Do you require professional guidance for organizing your test revision? Although one of the finest instructors is experience, there is no law that says you must experience something in order to learn from it.

Learning from the errors of other pupils is still very beneficial. Knowing how others have failed when preparing for exams ensures that you don’t make the same mistakes and follow in their footsteps.

We’ll outline the five biggest mistakes students make during exam preparation so you can avoid them entirely and help you obtain top scores. To find out how to succeed where others frequently fail, read this blog.

Skipping a Scheduled Study Time

After obtaining test calendars, students frequently fall into the trap of skipping straight to their textbooks and class notes rather than making a study plan to assist them review the content they truly need to spend more time memorizing.

You run the danger of spending time concentrating on the knowledge for subjects you already know by heart if you don’t have a well-planned study timetable to keep you on track.

For instance, focusing on the wrong topics causes your attention to be diverted from where it should be, which lowers the potential productivity of your study routine. Additionally, you reduce the amount of time you have to study material that is more difficult to retain or evaluate.

How can you make a study schedule that works well to help you review important material that requires more time and attention? A schedule for retroactive revision is the solution! Instead of starting with a list of test dates, a retrospective revision study plan starts with a list of course topics you need to review.

The study plan then employs repeated learning spread out across time to aid in your understanding of each subject. You can approach knowledge for subjects more than once to ensure that the material sticks with the use of a retrospective revision study plan for tests.

Avoiding subjects

Have you ever observed that you steer clear of a particular textbook? Maybe you’re an expert at avoiding a certain subject? Avoiding topics is one of the most frequent exam-planning errors we observe.

It’s common to have a love-hate relationship with some of your course material, but delaying dealing with it until the week before a test just makes things more stressful.

Spending hours on a task you detest might be a motivation drain. However, the truth is that you still need to take those tests. The only option is to go through those subjects, so prepare for them. When you don’t like a syllabus, one of the finest things you can do is take a break and consider WHY you feel that way.

Try to identify the specific section of the course that makes you want to run. Is it the unending list of dates, or are the names and places driving you crazy if it’s history, for instance?

When you know what’s driving you crazy, you may make a study plan and focus on those issues to discover answers. Here are some illustrations of effective study plan alternatives that our teachers adore:

• To make the material less overwhelming, “break it down” and divide it into manageable portions. Following that, go through each section once more to ensure mastery.
• The rules don’t say you have to follow a textbook; make it exciting! The internet is a great place to acquire study materials; you may watch videos and listen to podcasts that provide intriguing explanations of subjects you find boring. Just make sure your sources are reliable by checking them again.
• Create a vision for your audience. Our brains process images far more quickly than words. For example, recalling topic material is made much easier by using the power of word association, doodling to simplify facts, and concept maps to clarify essential ideas.

It’s not a habit to revise.

It might be really frustrating to have to restart revising again and over. Thankfully, you won’t have to go through the hardship of finding the drive to study for tests. How? During the week, make it a habit!

When finishing an exam or test, many students make the error of ending their review. It becomes far more difficult to pick up your textbooks and class notes again and reread everything to be ready for a test or exam once you put them down.

Make review sessions more fruitful by using some advice from our tuition experts, which will help you develop better study habits:

• Set objectives to help you remember the course information more easily. Decide what you want to accomplish each week by identifying your goals. Additionally, you may assess your successes in each area, which encourages you to take up those books.
• Set incentives for each study objective to give oneself something to strive towards. To avoid burnout, you must take a vacation from your studies. Therefore, relaxation and leisure time are wonderful incentives for putting in a lot of effort during study sessions.
• Establish a study area since your surroundings have an impact on your concentration. Nobody likes to spend time in an uncomfortable learning environment. You should establish a specific location where you truly desire to spend time if you want to increase your productivity.

Leaving out practice exams from a study plan

Because they believe that writing answers to previous exam questions would add to their burden at a time when they are already under stress, students frequently forego self-testing and exam preparation using past examinations.

Some people even believe that reviewing old examinations doesn’t really help you while you’re getting ready for tests or final exams.

Why you should include practice exams in your study schedule

Wow, are they mistaken! Students can acquaint themselves with previous papers to see how the IB structures papers and the kinds of responses they want for each course subject. prior papers are a great method to understand how the IB formulates exam and test questions. Include prior papers in your study schedule.

Past papers serve as study aids and point out areas of a course syllabus that require more time before you take the actual exam or test. Every erroneous response reveals knowledge gaps and generates a unique study guide outlining what has to be reviewed or read again.

The benefits of self-testing during exam preparation

The following are the two key advantages of using previous tests as study material:

• Past papers are an example of a study technique that encourages active recall. This technique helps you concentrate on the best methods to answer questions, boosts efficiency during study time, and allows you to put your knowledge into practice.
• During an exam or test, you will have a set amount of time to finish a paper. You may become ready for how much time you should allot for a test response by practicing with prior papers.

Not seeking assistance

Many students consider seeking aid during test preparation and study as a failure or feel too ashamed to do so. Others believe that studying in a group or with friends when they are getting ready for an exam is too distracting.

It’s actually a big error to refuse assistance or avoid social interactions with friends since doing so prevents you from solving problems you run across in your classes. Additionally, it may keep you from passing your exam.

Gaining outside insight and establishing a connection with a buddy or classmate might help you do better on tests and learn material more quickly.

For instance, while studying with friends, you don’t focus on how much time you’ve spent reading through the course textbook; rather, you concentrate on assisting one another in identifying and comprehending the material you need to review before the exam.

SOURCE: Lanterna Education Blog