An exam is not just about revision. It also involves the exam itself.

You can revise for weeks and then lose it on the day from a simple lapse in concentration, or a panic over unimportant issues. But what use would that be? And who wants to worry about something that causes enough anxiety as it is?

Go through the rigmarole of examinations with a positive step and some initial work. You need to be 7 things in order to achieve readiness for the big day:

1. Be Selfish – For once, you need to ignore what’s going on around you as you stand outside the examination hall. Exams are not group efforts. The revision is done and was unique to your own mental strengths. Now is not the time to consider what other people think will be in the exam and how they have prepared for it.  You’ve done all you can, so listening to others 2 minutes before you step in to the room is only likely to knock your confidence.

2. Be Prepared – Exam logistics shouldn’t get in the way of your peace. Get ready the night before, have your equipment packed (with spare items, if feasible), and confirm where and when you are needed. Preparation gets rid of at least one concern and means you’re much less likely to make mistakes before you’re even tucking into your answers.

3. Be Refreshed – You’ve had months where you can stay up in the early hours of the morning. There will be many more months (unless you’re in your final year, natch) when you can go out and party the night away. The night before an exam is not the time to risk anything. For once, relax a bit, push the revision aside and go to bed in good time. When you’re in bed, don’t worry about tomorrow, or you won’t get to sleep!

4. Be Cautious – Don’t leave it to chance. Arrive to the exam in good time, read through the instructions, then read through the questions until you’re sure what is needed. Don’t rush the exam, even though you’re under a time limit. With some initial preparation in the first few minutes, you are in a good position to plan the allotted time well. Finally, consider what you want to write before you start writing…

5. Be Relevant – …And this is why you need to consider your answers. When it comes to marking exams, tutors still see answers to questions that were never asked in the first place. Blindly writing down what you’ve revised isn’t going to help if it doesn’t have a reference point to the question that’s been set. Always refer back to the question.

6. Be Choosy – Not all questions are equally weighted. Yet I often hear this kind of thing:

“I was stuck on that stupid question for half the exam. It wasted loads of time and it’s only worth a couple of marks. I didn’t have time to finish the rest of the questions.”

They might be annoyed, but the solution should have been obvious. Don’t waste time worrying over low-marked questions. You can always return to it later. Just leave a gap to come back to it, or answer the questions in a slightly different order, if allowed. In past exams, I’ve not always been required to stick to the answers in a linear fashion. Sometimes my paper started with question 3 before I tackled 1 and 2.

It’s not worth getting frustrated AFTER the event. If you find some questions too tough to answer, choose to move on and only return to the troublesome answers when you’ve finished the rest of the exam.

7. Be Yourself – While you may not directly be all the things above on a day to day basis, the final thing to be is all about you. Treat an exam day as a regular day and take the exam as a necessary use of your time. Just being yourself and letting the world run along as usual, you are using the most relaxing strategy. Yes, it’s important, but so is every minute of your life. So throw a curveball and enjoy yourself!

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Put these qualities in to action and you’ll wonder what all the fuss is about. Well, almost!

Related post:

• Exam Success: Top Tips from Brilliant Blogs

Kelvin over at Moments in Time has tagged me and would like me to answer a few questions about myself. Well, I’m not going to do any tagging myself (am I being a spoilsport there?), but I am happy to answer the questions that have been set. However, if anyone else wishes to answer the questions too, feel free to do so in the comments, or let me know that you’ve put a post up on your own blog.

Without further a do:

1. What was I doing 10 years ago?

I was enjoying lots of university stuff before it was even my turn to be at university. How greedy. And I met the most wonderful girl around. Fast forward 10 years and now we’re married. All together now, “Ahh!”

2. What 5 Things are on my to-do list for today (in no particular order)?

• talk to my son who is still in his mummy’s tummy;
• read starred posts in Google Reader;
• write a number of things (this is several to-dos put into one here);
• organise book shelves and get rid of some books I’ve finished with (can I cope with saying goodbye to any of them…?);
• finish cutting the tree back and getting rid of weeds in the garden.

3. What snacks do I enjoy?

Snacks of almost any kind are yum, sweet or savoury. In terms of sweet treats, Jaffa Cakes and Cadbury’s Creme Eggs are a couple of favourites. By no means are they the only ones!

4. What would I do if I were a billionaire?

• Begin a charitable foundation to support the mentoring and life-coaching of students.
• Donate money to charities that look to help those people who don’t know about uni and its benefits, and to help those who might not have the same opportunities as others.
• Give generously to the universities that have already helped shape my life.
• Invest in fresh and exciting business projects of uni students while they are still studying.
• As for myself…I would probably buy a house. And some luxury port and whisky. And a Nikon D3.

5. What 3 bad habits do I have?

• Multitasking, even when I know it’s not productive. I just fall into it and then have words with myself. Having words doesn’t seem to help…I eventually fall into it again. Doh!
• Not setting enough ‘me’ relaxation time.
• Breaking into song at inappropriate times.

6. 5 places I have lived:

London Borough of Hillingdon, Brunel University campus, West Downs Student Village, Winchester, and sunny Bucks.

7. 5 jobs I have had:

Senior Student @ Uni, worked at MoD (secret, but unexciting), classical music specialist, project co-ordinator, then back to clerical/administrative work in higher education. HE is where I wish to remain.

Yes, more exams are on the horizon.  The workload is increasing just as you ask for a break.  There’s always something going on.  And that’s not taking into account any of the fun you plan to have, especially as the weather gets better.  Actually, where is that better weather…?

But don’t feel bad, because your personal image is a crucial element to your success.  That’s why you need to improve your BRAND.

BRAND is the helpful acronym toward enhancing your mind, your personality, and…well, your brand.

• Believe in yourself
• Review
• Associate
• Need it
• Don’t worry

Let’s break it down:

Believe in yourself

Positive thinking, happy thoughts, faith in your actions.  This is the first quality you need to focus on to take everything else on board.  By the time you’re at university, you have to accept that things don’t come to you.  You have to go to what you want.

Armed with the belief that you can achieve all you set your mind on, it becomes a lot easier to conquer those goals.  You’ll just reach a dead end if you tell yourself you can’t do it, or convince yourself that you don’t have what it takes.  If you want to do it, believe in it.

When that doesn’t help, have you considered that maybe you’re participating in something you don’t want?  Or maybe your focus hasn’t developed yet and there’s too much external noise getting in your way.

Negativity breeds inaction.  Positivity breeds success.  So think big and think happy.

(more…)

Just a quick heads up.  I’ve added some more links to the Blogroll:

A Working Life – LJ discusses all things work.  Work is that thing you may do part-time, but which probably hasn’t slapped you with full force yet…

Motivational Speaker – Craig Harper’s great site.  I discovered it after Craig left a comment on here and I subscribed to the RSS feed soon after.  The site is just how he describes it, “[a] one-stop information, inspiration, education and motivation station”.

Pimp Your Grades – Get every mark working in your favour!

Productivity501 – Way beyond student productivity.  Productivity501 covers personal improvement of all kinds.

Student Bloggers – A wonderful concept.  Alex guides you through a growing list of students who are blogging through their degrees.  They are almost exclusively from American institutions at the moment.  I don’t know many people in the UK who are consistently blogging through their studies, but I’m sure both myself and Alex would like to hear from you if you do.

University Scholar – As I post this, Michael’s latest post at University Scholar is spot on.  But before you get walking, read some more of his posts!