What do you think about exams?

Positive things about exams

Most students find exams stressful.
But spending time thinking negative thoughts about exams won’t help you to achieve better marks or motivate you to prepare properly.
Instead realise that there are positive things about exams. This will help you to stay calm and motivated during your preparation.

1. Exams can energise us, providing motivation to learn things we would otherwise keep putting off.
2. They provide the incentive to make us look back over what we have already covered in order to check that we really understand it. They encourage us to find ways of remembering information without having to look it up.
3. They can show us what we really know, as opposed to what we thought we knew. We are likely to discover aspects we need to know better, and even to learn more than we realised we could.
4. They require us to manage our time and to plan well; this can help us to develop better project management skills.
5. They provide us with a challenge. If we learn to cope with them, we are likely to emerge stronger, more able to cope with other challenges in our lives, irrespective of the marks we get in the exam. With enough, practice and revision, most people can get through exams, but it takes courage to take the exam in the first place.
6. They offer a chance to gain qualifications that are stepping stones to further progress.
7. We realise more keenly all the things we would rather do than exams – so that we appreciate these all the more.
8. Exams are usually objective: you can do well in them even if you don’t get on well with your tutor.
9. They provide an opportunity to catch up and succeed even if you haven’t worked hard all year.
10. You are more likely to feel a sense of expertise if you prepare well for an exam.
11. With enough hard work exams can provide a chance for you to shine and achieve something that you can truly proud about.
12. Lots of people with successful careers have failed or performed poorly in exams. Exams can usually be retaken and failing in an exam can always be used to inspire greater effort and determination in the future.