Exam Day Preparation: Your Complete Guide

You’ve revised for weeks or months. You know the material. But when exam day arrives, something else takes over—nerves, doubt, the fear of going blank. Every year, students who know their stuff underperform because they weren’t prepared for the experience of sitting an exam.

Exam day preparation isn’t about cramming more content. It’s about putting yourself in the best possible position to show what you already know. This guide covers everything from the week before to the moment you walk out of the exam hall.

The Week Before: Setting Yourself Up
The Night Before: What Actually Helps
Exam Morning: Your Routine
What to Bring: The Complete Checklist
In the Exam Hall: First 5 Minutes
Time Management During the Exam
Dealing with Panic and Blank Moments
After the Exam: What to Do and What Not to Do
Special Situations

The Week Before: Setting Yourself Up

The final week should be about consolidation and confidence, not learning new material. If you haven’t learned it by now, cramming it in the last few days is unlikely to help—and the stress of trying will hurt your performance on the topics you do know.

What to Focus On

Review your strongest topics first. This might seem backwards, but it builds confidence and ensures you don’t lose easy marks by neglecting what you already know.

Do one final past paper under exam conditions. Time it properly. Use an exam-style desk. This is a dress rehearsal, not a learning exercise. The goal is to practise the experience.

Review your mistake log. If you’ve been tracking errors from past papers (and you should have been), review the patterns. What types of mistakes do you make? Misreading questions? Calculation errors? Forgetting to show working? Awareness prevents repetition.

Reduce study hours gradually. The day before the exam, do light review only—30 minutes maximum. Think of it like an athlete tapering before a race. Your brain needs rest to perform.

What to Avoid

Don’t start new topics. This creates anxiety about what you don’t know.
Don’t do difficult papers. A bad practice result the day before destroys confidence.
Don’t study with anxious friends. Anxiety is contagious. Their panic about Topic X will make you panic about Topic X, even if you know it well.
Don’t change your routine. This isn’t the time to try a new study technique or energy drink.

The Night Before: What Actually Helps

Sleep Is Non-Negotiable

Sleep consolidates memory. One night of poor sleep can reduce cognitive performance by up to 25%. This means an all-night cramming session doesn’t just fail to help—it actively makes you worse at recalling what you already know.

Aim for 8 hours. Set an alarm for when to start winding down, not just when to wake up.

If you can’t sleep: Don’t panic. Lying in bed with your eyes closed still provides rest. Your body won’t let you fail from one night of poor sleep—performance anxiety about sleep is usually worse than the sleep loss itself.

Evening Routine

Pack your bag. Everything you need (see checklist below). Do this in the evening so you’re not rushing in the morning.
Light review only. Flip through flashcards or summary sheets for 20-30 minutes. Nothing new.
Set two alarms. One on your phone, one on a separate device. Remove the worry of oversleeping.
Do something relaxing. Watch something light, listen to music, take a walk. Your brain needs to switch off from study mode.
Avoid screens 30 minutes before bed. Blue light disrupts sleep. If you must use your phone, enable night mode.

What Not to Do

Don’t rewrite notes. It’s too late for this to help.
Don’t read the textbook cover to cover. You’ll fixate on what you can’t remember.
Don’t check social media for exam discussions. Other people’s anxiety will become yours.

Exam Morning: Your Routine

Timing

Wake up at least 2 hours before you need to leave. Rushing creates stress, and stress impairs recall.

Breakfast

Eat something. Your brain uses 20% of your body’s energy, and a 2-hour exam is a marathon for your cognitive system.

Good options:

Porridge with fruit (slow-release energy)
Toast with peanut butter and banana
Eggs on toast
Yoghurt with granola

Avoid:

Sugary cereals or pastries (energy crash mid-exam)
Nothing at all (blood sugar drop = poor concentration)
Anything you wouldn’t normally eat (not the morning for experiments)

Hydration

Drink water. Even mild dehydration reduces concentration. Bring a clear water bottle to the exam—most schools allow this.

Light Warm-Up

Spend 10-15 minutes reviewing key formulas, dates, or quotes you want fresh in your mind. Think of this as warming up, not studying. Read through your summary sheet once, then put it away.

The Journey

Leave early. Traffic, delays, and unexpected problems happen. Arriving flustered wastes 10 minutes of settling time.
Listen to music or a podcast if it calms you. Avoid revision audio—you won’t absorb it while travelling.
If you drive or get a lift, arrive 15-20 minutes early. Not 45 minutes early—too much waiting time breeds anxiety.

