Exam Preparation: Insider Tips from Royal Holloway University Students and Lecturers, Slides of Biological Sciences

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Preparing for exams at

Royal Holloway

- insider insights for exam success

In this lecture, we will:

• Review the purpose of exams
• Consider some tips for revising effectively for

exams

• Consider some tips that will help us be strategic

when doing exams

• Get ‘inside’ advice from both students and

lecturers at Royal Holloway

Aims

With a partner, discuss:

• What is your experience of exams?
• What do you want to know about exams at

Royal Holloway?

• Why do we still use exams at university?

Why take exams?

3 key purposes of examinations (Cottrell, 2007, p.19):

1. They provide one means of measuring how much you

have learnt.

2. They serve as a focus for your study, encouraging you

to draw together what you have learnt.

PREPARING

P A R T T W O

TIP 1 Be smart with what you revise

Listen to RH students and

note down some tips that

could be useful for you.

Student view

Choosing Topics https://moodle.royalholloway.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=

TIP 2 Be smart with HOW you revise

Don't just read your lecture notes - combine them with notes on the textbook and condense them. Best of all, test yourself by answering questions.

James McEvoy Biological Sciences

TIP 3 Go through past exam papers

TIP 4 Revise with others

Lecturer view

Teach your friend/nemesis/imaginary pet what you've been revising.

Teaching information is one of the best ways to learn it. It gives you practice at retrieving the information, and having to explain it in a way which makes sense to someone else helps you to make links between concepts and identify areas you don’t understand.

Alana James Psychology

Revise in a study group with friends

from your course.

Split up making brief revision notes on a topic between your group members, then meet to discuss them. You will remember more than you think by hearing it from a friend than from your lecturer!

Richard Hawley Classics

Lecturer view

TIP 5 Make a detailed revision timetable

http://au.reachout.com/how-to-write-a-study-timetable

TIP 6 Get clued up about exam regulations

at Royal Holloway

• When is the exams timetable published?
• When is the main exam period?
• What do I need to take to the exam venue?
• What is not allowed in the exam room?
• Can I leave the exam early
• What happens if I’m ill?

TIP 7 Keep calm and gets lots of sleep

Sleep helps us to consolidate information we've

learnt, as well as keeping us physically and

mentally able to perform well in exams.

Alana James Psychology

Lecturer view

For help with stress management, check the advice on the

webpages for the Royal Holloway Counselling Service.

If anxiety is becoming a serious issue, make an appointment

with a counsellor.