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On the day

If there were 50 things that you could do to improve your chances of a good result, how many would you want to miss?

Make sure you are as alert as possible for the exam by planning you movements from the day before. Get a good night's sleep and make sure there are no last minute panics about travel plans, especially factors like where you can park close to the venue. Last minute anxiety will add to your burden.

Nutrition is important. Eat something to avoid being distracted by hunger, even if the exam is only a couple of hours.

Avoid fatty foods and simple sugars such as chocolate which give an immediate rush but leave you suffering afterwards. Avoid caffeine drinks like Red Bull for the same reason.

A banana is a good choice as are cereal bars or pasta which release energy over a period of time. Don´t eat so much that it makes you sleepy!

Multiple Choice Exam Technique

exam technique

All of your weeks of preparation can be wasted if things go badly on the day. With a bit of personal discipline and willingness to consider the process of the exam as well as the content, you can automatically get more of your knowledge out of you head and into the answers.

Read the F*** question!

By which, of course, we mean "read the full question." It is important to read and understand each individual question. That sounds truly obvious but it is very easy to give the answer you remember from a familiar mock question, especially if you become tired. You should, therefore, make a conscious choice to read each question word for word

Absolutes and qualifiers

There is the world of difference between "when must ..." and "when can ..." The first option requires you to find an answer that will always be true in a certain set of circumstances, the answer to the second option may sometimes be true but sometimes not. Also look out for positives and negatives. Well written questions should not usually require you to choose an exclusion but, where they do, it can lead to confusion over what is being asked.

Answer by elimination

Rather than immediately pouncing on what you think is the right answer, it is safer to work through all of the options and deselect those that are wrong. You are less likely to make a mistake from misreading the question or answers and you might find a might appropriate option. It takes a huge amount of discipline to do this so you might want to build in some trick such as always reading the options in reverse order to ensure you are consistent.

Watch the clock

There is a real danger of getting bogged down with questions early in the examination and leaving yourself under unnecessary time pressure later which will prevent optimum performance. There is usually some process that allows you to flag up questions you want to return to or go back over questions that you haven′t answered. Consider making a quick pass through th whole exam answering the questions that come easily to you. This will give you some confidence that you have some points under our belt and allow you to see all the questions while you are still fresh. You then know how much time you have left to work on the more difficult questions.

Don′t change your mind

It is always a good idea, time allowing, to review your answers to ensure that your intended response is the one that is actually being recorded. Where you have given an answer you are uncertain about, however, it is better to leave your original choice rather than change it on a whim. Trust your subconscious, it is much safer to stick with your original selection.

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