Effective Exam Preparation Strategies for Students

Exam Preparation Exam Preparation useful strategies

Timetable of completion Timetable of completion Making a timetable can help students plan to study: How When Where

Essay Writing Formula Essay Writing Formula Essay s can form part of coursework or can be part of an exam. It can be helpful to work out an essay writing plan or formula to structure work.

Exams that involve Exams that involve groupwork groupwork When social skills are absent, educators cannot fully engage students in a variety of learning experiences, especially those that are cooperative. As teachers increasingly use cooperative learning strategies across the curriculum, the need for students to have strong social skills is evident. To participate fully in cooperative learning, some students with difficulties need training in skills such as giving and receiving feedback, listening, and appropriate self-disclosure.

To help with exams, school staff could To help with exams, school staff could Provide as much structure as the examination board will allow Consider forfeiting some worked independently marks to get extra help with planning and structuring Break tasks down into smaller more manageable chunks - 1,2,3 works well Have a detailed timetable of what needs to be completed by when Introduce mind mapping software such as Inspirations Be as explicit as possible with all instructions Provide access to the mark scheme so student understands where the marks are allocated Keep the coursework subject as simple as possible playing to strengths. If student is good at Maths steer him/her towards a project which will allow him/her to pick up Marks for using some complex computations Give constructive and explicit feedback.... needs more detail is of little help to a student with autism

Understanding exam questions In a school English exam, a question read: Can you describe the main characteristics of Macbeth s personality? Student with autism simply answered Yes , because he could. People with autism can take things literally, and may not understand open-ended questions. If we take the exam question above as an example, the student was unable to infer from it that he should write about Macbeth. The question may have been better phrased like this: Describe the main characteristics of Macbeth s personality . It might also help to say how much students should write, for example between 400-500 words.

Teachers You may wish to consider Drawing up a weekly study plan for students at the start of the course, so they can see what they will be learning and how they will prepare for exams Drawing up a timetable showing when exams are taking place keep it on display in your classroom Talking about how you ll be preparing for exams at school, for example revision lessons; practice with old exam papers For the last two to three weeks of a course, do practice papers or look at past papers to work on students exam technique Talking about what happens during exams (you could write a short social story ) Trying to see students at the start of each exam: seeing a familiar face at this time can be comforting.

Exams are a stressful time Rehearse - reading and answering questions, be careful with either/or questions, timing a vital issue Rehearse exam rules - when to start, finish, what to do if you need help Maybe adapt exam environment alternative room minimise distractions, timer, extra time Remember issues like toilet Available now as an App for an I-Pod

Practice, Practice, Practice Mark value Time (mins) 1 1.5 2 3 3 4.5 4 6 5 7.5 6 9 7 10.5 8 12 9 13.5 10 15