Study Zone

AAT exam planning

PQ magazine’s former lecturer of the Year, Michael Brook, of Calerdale College gives readers some pertinent guidance for AAT students at all levels

1. Prepare a revision timetable four weeks before the exams.
Just do it. Don’t argue. Don’t procrastinate. Just do the thing. And do it first. Do it on the first day, and once you’ve done it, stick to it. There is a reason for this - if you get your family, partner and employer to agree to the timetable, you can write break/relaxation periods into it. You can explain that you need all day off on Saturday and Sunday evenings too- no washing up.

2. Revise the topics you hate in the morning.
It is easier to revise the stuff you don’t much like in the morning. Successful people agree if you have a set of jobs to do, you do the most difficult thing, the thing you hate, first. This means when you’ve just got up.

3. Passive revision is useless - add action and colour.
You have to do something with the information. Take notes, underline and highlight key points/topics/concepts.
If you do something with the information it will stay in your head way better than if you just sit there reading. Prepare mind-maps, spider grams anything to put order to your thoughts.

4. Manage your time properly in the exam.
This is the most vital of all techniques. Make sure you spend the most time on the questions that have the most time allocated to them. An obvious hint here, to read the paper first in the fifteen minutes of reading time.

5. Answer the question.
Make sure you answer the question in front of you, not some other question you’ve made up. Do this by underlining three key words per question and checking with yourself that you know – exactly - what is being asked for.

6. Plan your answer.
Fail to plan and you plan to fail. Brainstorm your ideas, mark each idea with the section of the report/memo/email it has to go in, and only then should you go about writing your answer. Make sure your plan is on the exam paper, where the examiner can see it. As a math’s teacher might say, “Always show your workings.”

7. Be positive – talk yourself up.
If you tell yourself that you can do things you will invariably find that you can. During your revision and during the exam itself, keep telling yourself, “I can do this.” You will find that you can. At the start of each exam take a breath, count to ten, then do it. You are the one in control of your destiny. Stay calm and focused.

8. Do your best.
That’s all you should ask of yourself.

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