What are some good tips for preparing for a long exam?

pit_steel: What are some good tips for preparing for a long exam?
I’ve got a maths exam tomorrow morning, I’ve revised my guts out and I’m aiming for an A grade. The exam is three hours long and the longest exam I’ve had before is 2 hours (which was today). I just don’t think I can hold my concentration, I’m 2 years younger than everyone in the class and I just need to go in with a little more confidence. Does anyone know any good tips to prepare for this?

Answers and Views:

Answer by dingodevil
First of all: everyone aims for an A grade, obviously. Some get it, many don’t.

When I took my high school exams I was similar to you: two years younger than the average. That should not bother you in the slightest. If you’ve got this far two years early you must be doing something right.

My recommendations: first, ignore other students’ comments, whatever they may be. Concentrate on your subject matter. Revise, revise. If you can get hold of samples of past exam papers, they will help you a lot, to see the type of questions asked.

Virtually all the exams I’ve ever taken were three hours long. But I never had any problem with concentration – in fact I was usually the last one to “put down my pen” at the final stroke of the second hand. Because you should always review your answers before handing in your paper to check that you haven’t made any foolish mistakes.

If you have revised your subject well you shouldn’t have a problem with concentration. You should be all psyched up for the exam. Personally, I often used to revise right up to entrance time. One exam I took for a Mechanical Engineering subject at Uni, I was reviewing my notes up until seconds before exam start time; some of my fellow students scoffed at me, saying “Hey, if you don’t know it by now, you’ll never know it!” I ignored them with a wave of my hand, and ended up coming top of the class in that particular exam, something like a 94% score if I remember correctly… So just do your own thing… You may be more comfortable taking a break before starting; I always liked to psych myself up into a mental frenzy before the exam and continue the frenzy until stop time, but everyone’s different – others perform better after relaxing for a while. It’s up to you.