[stoney]

Sorry to say that if your exam is tomorrow you've probably left if too late to guarantee doing exceptionally well. Personally I always preferred intense study over one or two weeks to prepare for an exam, but I think that is a personal preference.

Here are some things that I learnt from doing exams. This is aimed at university exams more than high school - the difference being that at (my) university exams typically consisted of a small number of long questions on a particular area, whereas high school was often a large number of small questions.

- Make sure you have good exam technique: work out roughly how long you can spend on each question and still finish the exam. Stick to that timing leaving questions unfinished if necessary (unless you are writing essays, probably better to submit 2 complete essays than 4 incomplete essays). Read the paper through at the start to work out which questions you think you can do well on. Do those questions first. If you get to a hard part on a question don't waste time, skip to the next question and come back to it. You don't have to do the questions in the order that they are given to you. It's a game - score as many points as you can by tackling the easy bits first.

- If it's a math type paper then you might be able to pick up the odd mark here and there by explaining what method you would have used if only you had the time.

- Past papers are the best study tool. If you have them or can get them then do so and work through the questions. Ideally work through one or two past papers with your study materials, then do one or two under exam conditions.

- If you're really out of time to study then you can gamble: pick the bits of the syllabus that you already know well and focus on mastering those bits, ignore the rest. Then hope like hell that the questions that come up on the day are on the bit that you studied. This can work really well or can turn into an utter disaster.