OU Exam Friday - help!!!

[iheartshoes]

So I am sitting my first exam in eight years on Friday. It's a postponed exam for my history degree - was meant to sit in June but they gave me a postponement due to having DD in April. Any last minute hints or tips from
any seasoned Uni students out there. I know the stuff but I'm panicking. It's so important to me that I pass this but the closer it gets the less I feel I know. What are your best week before exam calming / revision techniques? Please share !

I've got an OU history exam on Monday! I don't really have any advice, but I did one back in June too and found that once I got in there and choose which questions to do I remembered a lot more information than I thought I would. My mum always used to say you can only do your best!

Thanks MrsG - what module are you doing? Mine is A200... Eek !! Good luck for Monday...

A200 was my last module :) I'm doing AA213, war and social change in Europe 1914-55 and I don't feel like I know anywhere near enough!

I did two last year and have two next week.

You'll be fine once you get in there. Use the past papers and sample paper to get a feel for the exam and question style. Read the chapter summaries and use them as a basis for revision. Write out important stuff you need to memorise. Then flip the page over and try and write it from memory.

Take it easy on Thursday and give yourself loads of time on Friday. Get there ridiculously early and have a coffee while you read over some last minute stuff. Go in relaxed and don't rush yourself in the exam. Don't do too much going over stuff, read it once and leave it, most corrections are wrong under pressure, chances are you got it right first time so don't fiddle with what you've written.

Good luck

I'm literature OU. Took my exam back in July and did OK, about what I hoped for.

They told us to read the introductions to each part of the course, and take the last minute revision from the learning outcomes. This probably hold true of all of the humanities.

Maybe read through those, note anything you could do with brushing up n and set half hours through the week to read through the course materials. Go onto the next bit each revision moment so you study a broader range of topics.

I'm technically starting Shakespear today. Exam in June. Urgh. Last course for my degree and I just need to plod on!

Don't cross out your essay plans. If you put something pertinent in there but leave it out of your answer it can still be credited.

As most people don't do much writing these days, do some practice writing - write as much as you can every day, even if it's just shopping lists or whatever. Get your hand muscles a bit more trained up if you can.

Do read the paper before you start, and read the instructions. And if you're already starting to get nervous, then it may be worth spending a few minutes learning some breathing techniques to calm you - just take a deep breath, and be conscious of your breathing, and concentrate on breathing deeply and more slowly. When we get panicky, breathing tends to get more rapid and shallow, so you can concentrate on deeper breathing, and it helps convince your body you are calm, even if your head is not feeling it so much, and it will help.

Thank you so much for all the great advice. summerRain and elfycat thank you for your tips on reading summaries and intros. talking I didn't realise that about essay plans - I thought they had to be crossed out - so thank you.
Ebear that's a good tip re writing out and I will try the deep breathing.
Thanks again all and good luck to everyone with exams coming up.