Preparing for exams
Practical tips to help you cope with exam preparation and to reduce stress.
Go to: Strategies for effective revision | Approaching your exams | Types of exams and examiner expectations
Exams and assessments are part of university life, and the fear of the unknown can create a lot of pressure which can lead to exam stress and sometimes fear of failure.
If you're feeling stressed about your studies or exams, it could be helpful to speak to your personal tutor, module convenor or the university's wellbing support services.
You can also discuss your concerns with classmates or talk to friends and family to ease your worries. Remember, feeling a bit anxious is normal, but the important thing is to try to keep things in perspective.
Everyone copes differently with exams; the essential thing is to find what strategies work for you to effectively manage exam preparation, minimise stress, and help you to improve your grades.
Worried about assessments? Find support, services and resources to help
Strategies for effective revision
Everyone approaches revision differently and that’s OK. However, it’s a good idea to explore different revision techniques to understand what suits you best and to organise your time.
Here are some useful revision techniques you might find helpful:
By starting early with your revision, it allows you plenty of time to manage your time effectively and a chance to go through your notes to understand and reinforce the material.
Starting your revision early can help reduce stress.
Study resource: Making notes for future revision
Find a positive study space
Finding a quiet space to revise that has minimal distractions can help you to concentrate, focus better and reduce stress levels.
Having a designated place to work such as the library or a designated workspace in your home helps your brain to associate it with studying which can help you to get in the right mindset of working and revising.
Our eight libraries include a variety of study spaces from silent areas to group study areas, Drop-in or book online to be sure of a space during busy periods.
Create a revision schedule
A revision schedule or timetable allows you to plan time for everything that you need to revise and familiarise yourself with before your exams.
It can help you to break down the tasks into more manageable chunks. It’s a great way to maximise your learning potential by having blocks scheduled in your day that is dedicated to studying.
Download our Studying Effectively planner to get started or pick a copy up from libraries.
When you’re faced with a variety of modules to revise for, it's crucial to prioritise the key topics for each module.
This will provide you with a clear starting point for your revision, enabling you to focus your efforts more effectively.
Develop revision materials
Revision notes or flash cards help to improve your concentration and focus. It also encourages learning and by doing this you’re helping to train your brain to learn at a faster pace and absorb new information.
Also, by using revision materials your memory is enhanced, which plays a crucial part when taking an exam.
Highlight key points to help you focus on the most important parts of the material by creating visual cues.
Practice past exam papers
By practicing past papers, it gives you an idea of the type of questions you may get in exams and provides an opportunity to practice answering them.
It’s a good idea to time yourself whilst doing them to help you improve your exam technique and to get familiar with timed conditions.
Talk to your tutor or module convenor
Your tutor and module convenor wants you to succeed in your exams.
If you’re finding a particular topic quite challenging or aspects are quite difficult to understand or would like some revision tips, it’s a good idea to seek support from your tutor or module convenors.
Arranging to study with peers can help you stay accountable and stick to a study schedule.
Additionally, it provides a chance to learn from others' study methods, and a chance for you to learn different approaches to understanding topics.
Overall, a study group is one way to encourage mutual support when revising.
Did you know?
Libraries host a weekly online study session. Join us on Wednesdays between 11am and 1pm for focused study time alongside others. Just bring along your revision, writing or research.
Take time out for yourself
It’s important to take time out for yourself to help with your concentration and to help with memory retention.
Make sure that you factor in time for yourself, away from studying or taking notes.
Taking time to treat yourself and engage in activities that make you happy is still important and can help to reduce stress.
It’s important to prioritise getting enough rest to support your health and academic performance.
Wellbeing guide
Well done!
It’s easy to fixate on the things that you’ve not achieved yet with revision. But take time to celebrate what you have achieved with revision so far, no matter how big or small it may seem.
The main thing is that you are taking proactive steps in your academic journey, and this can give a boost to your self-confidence.
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Approaching your exams
As you approach, or think about your upcoming exams, thorough preparation can be a powerful tool to help alleviate stress and anxiety throughout the exam period.
Making effective notes throughout the academic year can save you essential time in the review process.
One of the best things to do to combat anxious thoughts and feelings is to try and give yourself some perspective. Keep reminding yourself that you will do the best that you can do.
Take some time before writing any answers, to look through the questions. Read all instructions and questions carefully during the exam to ensure you understand what is being asked, and to make any notes for answering questions later.
You should also try to pace yourself, don’t skim read the questions as sometimes you can misinterpret information or miss key information. Pacing yourself ensures that you have enough time to complete all sections or questions. If you get stuck on a question, move on and come back to it later if there’s time.
After your exam - reflect
After you have completed your exam, make sure you take some time out to relax and do something that you enjoy doing to take your mind off the exam.
If you still have other exams to take, it’s important that you do still take a short break before preparing for upcoming exams. This could mean catching up with friends and family.
Clearing your space can help you feel better after an exam and prepare you to think about your next steps in your journey.
At some point, it can be useful to reflect on the exams (even before getting your results) that you’ve taken to think about the areas you excelled in, and where improvements could be made. You might reflect on your study techniques and if some of them weren’t useful, you can replace them with other techniques moving forward.
Reflections helps you to set specific, achievable goals for future study and when preparing for exams.
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Types of exams and examiner expectations
What do examiners expect?
It's important to consider what the examiners are looking for depending on the type of exam you're doing.
Remember that they are not there to trick you, they’re there to check that you meet a specific set of criteria. An examiner marks candidates’ responses in accordance with the pre-defined mark scheme, whilst adhering to guidance and examination procedures.
It can be tempting to think that you need to write a lot in an exam. However, examiners are looking to give you marks for points that you make. An examiner will look at how relevant your answer(s) are in response to the question(s).
Read on for tips on what to try to cover in the different types of examinations you may encounter at university, to help improve your overall mark.
Types of exams
As a student at the University of Nottingham you may typically experience exam essays, practical exams, oral speaking exams and multiple-choice questions. You may also experience other types of exams too.
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Exam essay: These exams are the most known type of exams that are timed. This style of exam assesses your comprehension, critical thinking skills, analytical abilities, and writing proficiency while under pressure.
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Multiple-choice questions: Multiple choice exams are tests where you pick the right answer from a list of choices. They are used to assess your understanding of a topic or subject.
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Take-home exams: These exams are completed outside of the classroom where you’ll have more time to complete these as opposed to traditional exams.
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Practical exam: In a practical exam, students show how well they can do tasks or use skills in a real situation, rather than their theoretical knowledge.
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Project-based assessments: Some courses may ask you to complete projects, dissertations, do research papers, or presentations as the main form of assessment. On some courses you may have the option to do project-based assessments as opposed to exams.
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Open-book exams: These exams allow you to refer to notes or textbooks whilst in the exam. The reason these exams allow you to take materials in with you is because they assess your understanding of the subject matter and your ability to apply it in the exam.
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Oral-speaking exams: In an oral exam, students are evaluated on how well they speak and communicate. They usually talk about a topic or answer a series of questions by an examiner.
Assessments and examinations - key dates, adjustments and more
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