Good test-taking starts days before the exam: practice under timed conditions, spread your reviews out and learn from your mistakes. On the day, read the whole paper first, divide your time by the points, answer the easy questions before the hard ones, and keep five minutes to check. Nerves are normal. There are simple ways to manage them.
What should you do in the week before the exam?
The best preparation looks a lot like the exam itself.
- Take practice tests. Past papers, textbook questions, or your own Cornell cue questions. In classroom studies, low-stakes quizzes improved scores on the real chapter and semester exams (Roediger et al., 2011).
- Time yourself. If the exam is 45 minutes, practice in 45-minute blocks. A 45-minute timer helps you get a feel for the pace.
- Review your mistakes, not your notes. Every wrong answer points to a gap. Fix it, then retest it a day or two later.
- Space it out. A short session each day beats one long night. Spacing and practice testing are the two techniques rated “high utility” in a large review of study methods (Dunlosky et al., 2013), and the best gap between reviews grows with how long you need to remember the material (Cepeda et al., 2008).
- Find out the format. Multiple choice, short answer, essay, open book? How many points per section? Prepare for that format.
A sample final week:
| Day | Focus |
|---|---|
| 7 days before | Full practice test, timed; list weak topics |
| 6 to 4 days before | Two or three focused sessions per day on weak topics, each ending with a short self-test |
| 3 days before | Second practice test; compare with the first |
| 2 days before | Retest everything you missed; flashcards for stubborn facts |
| Day before | Light review of summaries; pack what you need; normal bedtime |
What should you do on exam day?
- Eat something and bring water, if allowed.
- Arrive early so you are not starting the exam out of breath.
- Skip last-minute cramming of new material. A quick look at your summary sheet is fine.
- Bring what you need: ID, pens, calculator, a watch if phones are not allowed.
How should you manage your time during the exam?
- Read the whole paper first (one or two minutes). Note which questions look easy and which carry the most points.
- Budget time by points. If a question is worth a quarter of the marks, give it about a quarter of the time.
- Keep a reserve. Hold back five to ten minutes at the end for checking.
- Easy first. Secure the points you know. Confidence builds as you go.
- Skip and mark. If a question stalls you for more than a minute or two, mark it and move on.
- Check the clock at set points, for example at a quarter, half and three quarters of the time.
How do you approach each question type?
| Question type | Strategy |
|---|---|
| Multiple choice | Answer in your head before reading the options. Eliminate clearly wrong ones. Watch for “not”, “always”, “never”. |
| True or false | One false detail makes the whole statement false. Read every part. |
| Short answer | Answer the question asked, in the first sentence. Use the key terms. |
| Essay | Spend a few minutes on an outline: thesis, three main points, evidence for each. Then write. |
| Problem solving | Write down what is given and what is asked. Show your working for partial credit. Check units. |
| Open book | Tab or index your notes beforehand. You will not have time to search. |
Should you change your answers?
Yes, when you have a reason. The common advice to “always stick with your first instinct” is not supported. According to research on answer changing, most changes go from incorrect to correct, and people who change answers usually improve their scores. People remember the painful times a change went wrong more vividly than the times it went right, which keeps the myth alive (Kruger et al., 2005).
That does not mean changing answers at random. Change an answer when you have misread the question, remembered something new, or found a clear error.
How can you handle test anxiety?
Some nervousness is normal and can even keep you alert. When it gets in the way:
- Write your worries down. In two lab and two classroom experiments, students who did a brief writing exercise about their thoughts on the upcoming test just before taking it scored better, especially those who were usually anxious about tests (Ramirez & Beilock, 2011).
- Breathe slowly for a minute before you start and whenever you notice panic.
- Start with a question you know. Early success settles you.
- If you blank: move on, then come back. Write down anything related to jog your memory.
If anxiety seriously affects you in every exam, talk to your school’s student support or a health professional. You may also be entitled to accommodations.
How do you check your work at the end?
- Did you answer every question? Guess on multiple choice if there is no penalty.
- Revisit your marked questions.
- Reread essay intros and conclusions: do they answer the question?
- Check calculations and units.
- Make sure your name and candidate number are on every sheet.
What should you do after the exam?
When you get the results back, go through every lost point:
- Knowledge gap? Add it to your review schedule.
- Misread the question? Slow down on reading next time.
- Ran out of time? Practice more under timed conditions.
- Careless error? Build the checking step into your practice.
This turns each exam into preparation for the next one.
Practice under real conditions
Set a 45-minute timer, pick a past paper and work through it with your notes away. Then mark it and turn every mistake into a question for spaced review.