From the QCA

Hints and tips from the exams doctor

It’s easy for me to tell you what to do – I don’t have exams to sit. But you do, so listen up. There are a few things here that might help you.

Getting started is the most difficult bit. And telling you that you should have started earlier doesn’t help.

Parents please note. But the ‘10-minute rule’ will, whether you are up-to-date with your revision or still at the starting post. So read on.

Forget four-hour sessions where you do only 10 minutes in that time. Get real – and start with the ten minutes you know that you will do. Have a 10-minute break and start again, for another 10 minutes.

You can do that. When working work. When relaxing relax. The two don’t mix. Remember that.

No phoning friends, looking out of the window or playing with the cat in that time. And your room can wait for another few years before you tidy it up.

So now you have started and doubled the amount of work you normally do in an evening, all within 30 minutes of starting. But don’t stop there.

Build up the working periods to 30 minutes or so at a time – and keep the breaks at 10. Sorted! Well ‘ish’ at least, and now you are working. Don’t think about it, just do it – and do it now.

Congratulate yourself for having done it. You’ve made a start. Keep going.

You are in training and you need to pace yourself in the lead-up to your exams and between exams too. Discipline and technique play their part, but so too does common sense. Staring into space won’t help but the ‘10-minute rule’ will whenever you have difficulty in starting something. Remember it andpractise it, along with the other hints and tips given here. Choose the ones that suit your way of working best.

Manage your time and plan