Exam Preparation
Directorate of Counselling, Career & Academic Development
counselling@unisa.ac.za | http://www.unisa.ac.za/counselling
What is academic anxiety?
• Normal tension is
essential for
performance…
• Academic anxiety: type
of fear, a nervousness
or apprehension about
any form of academic
activity
▫ Creates excessive tension
What causes academic anxiety?
• General Academic Anxiety
▫ Attending group lectures/tutorials where you
might have to answer questions or give oral
presentations/participate in group discussions
▫ Drafting and submitting assignments/reports
• Examination Anxiety
▫ Exam preparation (studying)
▫ Writing the exam
Symptoms of academic anxiety
What do you experience when you’re anxious
about your academic work?
Symptoms of academic anxiety
• Physical symptoms
▫ Headache and/or muscle pains when studying/writing your
exams
▫ Excessive sweating (hands and face)
▫ Fast or irregular breathing
▫ Fast or irregular heartbeat
▫ Overeating or lack of appetite
▫ Disturbed sleeping patterns
▫ Nervous physical reactions – facial muscular spasms,
itching body, scratching face, restlessness
▫ Nausea
▫ Stomach problems – indigestion, diarrhoea, “butterflies”
▫ Rapid and nervous speech, stuttering
Symptoms of academic anxiety
• Intellectual symptoms
•
•
•
•
•
•
Problems remembering & recalling newly learnt material
Problems with logical thinking and problem solving
Difficulty in understanding simple instructions
Inability to choose between 2 options
Difficulty in concentrating during the exam
Delayed thought processes and having to make a great effort
to think
• Accelerated but inaccurate thought processes
Symptoms of academic anxiety
• Emotional symptoms
• Feelings of panic, especially when feeling that there’s not
enough time to complete an exam
• Feeling inadequate, with negative thoughts such as: I’m a bad
student, I’m stupid and worthless
• Thoughts of punishment and humiliation if you do badly in
the exam
• Anxiety & concern about how well you’re doing compared to
your fellow students
• Feelings of pessimism & hopelessness about the outcome of
the exam
• Lack of confidence in your ability to answer a question
Effect of academic anxiety
• Results in poor academic performance
▫ Overall
▫ Exams
• You need to rid yourself of
this negative anxiety,
otherwise you will not be
able to reach your full
potential
How to deal with academic anxiety
• Physical symptoms – result of negative attitudes
& thoughts
• Need to combat negative attitudes & thoughts
• But how?
▫ Positive thinking
▫ Physical relaxation
Positive Thinking
• Positive thinking
technique:
▫ Positive statements
▫ Stopping negative
thoughts
▫ Rewards
▫ Accepting responsibility
for academic setbacks
Positive Thinking
• Positive Statements:
• Often, negative statements have no foundation &
are unrealistic
• So why should we listen to them?
• Replace negative statements with positive
statements
Activity
• Write down any negative thoughts you have
about the upcoming exams
• Which positive statements can you replace with
these negative statements
Positive Thinking
• As soon as you find yourself
starting a negative line of
thought & becoming tense,
say to yourself:
“Stop it! I am playing with
fire. I must start thinking
more positively!”
• Practise this strategy as
soon as you feel yourself
becoming tense
Reward
• Use your successes to boost
your confidence in academic
activities
• Reward yourself for success
with a positive statement
• E.g., after an exam:
“Well done. Now I know
that I can be successful, and
that I am capable of doing
well!”
Physical Relaxation
• The breathing
technique
• The peaceful scene
technique
• Progressive relaxation
The Breathing Technique
• Can be used in any
stressful situation
• Lowers your level of
tension & heartbeat
• I feel calm, refreshed
and in control of
myself
The Peaceful Scene Technique
Progressive Relaxation
• Working through different muscle groups to
stimulate relaxation
Remember:
• Relaxation techniques &
positive thinking alone
cannot prevent academic
anxiety
• Need to be supported by
proper preparation & sound
study methods!
What is Time Management?
What is Time Management?
• Time management is
a set of principles,
practices, skills, tools,
and systems that work
together to help you
get more value out
of your time
Why is it important?
• It is one of the top reasons why students drop out of
university
▫ They don’t know how to manage their time effectively – social life,
studies, family life etc.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Improve quality of life
Reduce frustration, irritability, anger
Reduce negative stress
Gain a sense of accomplishment
Have more time to do things you want to do
Improve organization in your life
Peace of Mind
The FACTS:
• Research shows that:
• “Procrastinators produce inferior work, contrary to beliefs that
the best work is done under pressure.”
