70 ways to ace your exams: Effective exam strategies practised by top performing students

One of the keys to exam success is to start preparing early.

You need to start early enough to:

get over your hatred of exams;

learn the content in a calm state (no stressful last minute cramming); and

embrace effective study strategies and exam techniques.

I’ve created a free eBook to help you do these things. It’s called 70 ways to ace your exams.

Many of the exam tips in this resource were sourced from high school students who had just sat their first lot of major exams.

Last year I asked over 500 students the question:

Based on your experience, what advice would you give to other students who are about to sit their first lot of exams?

One message came through loud and clear:

“Whatever you do, don’t cram!”

As many of the students discovered, cramming simply doesn’t work.

Here are a few problems associated with cramming:

1. When you cram, you learn the information quickly but you also forget it quickly.

2. Cramming often results in getting less sleep before the exam. But a good night’s sleep is critical to your ability to learn and recall information effectively in the exam.

3. Cramming is incredibly inefficient. Research shows you learn more from studying for 5 hours spaced out over two weeks than 5 hours all in one go right before an exam. This means if you choose to cram you’ll need to study for longer to learn the same amount of information.

The good news is that there is a better way to prepare for exams. My free eBook 70 ways to ace your exams shows you how.

If you follow the strategies in this eBook, you’ll see a dramatic improvement in your grades, wellbeing and confidence levels. I’ve divided the tips into four major categories:

1. Exam preparation and planning

2. Study strategies

3. Health and wellbeing

4. Managing stress and anxiety

The last section contains 20 bonus strategies I’ve found useful when preparing for exams.

Experiment with the various strategies and see what works best for you.

If you have any other exam strategies and tips, I’d love to hear about them. Feel free to post them below!