Your top tips in the exam hall
We spoke yesterday about the best things to do the night before a big exam, thank you to everyone who took the time out to share and support each other 
Today, we want people to share their top tips for the next steps, how to keep your concentration and your calm when you are in the exam hall itself.
We know that more students are asking for special arrangements when it comes to taking their exams than ever before. It's clear that for many students the process of sitting in an exam hall can be stressful and lead to students not performing to the best of their abilities.
So, share below how you stay calm, any tips to how you tackle an exam paper, how you manage your time and any other tips that will help students walk out the exam hall knowing they've done the best they could.
What are your top tips when you get into the exam hall?
Today, we want people to share their top tips for the next steps, how to keep your concentration and your calm when you are in the exam hall itself.
We know that more students are asking for special arrangements when it comes to taking their exams than ever before. It's clear that for many students the process of sitting in an exam hall can be stressful and lead to students not performing to the best of their abilities.
So, share below how you stay calm, any tips to how you tackle an exam paper, how you manage your time and any other tips that will help students walk out the exam hall knowing they've done the best they could.
What are your top tips when you get into the exam hall?
(edited 11 months ago)
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Tagging in everyone who has been engaging in our TSR over Half Term conversations
TSRHalfTerm
When I take my seat at my desk I initially take a small sip of water as this just helps me focus a bit more (but don't drink too much because it's not ideal to be going to the loo in the middle of the exam!). I take tiny sips of water regularly throughout the exam as this helps me calm myself and focus. I take a few deep breaths before the exam starts.
I recommend quickly flicking through the exam paper to get an idea of its contents and how you want to tackle it. I usually complete questions I definitely know the answer to and I know I can score the most marks on first and questions which are more difficult later - this helps me to maximise my marks. I have supervised rest breaks so I also like to use this as a way to quickly plan when I will take my rest breaks.
For time management, I like to consider how many marks there are and how many minutes I have and spend time on each question accordingly.
I recommend quickly flicking through the exam paper to get an idea of its contents and how you want to tackle it. I usually complete questions I definitely know the answer to and I know I can score the most marks on first and questions which are more difficult later - this helps me to maximise my marks. I have supervised rest breaks so I also like to use this as a way to quickly plan when I will take my rest breaks.
For time management, I like to consider how many marks there are and how many minutes I have and spend time on each question accordingly.
I always used to start the exam at the back 
I tend to first take out the necessary equipment out of my pencil case and make sure I have everything. I never take water into the exam hall just in case I drink too much and then need to go to the toilet 
I make sure I feel comfortable in my set, check for a wobbly desk because usually the desk I sit at is always wobbly!!
I always tend to just start from the beginning of the exam paper and just work through chronologically. I rarely look ahead of the question I am doing, especially in English because in case the next question is one that I don’t like or haven’t revised that well, I don’t want to ruin the essay I am doing my worrying about what I would write for the next essay! These are just habits I’ve picked up but I know lots of people tend to always look ahead which may work for them!
I make sure I feel comfortable in my set, check for a wobbly desk because usually the desk I sit at is always wobbly!!
I always tend to just start from the beginning of the exam paper and just work through chronologically. I rarely look ahead of the question I am doing, especially in English because in case the next question is one that I don’t like or haven’t revised that well, I don’t want to ruin the essay I am doing my worrying about what I would write for the next essay! These are just habits I’ve picked up but I know lots of people tend to always look ahead which may work for them!
