Top 10 Tips on how to maximise your success in the exam room

The insurance exams are just a week away. Hopefully, if you followed some of my revision tips you found them useful and you are now feeling confident with your level of knowledge .

Now, the important thing is to employ effective exam technique to ensure that you secure that all important pass.

Here are some of my top tips which hopefully you will find helpful.

1.     Adopt a positive mind set - you have worked hard and have gained a lot of  knowledge; take the perspective that this is an opportunity for you to share your knowledge with the examiner. Remember, the examiner is not trying to catch you out - honest!

2.     Get a good night's sleep the night before. Don't be tempted to  revise until the early hours - you will make yourself and your brain too tired to function properly the next day.

3.     Know where you need to be and at what time - don't assume it is the same location as last time you took the exam and allow plenty of time to get there so that you arrive relaxed and calm.

4.     Read the whole question paper through before making a start, please remain calm as you are doing this; jot down words as thoughts come  into your head as you read. Once you have done this, identify the questions which you are going to answer first, remember it doesn't matter in which order you approach the questions. Start with the questions with which you feel the most confident  - this will help build your confidence and help you relax, which will enhance your memory.

5.     Answer the question which is being asked, don't  just write as much as you know on the topic

6.     Timing - remember to have calculated, approximately, how much time you ought to be spending on each question. This will be based on number of questions, the time allowed and the mark allocation, make sure you stick to this plan, give or take a minute or two.

7.     Formulae and equations -  ALWAYS show your working out, show the process  you are following, for example - if required to provide an average calculation, show:

    Sum insured                                                £30,000

    Value at risk      X  loss                               £40,000  X £2000  = £1500

 In the above situation, even if you had transposed the wrong numbers in the pressure of the moment, the examiner would know that you knew how to calculate average and would be able to  reflect this in the marks awarded.

8.     Running out of time and two questions to answer - what do you do? Assuming you have some knowledge for each question, I would recommend that you answer both questions in part, you usually gain more marks from the first few things that you write, so it is better to do that for both questions.

9.     Review your paper, this is often a difficult thing to do, as you have finished the exam, expended your knowledge and have the wonderful sense of relief that you have finished. When you are reading your answers you may well be surprised as to the extra things you can think of to include. It might only be the odd point here and there but they might make all the difference between a pass and fail.

10.  Drink water during the exam to keep you and your brain hydrated. There is evidence that students who stayed hydrated through drinking water benefited from higher pass results

I hope these tips help and, come July we look forward to hearing about your successful results. Watch out for my next blog which will be looking at how you can develop your own creativity.

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Beverley Lyn's picture

Beverley Lyn specialises in people development, designing competency frameworks, TNA, coaching and mentoring. Developing learning solutions to help people, at all levels, reach their potential. Combining strong technical and industry knowledge to deliver solutions which meet the client's needs

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