How to Prepare for Exams?

1. Have a Notebook in the Classroom for All Subjects

Keep notes of what you have done in the classroom. It is alright if they are not perfect as long as you have written down all the information given by the teacher.

2. Have a Notebook for Each Subject At Home

From the notebook you use in the classroom, write down the cleaned up version of the information on a new notebook. It is highly recommended that you should have a notebook for each subject. In this notebook, do write in depth of what you were taught and explain how to approach every difficulty.

By doing this you will remember where you struggled and why. Also, by doing this you will create a database which you can refer and study later. We believe studying from the quick notes you made in class can be when you will refer to study 3-4 months later.

3. Practice

We are lucky to be able to find almost everything we need on the internet. You can find many exercises to work on. We suggest that you try and solve all of them early on and then when exams are approaching, try focusing mostly with the ones you struggle with. Ask your teacher or tutor to recommend a study text book as it’s easier to find information in it which you might have forgotten.

4. Solve Past Papers

Solving past papers will help you to be prepared on what to expect in the exams. Most times, questions revised in class can be simpler than the questions that turn up in exams. An exam question can be a combination of 2 or more topics, e.g. algebra and trigonometry.

While we recommend solving past papers for practice, we do not recommend you to expect the same questions to turn up in your exam. Hence, it is always beneficial to practice a variety of questions and achieve confidence in various topics of the subject.

5. Find Your Strength and Your Weaknesses

Two months before the exam, identify the topics you have covered. Create a list of topics you are good at, of topics that can be tricky and of topics with which you really struggle. Spend more time topics you struggle and try to solve problems that you consider hard.

6. Get Your Level Evaluated Outside School

Often we think we are good at something merely because we are better at that particular thing than the people around us. However, you might still have a chance at getting even better. If you find yourself wanting to improve your understanding of few topics, you can always contact Tutor Science and we can provide you with several practice tests.

7. Last but Not the Least

Believe in yourself. But when required, question yourself when you see the need the improve anywhere possible. From our experience with students of Tutor Science, the more you try, the lesser are the chances of you to fail.

“If I don’t believe in myself, then every success brings me closer to failure. But if I believe in myself, every failure brings me closer to success!” – Tutor Science

Balancing School & Life

Often young adults are made to believe that they have it quite easy for them.

“All they need to do is study and get good grades. They don’t have other responsibilities like the adults”, says Sheila, mother of an 11 year old daughter.

While Sheila is right to an extent, the pressures on young adults are real. Juggling various things to do with friends, family and school, children are subjected to immense mental stress these days. At Tutor Science, we believe that successful education should not come at the cost of a child’s happiness. Hence, we bring forth few suggestions for young adults to help them balance all aspects of their life.

1) Don’t keep your concerns to yourself

As children grow older, it is common for them to stop sharing everything with their parents. But bottling your thoughts and concerns within you is not advisable. If there is something that is troubling you, learn to share it with a teacher, parent or a peer you trust.

2) Maintain a journal or a diary

Bursting with many thoughts about many things, our mind is a chaotic place. It is quite helpful to jot down those thoughts once a day to clear your head, making way for new ideas to come forth. It is hard to be creative with school projects and assignments when your mind is ruminating with the same old thoughts.

3) Have a schedule

Lives of students are busy, period. Aiming to meet deadlines for half a dozen of things at a time is tough. Which is why, we recommend you to mark the dates down in a physical or a digital calendar. Keep yourself accountable by also adding a daily or weekly to-do list to that calendar.

4) Set aside ‘Me-Time’

That’s right, your time. You can’t always be studying like Jack. All work, no play has made Jack a very dull boy. You need do other things with your time that have nothing to do with school and extracurricular activities. No, attending piano lessons that your parents signed you up for is not me-time. But sitting down to play a game you like or paint or even watch your favourite TV show is. Find out what makes you cheer up and find time to do it every now and then.

5) Don’t ride with the highs and lows

Life for everyone, irrespective of their age, is anything but constant. Every day will not be the same and why should it be? Some days are full of joy and some days are dreadfully boring or sad or full of work. Some days you get everything you want and some days you can be left disappointed.

