During the month of January many academic exams are taken by students all over the UK. If you have prepared and revised well in advance you should have no worries sitting your exams. However, some students no matter how well they have prepared for exams they still suffer high stress levels a few days before exam dates are due. Below are a few tips to help you prepare for your exams.

• Don’t panic! Exams are a challenge, think positively – you will succeed!

• Use relaxation techniques to help settle your nerves, these can be used during the exam. Take a bottle of water with you (if permitted) – anxiety can make you thirsty.

• Find out how much time you have for the exam so that you can split your time between questions and assure that all questions will be answered. Know what kind of questions you will be asked.

• Read the whole paper first, answer the questions you know well, this increases your confidence and helps you stay relaxed. Mark the questions you are unsure of and tackle them last.

• You will receive better marks for answering all questions than answering only some very well so make sure all questions receive an answer.

• Take time with your handwriting, it must be legible so that the examiner can read it without difficulty. Check your spelling too!

• If the exam involves long answers, leave some space at the end of the answer for additional comments or arguments that might spring to mind towards the end of the exam.

• When the exam is over try to forget about it. There is nothing else you can do so it’s pointless going through the answers you put and discovering they differ to your friend!

If you are disappointed when you receive your exam results, consider finding a private tutor who can help with future exams or resits.

Best of luck!