First rule: don’t panic when it comes to exam prep.

We’ve been were you’ve been. Exam prep can be daunting – the world seems so intense. Your future could be determined by the results of your exam prep, whether you’re in your final year or in the years leading up to it.

Well, even if you don’t quite get the marks you were hoping to, you’ll find once you’re in university life is more breezy. Many students who struggle in high school end up flourishing at university. It’s partly because you have more choice in what you study and, as a result, find you’re more engaged in the subject at hand.

Be that as it may, you still want good enough marks to get into university – we’re here to help you do just that.

Here are some basic tips to exam prep and for not stressing too much.

Stress can be your ally.

Firstly, a certain amount of stress is actually helpful in exam prep. If you’re a biology student, you’ll know what stress does to the body. Some of it, over a sustained period, can be harmful. But it’s also a good motivator to put in the effort required to succeed.

Not only that, but feeling exams-related stress in the exam room causes your body to operate beyond its normal capabilities. As has been shown repeatedly by medicine, your stress response is a fight-or-flight response. Your awareness is heightened, your thinking faster and more lucid. You’re able to write quicker and make connections between ideas swifter. The only downside is it can cause you to panic.

Going into the hall for your exams properly prepared will negate that panic, though.

Studying techniques.

You’ve probably already been taught basic studying techniques. Writing out notes based on your classroom lectures, studying the handouts punched and placed in your binders, reading your course work books, etc. These all help with exam prep.

But the best way to incorporate knowledge into your brain is to transmit it – or explain it to someone else.

There are two ways you can go about this: Find a victim participant in the family household after you’ve done some studying and explain the concepts to them. If, for instance, it’s history, then talk about the historical event, what lead to that event happening, and the aftermath of that event – literally tell the story.

Example:

For instance, “Bismarck, the chancellor of Prussian, in order to create a balance of power in Europe, set up a system of alliances. Those alliances resulted in other countries, fearing these alliances, establishing their own alliances. Europe was on a tinderbox. When a relatively minor (if you can call the assassination of a crown prince minor) diplomatic incident happened in Serbia, it pulled all of Europe into the first world war which had devastating consequences in terms of human life and economic harmony.

\This in turn led to Germany (previously known as Prussia) undergoing harsh penalties by the victors of the war, which, together with the Wall Street Crash, put them into an economic catastrophe, leading to the rise of Fascism in that country – probably only possible because of how desperate the Germans were in their current predicament. What followed was an even more devastating event.”

Explanations.

Explaining that, and all the angles that go along with History (people’s motivations, the pressures put on societies allowing for extremism to take root when it ordinarily wouldn’t have, and the consequences for the future) helps set it in your mind. The way memory works is, according to famed British mentalist Derren Brown, if you have a clear visual understanding of it in your mind, you won’t soon forget it.

Following from the first point, something a lot of varsity students do in order to prepare for exams is have a get-together with classmates in the same subject. Aside from some social interaction, they get to discussing the themes and lessons from their subjects. Talking, explaining, and exchanging notes with one another is a very effective way to entrench learning – and to see things from a different perspective. It’s also fun!

Make it real.

Of course, different subjects require different approaches. If you’re studying biology, literally going out and smelling the roses makes the subject come alive. Geography? Heard of Google Maps? English set works? If you’re studying Shakespeare for Matric, then find and buy a copy of a movie of the play. It is a script you’re learning – and a script is the DNA for a spectacle best appreciated by watching several times. Until, like your favourite movie, you know all the best quotes.

Essentially, subjects are not just for studies, bedrooms, and the classroom. The subjects you learn pertain to the real world, so apply what you know there, and it will soon become part of your fundamental understanding. Then when you walk into the exam hall, you’re not just ready to write because you have crammed your notes into your brain. You’re ready because you understand the subject’s effect on the fabric of reality. You know how the world works.

That’s the point, after all?

You’ve  got to be empowered by your studies, like when you can look off in the distance – as a geography student – and see that there’s cumulonimbus clouds on its way to where you are. As a result, you know it’s time to find shelter because soon the air will become electrifying. That’s when you realise how awesome school and studying is.

That’s when you can walk into an exam hall and be confident you’ll get distinctions, because you’re writing about what you’ve incorporated into your mental imaging of the world…

If you need extra help.

PNA has a wide selection of educational books, including study guides for most subjects that you’ll be doing exam prep for. They’ll help push you to that aha! moment, when your eyes brighten with the light of understanding.

You have the one tool most necessary for success: your mind. Be curious about the world and apply all you learn into a greater understanding of it. And then, with your exam prep, you’ll be fine.

No, you’ll be more than fine.

You’ll be great!