If you’re currently in your first year of college, you might be wondering what the chances are that you’ll fail or pass your exams 1st Year Result. According to one study, about 65% of students who take their first year exams get the grades they want, meaning either an A or B grade. Of course, that doesn’t mean the other 35% failed their exams – it just means they either got the grades they expected (C and below) or failed due to specific factors like lack of time management skills or lack of preparation.
What is an exam?
An exam is an assessment of your knowledge, skills, or competencies. It’s a way for you to gauge how much you know about a subject. For example, exams can be used in schools as part of standardized testing that helps teachers assess your performance. Exams are also commonly used in business when companies want to evaluate their employees' skills.
Students should always ask what kind of exam they will be taking—there are many different types out there! What's my goal?: To ace my exams and get the grades I want. If I don't do well on my first year of university, it's unlikely I'll get into medical school later on.
That's why it's important to make sure I do well now so that I can achieve my long-term goals. The best way to do that is by creating a plan with specific study habits and learning strategies tailored to me personally.
What's on an exam?
At first glance, your exams might seem intimidating. But when you look closer, they’re not as bad as you thought. All exams basically consist of a few sections. The number of questions in each section is also important; a bigger exam can be daunting, but it typically means more points are available.
For example, a 100-question test will give you five points per question for answering all of them correctly—that’s 500 total possible points! Still have time? Take advantage of any extra credit opportunities that may present themselves on exam day; don't underestimate how useful those extra couple hundred points could be when it comes time to tally your grades at semester's end.
How much time should I spend on studying for an exam?
A rough estimate is that you should spend at least an hour a day, or five hours a week, on studying for your exams. However, during crunch time, especially in your last few weeks of classes before exams begin, you should probably be spending more time than that on studying—you know how important it is to be reviewing all those formulas and concepts!
Remember: cramming isn’t really going to help you ace your exam so instead of frantically trying to memorize all night before class begins again after break, just spend extra time learning new information throughout each day.
That way, when exam season comes around it won’t feel like such a big deal because you’re already accustomed to dedicating part of each day towards learning something new.
Should I study in groups or alone?
Group study can be beneficial, as long as it’s not too social. There is some evidence that studying in groups helps you retain information more effectively when compared with studying alone, but it might depend on your study habits, Andrade says.
If you’re getting together with friends to study for a test or just reading through notes together, that could help jog your memory for tests. But if everyone's trying to speak over each other all at once and no one's really listening—and especially if you're all distracted by phone calls and text messages—you're probably better off studying alone. Social distractions can get in the way of learning things correctly, says Andrade.
Learn from friends who are better than you
For every person studying a subject, there are other people out there who already know what they’re doing. Find them, learn from them, and use their advice to get better grades than they did. Learn from others who got better results (and how they did it) by getting an early look at our first year results calculator.
The 1st year result calculator is free; you’ll just need to be an undergraduate or graduate student at an accredited UK university in order to use it – but that means you too! Just enter your name when prompted into a searchable table that allows you compare your exam history with those of thousands of other students.
Practice speed reading
One tip for studying is speed reading, a concept also known as rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP). With RSVP, you read at a very fast pace but it’s not just your eyes that are moving quickly—it’s everything else. To practice speed reading, grab a book or magazine, pull out a pen and get ready to make notes.
As you read each line of text, pause for one second before moving on to the next line. Then write down what you just read. It may seem like you aren’t absorbing anything at first because of how fast you're reading—but don't worry; that's normal! When you slow down after practicing speed reading for a while, though, you'll find that you've been able to retain more information than usual.
This works because when we read slowly we tend to process every word individually rather than taking in ideas as a whole. By speeding up our rate of reading and writing down what we see in big chunks of text, we can keep track of larger ideas without getting bogged down by small details. If all goes well, your exam results will reflect these changes too!
Take Sample Tests to Familiarize Yourself with the Exam Format
Studying for your exams by taking sample tests is a great way to get a feel for exam conditions and figure out what kinds of questions you’ll encounter. It also helps you gauge how much time you need (and how much focus) in order to score as high as possible on exam day.
Make sure you take these tests under similar conditions—for example, give yourself 50 minutes in a quiet room with no distractions. Also make sure that your answer sheets look just like what will be on exam day so that if something slips your mind it’s not too hard to fill in the blanks without going back over your notes or textbook.
Tackle Difficult Topics First
Take your most difficult class first. If you’re a nervous test-taker, tackle those difficult exams early in your course load. First-year students who took their hardest exam at the beginning of their college career were more likely to receive an A or B than those who spread out their tough classes, according to a 2017 study in Frontiers in Psychology .
To make things even easier on yourself, spend some time studying every week before that first exam—even if it’s just 10 minutes a day. Not only will preparing give you confidence going into your tests, but it will also help you figure out which topics require extra attention. Good luck!
Relax. Studying Takes Time and Patience
While you may see other students getting great grades, you need to remember that there are a lot of factors that can affect how well you do in school. Relax! There’s no need to get frustrated or panic. Studying for an exam takes time, but it also takes patience.
If you’re having trouble with a particular class, it's OK not to study every single night - although it is recommended that you put in at least one hour of studying per day on average. Each person has different needs and abilities when it comes to studying;
what works for one student might not work for another. The most important thing is simply showing up consistently so that eventually your hard work will pay off with great grades!
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