How to prepare for an exam
As an exam approaches, the temptation is to do ever more, yet the real difference lies elsewhere. It comes down to how you plan your revision, how you memorise what you learn and how you handle the pressure that builds. This article sets out a simple method, based on what cognitive science knows about learning.
In brief
The most effective method for memorising in the long term combines active recall, which means testing yourself without looking at your notes, and spaced repetition, which means going back over a concept at intervals that get longer: a combination that is markedly more effective than rereading alone.
Good exam preparation is decided as much before the exam, in planning and sleep, as during it, in time management and the final read-through.
How do you plan your revision before an exam?
Revising effectively is decided before you open the first notebook: it is better to space your sessions over time than to squeeze everything into the last few days.
This spacing improves long-term memorisation, whereas cramming all your revision at the end mostly gives you the impression of having worked. The method that follows from it has a name, spaced repetition: it consists of going back over a piece of information at intervals that get longer, just before it is about to be forgotten.
A typical schedule, to be adapted to the time you have left before the exam:
- Day 1: first revision, straight after the lesson
- Day 3: second pass, quicker than the first
- Day 7: third revision, testing yourself rather than rereading
- Day 14: fourth pass, to consolidate
- Day 30: final revision before forgetting sets in
If you only have a few days left before the exam, shorten the intervals rather than abandoning the method: even compressed into a week, a schedule of this kind is still more effective than revising uniformly the day before.
Which memorisation techniques really work?
Active recall works better than rereading, because it forces you to retrieve information from memory without the material in front of you, rather than simply recognising it passively as you reread it.
Research in cognitive science shows that students who practise active recall retain more than those who simply reread their notes, and that this effect is strengthened even further when it is combined with the spaced repetition described above.
This effectiveness is explained by the forgetting curve, described by the psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus: a large part of what you learn disappears within a few days if nothing comes to consolidate it. Testing yourself regularly amounts to stopping this loss before it sets in.
In practice, turn your revision cards into questions rather than summaries to reread, cover your answers before checking them, then start again at the dates in the schedule. If you are looking for a tool to generate these questions from your course, revising with AI, its benefits and limitations explains how to use it without depriving yourself of the effort of memorisation.
How do you manage stress before an exam?
Enough sleep often helps more than one extra hour of revision, because a night that is too short reduces your ability to memorise and to reason on the day itself. It is therefore better to protect it as far as possible.
It is advisable to keep up some physical activity or a moment of rest in the days leading up to the exam, if only to release the pressure that has built up: a walk, a sport practised regularly or simply an evening without lessons is often enough.
Last-minute cramming is best avoided as far as possible, because it increases anxiety without any real gain in memorisation. Revising right up to the last minute gives the impression of being in control of the situation, whereas it is generally advised to let the brain rest before it has to deliver what it has learned.
If the stress is still there despite everything, you may as well accept it rather than try to make it disappear: a slight tension before an exam is common, and often reflects the interest you take in the subject.
How do you approach exam day?
Exam day needs preparing as much as the weeks leading up to it: arriving with a safety margin, without racing against the clock, already changes things before you even open the paper.
Once the exam has started, method counts as much as knowledge:
- Read the whole paper before answering, so that you do not discover a trick question along the way
- Divide your time between the sections according to their marks, rather than giving everything to the first one
- Keep a few minutes at the end of the exam to reread your work, since careless mistakes often cost more than genuine gaps in knowledge
If an oral awaits you in addition to the written exam, the preparation changes in nature: our article on succeeding at the Grand Oral of the baccalaureate sets out a method dedicated to this exercise.
This revision method does not stop at Terminale: you will use it again for every exam in higher education, whichever path you choose afterwards. If these exams already have you wondering what life after the baccalaureate will look like, the Master in Management (Programme Grande École) gives you a first overview of the pathway offered by Excelia Business School, and our brochure request for our programmes lets you go further, exploring the detail of each programme without committing to a choice.
Frequently asked questions
- How do you plan your revision before an exam?
By spacing your sessions over time rather than concentrating them at the end, following a schedule that runs, for example, over days 1, 3, 7, 14 and 30 before the exam. This spacing improves long-term memorisation, far more than cramming your revision at the last minute.
- What is spaced repetition?
It is a method that consists of going back over a piece of information at increasingly long intervals, just before it is about to be forgotten. It is the opposite of cramming, where everything is decided in a single intensive session.
- Why is active recall more effective than rereading?
Because it forces you to retrieve information from memory without the material in front of you, which consolidates learning far better than passive rereading. Students who practise it retain more than those who simply reread their notes.
- How do you manage stress before an exam?
By relying on enough sleep rather than on an all-night revision session, and by giving yourself some physical activity or a break to unwind. Avoiding last-minute cramming also helps, since it increases anxiety without any real gain in memorisation.
- What should you do on the morning of an exam?
Arrive with a safety margin, read the whole paper before you start answering, then divide your time between the sections according to their marks. Also keep a few minutes at the end of the exam to reread your work.
