After Exams
After Exams
After Exams
AFTER exams
What is this worksheet?
Use this worksheet to understand what steps you should take after an exam. Exams
are not the end of your learning journey for the year. Rather, exams are extremely
valuable learning opportunities that can bolster a lot of improvement and self-
development.
If your next exam is on the very same day, you must calm your mind. You can do
this by engaging in some meditation. You can follow the steps below to do your
meditation session or use guided meditation apps like Calm or Headspace.
Meditation guide:
If your exam is in a few days, you should aim to follow the revision timetable you’ve
sorted out for yourself. We covered this in Video 1 of Series 3; you can check this
out here.
During the time between your exams, whether it’s hours or days, you can engage in
post-exam reflection. This post-exam reflection can be about how to improve for
your next exams, what approaches and things you should do differently, etc.
Even if the exam's content differs, you can still reflect since exam-taking skills are
universal and can be applied to any subject or topic.
Exams should not be treated as the end of all learning. They should be treated as
valuable learning opportunities. Engaging in post-exam reflection lets you realise
what you can improve on and how to perform better in your next set of exams.
This isn't just about reviewing what you've learned but how you've learned it.
Here are 5 questions you can use to guide your reflection after your exams.
Here is an example of what the reflection may look like. It is always better to go in-
depth to answer these questions:
“1. What aspects went well? Well, when it came to my revision, I was consistent with
doing my practice papers and note-taking and got it all done 3 days before the
exam.
Now that I reflect, I should’ve spent more time doing more challenging questions. I
noticed that during my revision, I only did a lot of practice papers and eventually
didn’t find as many gaps as I did earlier in my revision. Therefore, my gap seeking
process wasn’t very robust.
I feel that my gap-seeking process didn’t go well because when I found my gaps
and felt revision becoming difficult, I tended to back down from the discomfort and
fear associated with getting things wrong.
Well, when any part of learning and revision becomes difficult, I tend to back out and
work on things that are easier.
It seems how I measured whether I was productive during revision was relying on the
quantity of questions done instead of the number of knowledge-gaps I found.
For my chemistry exam which is in 3 weeks, I will focus my revision on finding a lot
more of my gaps by attempting difficult questions rather than breezing through easy
questions.”
Over time, your learning needs become more demanding and therefore, the more
important and valuable effective learning becomes.
For example, if you’re going to university, the content you learn in university will be
much more demanding and complex than in high school. If you’re entering the
workforce, you must learn how to upskill yourself continuously when entering the
world. The inability to keep up with new skills and knowledge will set you back in your
career and professional goals.
Remember to:
Understand that the end of exams is not the end but rather a valuable learning
opportunity
Engage in constant reflection around how you can aim to improve.
Develop your learning skills and ability to manage yourself. You can do this by
watching the other videos on the iCanStudy Student YT channel.