Exams

[hdxx]

How is everyone going with exam prep?

[Bri MT]

Hey Im starting to really stress about exams. Im studying everyday but I feel that I am still not getting through enough information - im trying to do questions on all the dot points. I start at about 8:30/9:00 - 5:30-6:00 with breaks. Should I be doing more?

I don't know what your breaks are like,  but I suspect the answer is "no".

I  understand panicking and feeling study-guilt but studying 24/7 is not the best thing for your exam results.  Rather than studying more,  I would look at how effectively you're using your study sessions.

Do you feel like you're improving?

[hdxx]

Hi, I will usually do 80 minute sessions and then have a 10 min break. I am doing all humanities subjects so the content is very heavy and I feel like im still forgetting things. I've heard from teachers that we should be doing an essay a day for English and I just can't see this as being realistic and fitting it into my schedule?

[K888]

I second the advice already given here Remember - quality over quantity! It's better to be doing a smaller volume of good study each day than a lot of superficial study. Plan out what you're going to do - don't just study for the sake of studying! When I was in year 12 I found it helpful to rank how confident I was on dot points of the study design. I could then address the things I wasn't so confident with, and if I had time and energy once that was done, I could look at stuff I was already pretty good on.

Hi, I will usually do 80 minute sessions and then have a 10 min break. I am doing all humanities subjects so the content is very heavy and I feel like im still forgetting things. I've heard from teachers that we should be doing an essay a day for English and I just can't see this as being realistic and fitting it into my schedule?

Some people find doing an essay a day helpful, some don't. If the only thing you're getting out of it is more stress, it's probably not the best thing for you to do! If you're already confident with writing essays, then maybe just do plans for prompts and brainstorm, or maybe just write a paragraph or two. Saves you a lot of time and you probably get just as much out of it, if not more! I was a big fan of planning out prompts because it improved my ability and confidence to write an essay to an unseen prompt in time pressure (which is what happens in your exam!)

I don't think I even wrote a complete essay (outside of the school's formal practice exams) between my last English SAC and the English exam when I was in year 12. If you don't find them helpful for your study, don't do them. Perhaps if you want to keep your skills sharp and make sure you're on track with writing under time pressure you can do an essay a week or something? Just set aside an hour to write in exam conditions and see what you come up with.

Most of all, I think just trust yourself and your knowledge! You've been learning this stuff all year and in learning you've been revising without realising it. Don't forget to look after yourself and get plenty of rest

[Sine]

Hey Im starting to really stress about exams. Im studying everyday but I feel that I am still not getting through enough information - im trying to do questions on all the dot points. I start at about 8:30/9:00 - 5:30-6:00 with breaks. Should I be doing more?

definitely normal to feel like you are not studying enough (this close to the exams) but be focused on what you achieve in those study sessions than how many hours you studied.

Also as others have touched on already I think that's it's important that when you are studying that you are 100% focused on that (I know it's pretty tough to do especially if aren't doing a practice exam and just going over notes also if you need to change music LOL)
When you are having a break make sure you are 100% completely away from any sort of study material to give your mind a proper rest.