NOTE: This article was written in August 2016.
We are in the midst of HSC Trials, perhaps a few of the most brutal weeks of your HSC Journey so far. Exams are coming at you left, right and centre. You walk out of one exam, and then straight to the library to study for the next one tomorrow morning. Or, God Bless, that afternoon. When things get this busy it can be hard to know what to do. Should I cram? Should I sleep? Maybe I should practice? While there is no single answer to these questions, it is important to have a process set up that you follow. This article will go through the night before exam rituals that served me well throughout my HSC, and indeed, into university.
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1. The Last Practice Paper
Let’s assume we have the afternoon and the evening to study for our exam tomorrow. Maybe starting at 4:00pm or something similar. The very first thing I do the night before an exam is one last practice paper. I always made a habit of saving the 2015 paper until the day before, or alternatively, whichever paper I felt was the most useful.
But Jamon, I heard I shouldn’t do practice questions the night before because it will stress me out?
I hear this a lot, and that’s fair, but at the end of the day the fact is this. There is no better way to prepare for an exam than a practice paper. Practice papers are a copy of the exact thing you’ll be doing in less than 24 hours’ time. You want some last minute exposure to those sort of exam conditions.
So, set aside your afternoon to do one more practice paper. Breathe, relax, and just try to get yourself into a rhythm. It shouldn’t be a stressful exercise, just a final lap around the oval before the marathon sort of deal.
I’ve heard some people say that they don’t mark the papers they do the night before an exam. The idea here is that you want to feel confident, so you just pretend you got everything right and go on with your day. I can see both upsides and downsides of this, but personally, I always marked my papers. It’s a great last minute chance to pick up any silly errors, notice any weaknesses, and just generally orient yourself the night before an exam.
2. The Last Meal
So it would be about 7:00pm for me around now, and I want to stress something at this point.
The brain falters under pressure.
It sucks, but that is fact. The brain isn’t like the body, where it springs into action when it gets put into a compromising situation, the adrenalin feeding it all the energy it would need and double that. The brain likes a comfortable working environment. It is your job to give it that comfortable working environment, and the best way to do that is to treat the night before the exam the same as any other.
Have dinner with your family, same as always. Watch Modern Family, same as always, if at all possible. Yes, I know you want to be cramming, and I get that, but the trick here is to keep yourself calm and in routine. Try and treat the evening the same as any other, don’t put yourself under any extra pressure.
I know. Some of you read that and thought, “Pfft, no way, I live the cram life.” Fair enough. At the very least, keep yourself fed, watered and (for the sake of everyone around you in the exam hall), bathed. Look after yourself, and your brain will look after you in return.
3. The Last Study
After I’d done my last past paper and taken time to look after myself, I found myself with a few hours left. It took me a while to know what to do with this last bit of time the night before an exam. Should I do another past paper? Should I just read my notes very relaxed? Or should I do nothing?
For me, I ended up doing what I think is my favorite study technique, and that’s just reading past papers. Looking at questions and satisfying myself that I could answer them. Tackling a tricky one every now and again (with the help of notes). It was a very relaxed few hours, but it meant I was getting exposure to a LOT of different question types and content. I love reading through exams/questions the night before. I still do this at University, and it’s saved my butt on numerous occasions.
Of course, this might not be what works for you! You should definitely do something though, not doing anything is just going to make you nervous. Whatever you do: Make it relaxed. Again, keep your stress to a minimum. If you are doing questions, have your notes open when you need them to keep yourself calm and in control. Read through your notes one last time. Whatever works for you!
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4. The Last Sleep
This is simple: Get sleep. The night before a big exam is not a good night to stay up late on Facebook. You are about to run a 3-hour mental marathon; give your body and mind some recovery.
5. Forget the Night Before, What About the Morning Before?
Hopefully on the morning of an exam, you wake up feeling refreshed and confident from your work the night before! I would wake up a bit of a nervous wreck to be completely honest, but again, I had a few things I did to make this better.
First, the easy stuff. Get to the Exam Room early. Eat a decent breakfast. Go to the bathroom. All that stuff you’ve heard before, and you know it all makes sense. Minimize your stress! This includes avoiding “that friend” that either goes on about how screwed you all are, or brags about all the hundreds of hours of study they did. Seriously not helpful.
A lot of people don’t like to study the morning of an exam. While doing practice questions probably is a tad too stressful, I always have a casual read through my notes outside of the exam room. Grab a summary sheet, a formula sheet, any of those sorts of easy reads. Last year, doing this saved me in a Math exam where a formula I read was the only way to tackle a big question. A similar thing could happen to you, you never know!
And my big, big, big tip for the morning of an exam is to act confident.
I’m not saying be confident, even though you should, because I know that is a big ask. But no matter how you feel internally, act confident. Strut into the exam room, stand tall and proud, hell even act a little bit cocky. Smirk at the questions when you see them, even if internally you are panicking. Chuckle at the multiple choice. Chat to the examination supervisors like you sit exams like this every day.
This might seem strange, but physical confidence will translate into mental confidence. If you act confident, you will BE confident. It’s simple, and it works (even if you do get a few strange looks along the way).
Want to chat about your night before rituals? Any confessions of late night Youtube binges? Come and share your night before exam stories here!
