Tips For Exams - Reading Time

If you're given reading time in your exam, ensure you make full use of it. A big tip is to practice using reading time. When you do practice exams, try as much as possible to do them under timed conditions and give yourself reading time. Even if you only have half an hour of a 3 hour exam, give yourself 5 minutes reading time and then do 25 minutes of questions.

So what should you be doing in reading time? Well, you should read the paper! This does not mean you should read it in depth. Instead, skim through and get a rough idea for what each question is asking of you. Then, decide on the 3 easiest questions and the 3 hardest questions. When you start doing the exam, do the 3 easiest ones first, and the 3 hardest last. Identifying these questions can be as easy as "oh, this question is on topic X. Topic X is my worst topic by far, I'll leave that to last". If you get pretty skilled with reading time, you can even plan out the order you're going to do the entire paper!

Here I mention 6 questions to choose from but you should adjust the number according to how many total questions there are. If a question has a large bit you have to read before answering it, do this question early in the exam. Having read it only just before in reading time, the information in the question will be fresh in your mind so you don't have to waste potential writing time reading over the question again!

To illustrate the power of good use of reading time, here's an example:

Jack – didn't use reading time effectively. Upon walking out of the exam says:

"I didn't quite finish the exam. I still had 2 questions left. Pretty annoyed as they were super easy – I could've got an extra 5% if only I'd had 5 more minutes! I wasted half my time doing these two really hard questions that I think I've got wrong anyway."

Jill – did use reading time effectively. Upon walking out of the exam says:

"I didn't quite finish the exam. I still had 2 questions left. Not to worry though as I had no idea whatsoever how to do them and I most likely would've got them wrong anyway. Feeling confident about these 2 questions I did right at the start though – I know I've got at least 5% for my final mark!"

Hopefully now you have a good idea how and why to use reading time. For our final guide of exam tips, check out "tips on what to do during the exam".

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Article reproduced, thanks to MyGuru.