This is what I posted yesterday in the other thread:
Keep an eye on the clock
The last thing you want is to lose marks because you ran out of time, especially with all the time that you spent studying and preparing. For non-essay subject like the Sciences, I look at the page count and I try to be halfway through the paper by the halfway point of the exam. For essay subjects I actually find it easier since you can plan out the exact amount of time you will spend on each essay. In English, I allocate a certain amount of time for each question then I divide it by the number of paragraphs I want to do. I also make sure to leave time for planning if I need it. If you calculated 5 minutes per paragraph, DO NOT spend more than 5 minutes per paragraph. The only time you can do this is if you completed a section quicker than you thought you would. You must find a way to wrap up your paragraph so you can move on to the next one. It is also a way of avoiding repeating the same things and making sure to select what you say as you only have a limited amount of time to do so. I tend to overwrite and make massive paragraphs so this technique has been incredibly helpful. The only way it will work is if you are extremely strict with yourself and stick to it no matter what.
If you are running out of time, the worst thing you can do is panic.
This has happened in a few of my exams and the panic only made it harder to concentrate. In the end, I finished all of them. I even had 5 minutes to check my answers in Biology which I'd thought I wasn't going to be able to complete.
How to calm yourself down
My technique is deep breaths while saying positive things to myself like: you can do this, you are prepared, you have the knowledge to answer every question on this paper, if you're finding it hard so is everyone else, etc. Just try to think rationally and not let your emotions get the better of you at least until after the exam.
Other things I would like to add:
- Like someone else said, I don't like looking at the next question before I finish the one I am doing as it tends to stress me out. I use this technique in mostly technical subjects like Maths, Sciences and CS. However, in English I do like to flick through the paper first as I try to multitask and plan my answer for the next question whilst answering the one before it. This definitely doesn't work for everybody though.
- I always work through the paper chronologically, if not I would spend to much time deciding which question I should do next
- Try to filter out the background noise of people writing and flipping through pages. If you feel at a disadvantage due to where you are sitting then you can ask to move. For example, I had an extremely loud fan about 1 metre away from me in my CS P1 exam. They let me move since it was quite distracting.
- When you finish the exam maybe try not to talk to others too much and obsess about the questions. Chances are you've got another exam that week or the next one that you should focus on instead. You can't change what's done.
- If an exam is really bothering you days after you've finished it, go see your teacher for that subject and ask them to go through it with you. My Physics teacher did this with me and it helped sooooo much. We only remember the difficult questions and never the easy ones so when you see them all again you realise that you got a lot more marks than you thought you did. You probably even got marks on some of the hard questions.
Remember, your mental health is the most important thing and take care of it by leaving time to do the things you enjoy most. I'm actually not doing a lot of revision rn. After exams I usually don't study much if I don't have an exam the next day. The only time I will study for the whole day is the day before each exam. I'm taking half-term pretty lightly to try to regain my energy for the next three weeks. The last two weeks left me completely exhausted! Also, I'm feeling more relaxed since I've finished 3 out of 10 subjects completely and sat almost all of the first papers.
Keep an eye on the clock
The last thing you want is to lose marks because you ran out of time, especially with all the time that you spent studying and preparing. For non-essay subject like the Sciences, I look at the page count and I try to be halfway through the paper by the halfway point of the exam. For essay subjects I actually find it easier since you can plan out the exact amount of time you will spend on each essay. In English, I allocate a certain amount of time for each question then I divide it by the number of paragraphs I want to do. I also make sure to leave time for planning if I need it. If you calculated 5 minutes per paragraph, DO NOT spend more than 5 minutes per paragraph. The only time you can do this is if you completed a section quicker than you thought you would. You must find a way to wrap up your paragraph so you can move on to the next one. It is also a way of avoiding repeating the same things and making sure to select what you say as you only have a limited amount of time to do so. I tend to overwrite and make massive paragraphs so this technique has been incredibly helpful. The only way it will work is if you are extremely strict with yourself and stick to it no matter what.
If you are running out of time, the worst thing you can do is panic.
This has happened in a few of my exams and the panic only made it harder to concentrate. In the end, I finished all of them. I even had 5 minutes to check my answers in Biology which I'd thought I wasn't going to be able to complete.
How to calm yourself down
My technique is deep breaths while saying positive things to myself like: you can do this, you are prepared, you have the knowledge to answer every question on this paper, if you're finding it hard so is everyone else, etc. Just try to think rationally and not let your emotions get the better of you at least until after the exam.
