Recalling Information in the Exam

You may find that even though you have used the registering techniques and retained the information you cannot recall the information when it comes to the exam. This is often because you are stressed. When you get stressed your brain starts to 'shut down' and the thinking part of your brain no longer works.

Stress-busting

Leading up to exams there are ways you can manage your stress levels. These include:

Sleep, diet and exercise
Practising self-belief techniques
Relaxation techniques
Visualising
Tricks of the trade
Preparation and planning

Be prepared

The best way to avoid stress is to be prepared. The best way to make sure you are adequately prepared (and believe it) is to know that you have revised effectively. Therefore, make sure you use the techniques mentioned in the how to revise booklet and how to retain information booklet.

Structure and preparation

Decorate your room with images of success to focus your mind.
Organise your working area.
Have all the equipment you will need handy.
Gather up all your relevant exercise books and files and read through them. If things are missing, get replacements. Mark the main sections.
Create a mind map of what has to be done.

Time Plans

Creating a time plan

Find out the order of your exams and decide the order in which you will revise your subjects.
Create a blank weekly time planner for each week between now and your exams. (See weekly timetable document)
In each planner mark your preferred working times and within them any specific rewards.
Fill in the hour and a half to two hours prior to each reward as your revision time. You can have as many as you want.
Split each learning slot into three sessions of 30 minutes each. You will spend the first 20-25 minutes going through the information using the registering methods. Then spend 5-10 minutes testing your knowledge using the retaining methods. Then have a small reward.
Build in spare time for things you might need more work on.

Plan your work and work your plan!

Revise when you say you are going to.
Don't find excuses.
Get rid of distractions.
Test yourself.

The Basics

The following things are vital for effective learning:

Sleep
Switching off
Food, drink, oxygen
Positive beliefs.

Sleep

The right quantity of good quality sleep is essential to being able to learn. For most teenagers eight hours is normally enough.

Switching Off

If you are going to bed at the right times but still feel tired when you wake up then you are probably stressed. Practising relation techniques can help, such as the 'seven eleven' breathing method. Breathe in to a count of seven and out to a count of eleven.
Give yourself time to switch off before you go to bed.

Food and drink

It is important that you eat the right types of food and drink as this will vastly improve the performance of your brain.
Fruit, salads and oily fish (tuna and sardines) will help boost your brainpower more than sweet, sugary foods. Water is also better for your brain function than fizzy drinks which have the opposite effect.

Enough Oxygen

You brain requires25% of your blood and oxygen. Sitting for too long and your brain starts to switch off. Simply by standing up you increase the blood flow to the brain by 15%. Exercise oxygenates the brain; therefore, try to do some exercise in between revision sessions.

Belief

Henry Ford once said "Whether you think you can or think you can't, you are probably right". If you say that you can't do something often enough your brain starts to believe it. You need to have a positive frame of mind to do well in exams.

Try visualising pictures of yourself being successful. Famous athletes such as Johnny Wilkinson visualise themselves being successful. So Johnny visualises himself kicking the ball over the posts. They do not focus on failure.

Don't spend your life comparing yourself with other people as you will always find people who are better or worse than you. Be clear about what you want from your life, what you want to achieve and say to yourself you can.