Factors Affecting Exam Performance

Academic Skills Advice

Infosheet

Factors Affecting Exam Performance

1.  Subject knowledge

Be confident of your understanding of the subject. Ensure that you have spent adequate time revising and are clear what you will be tested on.

2.  Your exam history

How well you have done in previous exams can affect your confidence and performance in future exams. If you have not done as well as you had hoped in the past, think about what you have done differently this time to ensure a better outcome.

3.  Exam preparation

There is no quick way to revise: in-depth learning is time consuming and will use several different approaches. Systematically review your subject content using a variety of methods e.g. note-taking, reading, summarising, memorising, mind-mapping etc.

4.  Exam practice

Practice questions are good way to test your knowledge; identifying topics you know well and those which need more attention to improve your understanding and confidence.

5.  Writing skills

Be clear what your examiner wants. With essay writing or technical exams (e.g. maths) practice writing the answers as quickly and as clearly as you can. If it is an essay you will need to think about structure as well as style, vocabulary, grammar, spelling and punctuation.

6.  Use of time

Start revising as early as you can, doing little and often is better than trying to cram a large amount of information last minute. Additionally, time your practice exam questions. This will help you to be clear how much you can write in a certain period and improve your ability to answer questions in the given time.

7.  Attitude and approach

People who can think positively about exams tend to do better. Remind yourself of what you know and take confidence from the fact you have revised. Worrying uses a lot of energy but isn’t constructive and won’t help you to improve.

Task

Looking at the list above, write down the four elements you are most concerned about or that you believe to be the biggest barrier to your success. How will you address these?

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