment once all modules are complete.

A test in March is not "only practice". It may decide whether you can write the final exam at all.

Start four to six weeks before

For end-of-year or end-of-semester exams, begin revising four to six weeks ahead. For a class test, start about a week before.

Make a revision plan

1. List every subject and every topic in it, from the subject guide.
2. Rate each topic: green (I can do it), orange (shaky) or red (I cannot do it yet).
3. Put the topics into your weekly timetable, red and orange first.
4. Leave the last two weeks for past papers and review.
5. Mix subjects in a day. Do not spend a whole week on one subject.

Revise actively

Re-reading your notes feels like work, but it does little. Do these instead:

• Test yourself with flashcards, or write what you remember on a blank page.
• Do past papers under exam conditions: timed, with no notes. Then mark them with the memorandum and study what you got wrong.
• Learn the question patterns: which topics come up every year, and how many marks each section carries.
• Join a study group to test each other and compare answers.
• Practise calculations and diagrams by hand.

The last few days

• Review your summaries, flashcards and list of errors, and do one last past paper.
• Check the exam timetable: the date, time and venue.
• Pack what you must bring: student card, ID, calculator, pens, pencil and ruler.
• Sleep properly the night before. Staying up all night lowers your marks.

In the exam room

Read the instructions on the cover first. Skim the whole paper and plan your time at roughly one minute per mark, with ten minutes left to check. Start with a question you can do well. Read every question twice and underline the instruction word.

This article is based on Chapter 8 of Studying and Succeeding at College, which also covers answering techniques, exam stress and what to do after a fail.