3 tips to help you in assessments
You may have already begun assessments or are going to begin them soon. For many, this is the home stretch and nearly the end of your course. You may not be feeling great now however; you may be feeling a bit burnt out after working so hard through such hard times or feeling anxious and nervous about your upcoming tests. Remember, you’ve worked very hard to get where you are and have done incredibly well to even have gotten through this past year. Grades and assessments, although important now, are simply one part of your life and the most important thing to be doing now is taking care of your wellbeing. That being said, assessments are stressful and unfortunately need to be done, so here are some final tips for when you’re actually in your assessment to help you do as well as possible.
Try to stay as calm as possible. This is definitely easier said than done but still extremely important for your exam. If you’re struggling, take deep breaths from your abdomen and take a few moments to think positive thoughts and just slow everything down for yourself. Take one thing in at a time. Panicking could cause you to make mistakes that you normally wouldn’t and get distracted from your paper where you need your full focus. So if you find yourself getting a bit restless and worried, take your deep breaths, pause and slow down. It will be worth taking the time out so that you can keep going in the exam to your usual high standards.
Check your answers. And check again. Getting everything right the first time would be great but unfortunately the chances of it aren’t certain. To make sure that you haven’t gone wrong anywhere you know you shouldn’t have, go through your paper once you’ve completed it and check to see that all your answers are complete and as accurate as possible. When you’re doing this, treat it almost as if you’re doing the paper again for the first time and ignore the answers you’ve already put so your brain isn’t subconsciously influenced into just agreeing with whatever you’ve already put.
Keep an eye on the clock. Arguably the worst thing about exams is the time pressure you are under and working to a deadline can be rushed. Have a rough idea before the exam about the amount of time you will spend on each part of your exam and try to stick to that as well as possible. Make sure you know when to simply leave a question you are stuck on to come back to later - a common error people make is getting too stuck on one question and spending far too much time on it.
Things like having good posture, keeping water to hand and keeping your work easy to read and check also make a huge difference. Unfortunately, exams by their very nature are stressful and uncomfortable, so anything to keep you calm and in the right headspace will definitely help. Remember: you’ve worked incredibly hard to get to this point. There’s no way it's all going to go to waste, it’s just about getting over the final hurdle as smoothly as possible. Good luck!