But the secret to win at life, no matter how old you are, is to not let the highs get too high and not let the lows get too low. Get yourself a happy-go-lucky outlook to life, its free!

When you grow older, memories from school days will be some of the best memories of your life. Cherish them while you can and don’t fret about that assignment you need to finish in 2 days. You’ll get it done, trust us!

My Top 5 Stationery Favourites - Connie Studies

Guest Post by Connie Studies

Hello! My name is Connie and I run the account @connie.studies on Instagram! I post about study tips and stationery pics to get you motivated to study! My dream is to get to Cambridge to study either philosophy or classics I hope you will follow me on this journey! Today I’m going to share with you my top 5 favourite stationery items for studying! Enjoy!

1. PENS

There are so many amazing pens on the market nowadays and it can be hard to choose which pen would be right for you! My personal favourites are the Muji 0.5 Black Gel Pen and the Pentel Energel 0.7. The Muji Gel Pen is great for if you have larger thinner letters but, it is prone to smudging especially when highlighting. The Pentel Energel is awesome for smooth consistent letters and has a much more comfortable grip.

The only thing is that it is quite thick and not too good for smaller letters and can be quite expensive. Despite my love for these pens, I do still love using the classic ballpoint pens for general note takings as you can highlight your notes straight after which saves a lot of time!

2. Highlighters

The highlighter industry I feel has really taken off over these past few years. Now, as you may know from my Instagram, I’m really into my pastel highlighters. One of my favourites are the Zebra Mildliners. These highlighters come in twenty different pastel colours and have a chisel tip as well as a fine highlighter tip! I really love these highlighters! They are really good for on the go as they are the same size as a pen but do wear out quite easily after continuous use.

My all-time favourite highlighter is the Stabilo Pastel Highlighters. What I really like is the fact that it comes in a range of different sizes I’m sure you will find one suited to your needs! The colours are really beautiful and I really wish they would bring out more pastel shades! I have heard a lot of people talk about the Pilot Frixion Pastel Erasable Highlighters so I have ordered them to give them a try (stay tuned to my story for my review on them!). I have also tried the Muji Highlighters with the window so you can see what you're highlighting. I do really like these highlighters but think they need to bring out more colours!

3. Brush Pens

In the brush pen category, there are few that I have found to be a good brush pen. My second favourite is the Tombow Fudenosuke Brush Pen. This pen is really great for doing titles and sub-headings in because it’s so thin. I prefer to use the hard tip rather than the soft tip because I do find it easier to do control. The only thing I find rather annoying about the Tombow is, after a while, the nib wears away quite easily and splits.

My all-time favourite brush pen is the Pentel Fude Touch Brush Pen! It’s so nice to hold and has a really nice nib. I would really recommend this pen, it’s also a bit cheaper than the Tombow!

4. Erasers

My favourite erasers of all time are the Muji Erasers. I have the large eraser for use at home, and my small Muji Eraser is for school use. I do also love using the pushy eraser because it’s so precise and is really useful for smaller mistakes made in notes. My only problem with this eraser is that it does get dirty very easily and then smudges onto the next paper when you erase something else.

Another great alternative is the Milan Capsule Eraser! I have used one of these erasers for years in my school pencil case and I love that it doesn’t get anything else in your pencil case dirty because it is contained in a capsule! Another great thing about it is, it has a built-in pencil sharpener, which is very handy.

5. Notebooks

I have so many favourite notebooks that I love to use for my note-taking. My first favourite is the White Lines Notebook, I love the fact you can scan your notes on the app and also have a range of different sizes. I also really enjoy using the Leuchtturm 1917 notebooks for bullet journaling and note-taking. These come in a variety of different colours and are just generally a really nice notebook!

I hoped this little stationery favourites post helped you when choosing your writing utensils for school and studying.

Thank you for reading!

Xx Connie Studies

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Recommendations:

Muji 0.5 Black Gel Pen

Pentel Energel 0.7

Zebra Mildliners

Stabilo Pastel Highlighters

Pilot Frixion Pastel Erasable Highlighters

Tombow Fudenosuke Brush Pen

Pentel Fude Touch Brush Pen

Muji Erasers

Milan Capsule Eraser

White Lines Notebook

Leuchtturm 1917