COPING WITH EXAMS (début)

Voici un document que j'ai trouvé et qui peut nous aider à gérer nos révisions  et mieux préparer les examens. 

This leaflet is aim to give practical guideline to handling the time leading up to examinations, as well as some tips about the exams themselves. Many of the suggestions are simple or obvious, yet at time when we are under pressure we can easily forget these basics.

Preparing for exams

Start a revision programme in good time before the exams. Whilst you do not want to peak too early, leaving revision too late is an excellent recipe for stress. Doing the work takes less effort than thinking about doing the work!

A certain amount of pressure is good for us and helps us perform well. But this is different from the popular game of “look how stressed I am” which is supposes to impress others with how one is working. Similarly, maintaining some balance in life and some perspectives on the exams is different from that popular game of “look how cool I am”.

Organizing your space

Most people preparing for exams know they should organize their time, but fewer people know that it helps to organize their space too.

Think about where you work. See if you can separate out the places where you work from these places where you relax. Even if this all happens within one small room, create a working place which contains yours papers, books, etc and everything you need for your work.

Moe all distractions out of your work area and put these into tour relaxation areas. Similarly, keep work out of the latter, so that when you are relaxing or sleeping your working is not intruding into this space.

Get used to working when you are in your working area, and switching off when you get up from this place. Creating a physical separation of this kind help you to do same mentally.

Organizing your time

People are different in how they react to revision plans. When these go wrong-as often they do- it is usually because they were planned too tightly and did not allow for sufficient flexibility: plans need plenty of blank spaces to allow for the unexpected.

Bearing in mind that plans need to be flexible, draw up a weekly timetable for yourself, firstly putting in everything you need to do: meals, sleep, lectures, supervisions, shopping, laundry etc. Then allocate time for revision and time for relaxing and enjoying yourself.

Be realistic about how much time you can aim to spend revising. As a guide, if you divide the week into 21 units (one per morning, afternoon and evening) you should aim to work in total for no more than 15 units per week; as it has been shown that ability to work effectively over a prolonged period decreases over this level. Therefore, you should have 6 units ( eg. 2 full days or 1 full day and 3 evenings) to do other things.

Allowing yourself time every week for relaxation, recreation, socializing and rest will help you feel less stresses and make it more likely that you will stick to your timetable. This is not wasting time, it helps you work more effectively.

Plan how you will use your tile during revision periods. You might want to list all the topics you want to revise, decide what order to learn them in, and how much time to spend on each. If you have other tasks to complete ( e.g. reading, note-taking) you need to decode how much time to spend on these.

Be realistic about what you can achieve and stick to your deadlines. If there is too much work to do in the time available, use the following questions to help your priorities:

·         Which are the most important?

·         Which subjects do you know best already, or are easiest to get ‘up to scratch’?

·         Which topics are compulsory?

·         For which subjects do you already have the most information/research/material?

Set specific goals for each revision period. Make a list of your goals; keep them realistic; and tick them off as you achieve them so you can see what you have done. Allow more time for subjects you find difficult. Check out what you do not understand.

Some people find it helpful to work in group-perhaps arranging to meet a few friends to discuss particular topics. You can use this to test each other’s memory or talk through aspects you have not understood.

Motivation

Some people struggle with a lack of motivation. These simple strategies may help:

·         Plan rewards for yourself when you have achieve goals

·         Start with easier/more interesting subjects

·         And establish a work routine-once started, a routine becomes easier to maintain

·         Remind yourself why you have chosen to do these exams-if you do not want the qualification you do not have to do them.

Improving concentration

There is a separate leaflet in this series which deals specifically improving concentration, but here are a few pointers.

People vary in how long they can concentrate so experiment and find a work pattern that suits you. Take regular, short breaks when you are working-for example 10 minutes out of every hour you work- is likely to help you concentrate for longer.

If you are finding it  very difficult to concentrate, start off by setting yourself a small, manageable goal. When you have achieved this, give yourself some rewards; keep repeating  this goal setting and rewarding yourself. As you achieve your goals, gradually increase what you set out to do. In this way you can train yourself to concentrate more effectively. Here are some other ideas:

·         Make notes as you read; keep questions in your mind as you work; speak out loud, record yourself

·         Mix topics frequently; mix easy and difficult topics, and interesting and dull topics

·         Try to work in a comfortable environment (not too cold, hot, and noisy) and remove distractions if possible. Find out where you work best , e.g. in the library with a friend, or alone in your room

Active learning

Try to revise in an active way: do not just read notes through, but perhaps make a list of key points (writing reams of new notes is very time consuming and is not an effective methods of revising). Test your memory as you go along and try to devise questions/answers concerning the information you are learning.

Some people find it helpful to use memory aids such as memorizing a trigger word which is associated with a ‘chunk’ of information, making a trigger word out of the initial letters ok keys points or names, or finding a way of visualizing information.