•
(Tice and Baumeister, 1997)
• A study by Tuckman (2002), found that students who
complete their work late or at the last minute are prone
to say to themselves things like,
▫ "I'm just waiting for the best time to do it"
▫ "I know I can pull it out at the last minute"
• Students who indicated that they frequently tell
themselves such things did relatively poorly.
The EFT Principle of Time Management
•E
•F
•T
Exploration
Fixation
Testing
60%
30%
10%
• An effective method of managing your time with
regard to any activity (assignments, exams,
work, etc.)
EFT Principle
Explore 60%
Fix 30%
Test 10%
Exploration Phase
EFT Principle: EXPLORATION PHASE
• Explore & gain information & knowledge about a topic
Explore 60%
Fix 30%
• Work through your curriculum
• Complete your assignments
• Do additional reading in the library
• Discuss your field of study with others in the field
• Contact fellow students to sort out problems
• Make summaries for intensive study later
• Identify questions you have to answer
• Identify & clarify difficult concepts
Test 10%
Fixation Phase
EFT Principle: FIXATION PHASE
• Intensive study phase
Explore 60%
Fix 30%
• Consolidating everything you need to study
• Making meaningful summaries
• Memorising the work!
Test 10%
Testing Phase
EFT Principle: TESTING PHASE
• Test yourself
Explore 60%
Fix 30%
Test 10%
• Asking yourself & answering questions which cover the study material
• Use the study material to formulate questions
• Use old exam questions to practice
• Have group study sessions
Example:
▫ If you start exams on the 19th of October and
you start studying tomorrow (28th of August)
…
▫ You have got exactly 50 days to prepare for
these exams!
▫ How are you going to manage your time?
Applying the EFT Principle
28 Aug
28 Sept
Explore 60%
Fix 30%
• Read
• Refine summaries
• Do assignments
• Study - memorize
• Group discussions
• Summaries
13 Oct
18 Oct
Test 10%
• Answer exam
questions
• Have group sessions
• Check old papers
Questions:
• What does EFT stand for?
• How much of your time should be spent on each
phase?
• What does one do in the Exploration Phase?
• What does one do in the Fixation Phase?
• What does one do in the Testing Phase?
Tips from other Unisa students
Prepare
• Be mentally alert
▫ set up a time table and make a commitment to study hard
• Be physically prepared
▫ exercise, eat enough and get sufficient rest
• Learn to handle your stress
▫ A positive attitude will help you to cope with exam anxiety.
• Start your revision at least a month in advance of the
exam.
Prepare
• Stick to your time table
▫ Study every day
▫ Make time for other commitments.
• Arrange for study leave
• Contact your lecturers if you are unsure about aspects of
your work
• Contact fellow students for peer support.
• Try to be so well prepared so that you can pack away
your books the day before you write
Revise
• Set up your revision timetable
▫ It is NOT a good idea to cram the night before you write.
• Definitely get sufficient sleep.
• Make sure that you have all your tutorial letters and
check through them for guidance.
• Use the exercises in the study units as a way of
examining your knowledge and understanding of the
work.
Revise
• Revise your assignment answers and pay special
attention to the comments of the lecturers.
• When revising, build up a framework of key words and
phrases for all the study units and chapters.
• Consolidate your knowledge of study guides and
associated textbooks by summarising the key concepts
from headings and sub-headings on a single piece of
paper.
Revise
• Look for questions when you study. Also set and answer
your own questions by turning study objectives and
headings into questions.
• Make sure that you know which format(s) of questions
you need to deal with: e.g. multiple-choice questions,
short questions, essay-type questions.
• In problem solving subjects such as Mathematics,
Physics, Computer Science and Chemistry ensure that
you can solve at least one of each of the types of
problems found in every section or study unit.
Write
• Check on which day and at what time you write each
paper. Be on time.
• Make sure that you have your student card and ID
document.
• Don’t study new material just before you enter the hall;
you will end up confusing yourself.
• Pay attention to the exam rules and instructions.
• Be positive and be yourself.
• Take a deep breath and focus on the task at hand.
Manage
• In the case of the essay-type exam, decide which ones to
answer and mark those ones.
• Start with the question you know best. Analyse the
question by underlining the key words. Plan your
answer by making notes in the back of your exam
answer book.
• Make sure that you know where to start and stop with
the answer. It does not help to write down everything
you know if that information does not answer the
question.
• Plan the amount of time to spend on each question. Stay
on schedule when answering!
Manage
• You must try to complete all the required
questions.
• You have about a minute per question in a twohour multiple-choice exam with 100 questions;
one and a half minute if it is a three-hour exam.
• Remember to clearly indicated on the cover of your
exam answer book which essay-type questions you
have answered.
• Revise after you have finished writing and check
for inadvertent mistakes.