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Each year, you will have to sit an examination to complete the module you are studying.  This can be a frightening and daunting time for students.  But don't panic – if you've done well during the year, you should do well in your exams as well.  So here are a few tips that I hope will help you.

The night before.  Get a good night's rest the night before the exam.  Go to bed reasonably early - cramming probably won't do you any good at this stage.  During the previous evening, check that you have all you need for the exams - student ID card, plenty of pens of varying colours, pencils, erasers, rulers, templates, calculator, etc.  Have everything ready so that you can just pick them up in the morning without having to rush around your house in a panic.  You will be provided with answer books at the centre so do not bring any paper or pads.

Get to the exam centre early.  Arrive at the examination centre at least half an hour before the exam is due to start.  It may also be stating the obvious, but make sure you know where the exam centre is - it may not be in the college where you studied during the year.  In some exam centres, car parking might be a problem, so leave yourself enough time to find parking and get from your car to the exam centre.  When you arrive at the centre, look for the list of students where you will see the number of the desk to which you have been assigned.  Get to your seat a few minutes before the exam is due to start and settle down.

Your comfort.  When sitting an exam, it is important that you are personally comfortable.  Since the exams take place in November and December, it can be cold in some exam centres, especially large venues.  So wear warm clothing - you can take something off if you get too warm, but if you are cold and have nothing to put on, you will suffer.

The invigilators.  A strange word, I always think!  These are the people who supervise the examinations.  They will hand out the exam papers and answer books and provide you with any relevant information about the exam.  Obviously, they can't help you with the exam itself, but listen carefully to what they have to say at the start.  Throughout the exams, if you need further answer books, or if you want to leave the exam centre for any reason, you must draw their attention by raising your hand and beckoning them over to you.

The paper.  You will be given the exam paper by the invigilator.  You cannot open it until you are given permission to do so.  The first thing to do is to check that you have the right paper - check that it is for the correct subject and level, as students sitting different subjects and levels may be doing exams as well.  As soon as you can, check how long you have for the exam - it is usually three hours.  Then check if the paper is divided into sections, such as A and B.  Then check if you must answer questions from each section and, if so, how many must you do in each section.  If you are required to do five questions, say, you might have to do two from Section A and three from Section B.  Make sure that you get it right as a mistake here could cost you dearly!  Finally, confirm that all questions carry equal marks - it is most likely that they will.

Don't panic.  I recall the feelings of trepidation I experienced when waiting to open my exam papers - you feel really exposed and vulnerable as you turn over the paper.  Now is the time that you regret all those nights and weekends when you visited the pub, watched the television or worked late instead of studying; or you may regret not attending tutorials now that the moment of truth has arrived!  Well, there is no point in panicking now, it is too late.  When you see the paper at first, you may feel that you won't be able to do any of the questions - I well recall looking at one paper and being convinced that it was for the wrong course!  But the secret is to be calm and composed at this critical time.  There is nothing you can do now to change what has gone before so just steel yourself to attempt the paper with the knowledge you have at that time.  Read it calmly and bit by bit you will begin to see that you can do most of it and by the end of the exam you will probably have surprised yourself!

Time management.  It is essential to manage your time well in exams; this is the secret to success. It is a truism that you gain most marks in any question during the first few minutes and that towards the end of the allotted time the marks gained are minimal.  So plan your time allocation before even going into the exam hall.  You normally have three hours to do an exam, for which you will get 100 marks.  If all questions carry equal marks and you have to do five, use the following approach.

• You have 180 minutes to do the exam.
• Put your watch on the desk to keep an eye on your time, but please don't use the alarm beeps to alert you to passing time - remember there are other students in the room as well.
• Allow 10 to 15 minutes at the start of the exam to read the paper thoroughly and decide the questions you are going to attempt.  Decide the order in which you will do the questions, starting with what you feel will be the easiest question first, progressing to the hardest, which you should do last.
• Allow 10 to 15 minutes at the end of the exam to go back over your paper and tidy up some questions or correct obvious mistakes.
• This will leave 150 to 160 minutes to do five questions.
• You should therefore devote 30 to 32 minutes to each question.
• Be ruthless about your time management when you are doing each question - stop in mid-sentence if necessary when the allotted time is used up - remember you are probably getting few marks, if any, by the end of the half-hour.
• Use the final 10 or 15 minutes to check over your paper to ensure you've done five questions fully and to make any last-minutes corrections or adjustments to your answers.

Spread your work out.  Don't try to cram your entire exam into a single answer book.  Leave a few pages, at least a single leaf, between each question: this will give you room to put in more information if you have time at the end.  You will be given answer books by the invigilator.  Although it might seem a little rude, I used to keep writing and just raise my hand, without even looking up, when I needed an answer book.  If you do this, the invigilator will see you and give you a new book - it's as simple as that!

Show and submit all rough work.  It is no use writing notes or rough work on the exam paper - you don't had that in.  Leave about a half-page at the start of each question for writing notes and rough work.  You could also consider using the first page in your answer book for notes as they occur to you.  Submitting this work might get you a valuable mark or two.  If you don't have time to complete a question, your notes and rough work at the start might include topics you didn't get to consider in the answer and you may still get some marks for them.

Use a pencil.  It is a good idea to use a pencil for mathematical questions.  If you make a mistake, it is easy to erase the error and keep your work somewhat neat.  If your answer book is full of crossed-out stuff it can be difficult to follow the threads, so a pencil is best.  I used to do all my maths and science questions in pencil.

When the exam is finished, forget it.  It's normal to see a big huddle outside the exam hall after an exam as students discuss the exam, what questions they did and how they did.  A little bit of that is OK but don't overdo it.  After a few polite words, put that exam out of your head and concentrate on the next exam to be done.  You could torment yourself thinking about how you might have done this or that better, but it is now too late and there is nothing you can do about it anyway.  So my advice is to forget the exam after you've done it and move on to the next business, whatever that is.

Don't forget lunch.  If you've got an exam in the morning and one in the afternoon, don't forget to think about what you will do for lunch.  Is there some place nearby that you can walk or drive to for a bite to eat?  Check out the location - if it is a college, is the restaurant or bar open?  If its some other centre, is there a pub, cafe, restaurant or hotel nearby where you can get food?  Will you be able to walk there or will you have to drive?  Give yourself time to get to wherever you have to go and back to the exam centre.

When it's all over, relax!  When it's over, take some time off from your studies and make up with the family and friends you have neglected or been short with as the tension rose approaching exam time.  Before you know it, the exam results will be out and another year's study will be about to begin.

Celebrate!  Yes!  When you do well in the exams, celebrate in whatever way pleases you most.  You deserve it!

Do you have any further tips on the subject of exams?  Would you like to tell me about your experience of the exams this year?  Have I left anything out?  Use the feedback form to tell me about it.