Other things I would like to add:
- Like someone else said, I don't like looking at the next question before I finish the one I am doing as it tends to stress me out. I use this technique in mostly technical subjects like Maths, Sciences and CS. However, in English I do like to flick through the paper first as I try to multitask and plan my answer for the next question whilst answering the one before it. This definitely doesn't work for everybody though.
- I always work through the paper chronologically, if not I would spend to much time deciding which question I should do next
- Try to filter out the background noise of people writing and flipping through pages. If you feel at a disadvantage due to where you are sitting then you can ask to move. For example, I had an extremely loud fan about 1 metre away from me in my CS P1 exam. They let me move since it was quite distracting.
- When you finish the exam maybe try not to talk to others too much and obsess about the questions. Chances are you've got another exam that week or the next one that you should focus on instead. You can't change what's done.
- If an exam is really bothering you days after you've finished it, go see your teacher for that subject and ask them to go through it with you. My Physics teacher did this with me and it helped sooooo much. We only remember the difficult questions and never the easy ones so when you see them all again you realise that you got a lot more marks than you thought you did. You probably even got marks on some of the hard questions.
Remember, your mental health is the most important thing and take care of it by leaving time to do the things you enjoy most. I'm actually not doing a lot of revision rn. After exams I usually don't study much if I don't have an exam the next day. The only time I will study for the whole day is the day before each exam. I'm taking half-term pretty lightly to try to regain my energy for the next three weeks. The last two weeks left me completely exhausted! Also, I'm feeling more relaxed since I've finished 3 out of 10 subjects completely and sat almost all of the first papers.
Original post by 04MR17
I always used to start the exam at the back
Can’t do that in my school. It’s usually alphabetical order from the front to the back and we have to have our IDs on the table because of cheating - some people used to get their siblings to do it.
Original post by JA03
Can’t do that in my school. It’s usually alphabetical order from the front to the back and we have to have our IDs on the table because of cheating - some people used to get their siblings to do it.
i thought they meant starting the exam by answering the last questions and then working backwards.
always keep an eye on the clock and structure your time accordingly (eg. 30 mins per section in a psychology paper), accept that you're gonna have to write while your hand hurts and just push through it, skim read through the questions (especially the bigger ones depending on subject) at the beginning so you know what you're dealing with - and remember that during an exam is the closest you've been to being finished with it
Are we allowed to suck on a mint drop or something like that during an exam? I sometimes feel too nervous and a little ill inside and it helps.
Original post by pacificatlas
i thought they meant starting the exam by answering the last questions and then working backwards.
Flip. My brain is fried.
Original post by Anonymous
Are we allowed to suck on a mint drop or something like that during an exam? I sometimes feel too nervous and a little ill inside and it helps.
I would ask your schools exam officer.
Counterintuitive as it seems, I find it's really helpful if you're getting a headache or just getting overwhelmed to take a minute to stop and take a breather. It can feel a bit stressful when that time is ticking away and you aren't working, but once you do it a few times and realise how much a quick break helps your focus afterwards then you can fully appreciate the benefit of it.
Although people say this is a waste of time. I like to spend 5 mins going to the toilet maybe halfway through if I am getting quite stressed because it allows my brain to relax and reset then come back ready to go again. Its better going into the second half of the paper with an open mind then to continue to struggle to concentrate if you are really stressed.
Original post by JA03
Can’t do that in my school. It’s usually alphabetical order from the front to the back and we have to have our IDs on the table because of cheating - some people used to get their siblings to do it.
Original post by 04MR17
I meant the back of the paper
This is why I failed my reading comprehension SATs all those years ago.
Original post by AJSM
I play my favourite songs to myself in my head, take a quick drink of water, and stare at the front cover hoping to remember some random information based on that subject.
Me and you both.
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