What to Bring: The Complete Checklist

Essential

Black pens (at least 2—pens die at the worst moments)
Pencil and eraser (for diagrams and multiple-choice)
Ruler (for graphs, diagrams, and underlining)
Calculator (if allowed—check it works and has fresh batteries)
Clear water bottle (label removed if required by your school)
Photo ID (if required—check with your exam centre)
Exam timetable (to confirm the right exam at the right time)

Subject-Specific

Protractor and compass (maths, physics)
Coloured pencils (geography, biology diagrams)
Approved texts (if it’s an open-book exam)
Scientific calculator (check it’s an approved model)

Personal

Watch (analogue—digital watches and smartwatches are usually banned)
Tissues
Any prescribed medication
Small snack for between exams (if you have more than one)

Do NOT Bring

Mobile phone (or ensure it’s completely off and in your bag, not your pocket)
Smart watch
Notes or revision materials (to be left outside the exam hall)
Correction fluid (usually not allowed)

In the Exam Hall: First 5 Minutes

The first five minutes set the tone for the entire exam. Use them deliberately.

Step 1: Read the Front Cover

Every exam paper has instructions on the front. Read them even if you think you know what they say. Check:

How many questions you need to answer
Whether any questions are compulsory
How marks are distributed across sections
Total time available

Step 2: Scan the Whole Paper

Before writing anything, turn through every page. Get a sense of what’s there. This prevents the surprise of finding your best topic on the last page when you’ve already spent too long on earlier questions.

Step 3: Allocate Your Time

This is critical. Divide available time by marks:

Example: 90-minute paper, 90 marks = 1 minute per mark. A 12-mark question gets 12 minutes. A 25-mark essay gets 25 minutes.

Write your time allocation on the question paper. When you reach a time boundary, move on—even if you haven’t finished. You can come back later. Spending 20 minutes on a 6-mark question to get perfect marks means losing 14 minutes elsewhere.

Step 4: Start with Confidence

If you have a choice, start with the question you’re most confident about. A strong start builds momentum and calms nerves. Don’t feel obligated to answer in order.

Time Management During the Exam

The One-Minute-Per-Mark Rule

This is the single most useful exam technique. If the paper has 80 marks and you have 80 minutes, each mark is worth one minute. Stick to this rigidly:

4-mark question → 4 minutes
8-mark question → 8 minutes
20-mark essay → 20 minutes

What to Do When Stuck

If a question is taking too long:

Write what you can. Partial answers get partial marks.
Leave space. Draw a line, leave half a page blank, and move on.
Come back later. Your subconscious will work on it while you answer other questions.
Don’t fixate. The marks you’re losing elsewhere are worth more than the extra mark you might gain here.

The Last 10 Minutes

Reserve the final 10 minutes for:

Returning to skipped questions. Fill in what you can.
Checking for blank answers. Never leave a question unanswered—an educated guess is better than nothing.
Reviewing calculation answers. Check your arithmetic. One digit wrong = zero marks.
Reading through essays. Fix obvious errors, add missing points in the margin.

Dealing with Panic and Blank Moments

Going Blank

It happens to everyone. You read a question and your mind empties. Don’t spiral.

The 60-Second Reset:

Put your pen down.
Take three slow breaths (4 seconds in, 4 seconds hold, 4 seconds out).
Read the question again, slowly. Underline key words.
Write down any related word or concept that comes to mind—even if it seems irrelevant.
These fragments often trigger the full memory.

If nothing comes after 60 seconds, move on. Come back to it later. The memory will often return when you’re less pressured.

Panic

Physical symptoms of panic (racing heart, sweating, shaky hands) are your body’s stress response. They’re uncomfortable but not dangerous.

Reframe the sensation. Tell yourself: “This is my body preparing to perform. This adrenaline will help me focus.” Research shows that reframing anxiety as excitement genuinely improves performance.

Ground yourself. Feel your feet on the floor. Feel the pen in your hand. Read the words on the page. These physical sensations anchor you in the present moment and interrupt the panic spiral.

Remember: Nobody in the exam hall can see your internal state. You look like every other student writing calmly. The feeling will pass within minutes if you don’t feed it.

The “I’ve Failed” Thought

Mid-exam, you might think “I can’t do this” or “I’ve failed.” This is your stress talking, not reality.

Counter it with facts:

You’ve prepared for this.
You don’t need 100% to get a good grade.
Every mark counts, and there are marks still available.
One hard question doesn’t define your result.

Keep writing. The students who recover from difficult moments are the ones who keep going rather than giving up.

After the Exam: What to Do and What Not to Do

Do

Eat and drink. Your brain just ran a marathon. Refuel.
Move on mentally. The exam is done. You cannot change your answers. Ruminating wastes energy you need for the next exam.
Prepare for the next exam. If you have another exam soon, shift focus forward.
Do something enjoyable. Reward yourself. You earned it.

Don’t

Don’t compare answers with friends. This achieves nothing positive. If you got the same answer, you feel briefly reassured. If you got a different answer, you panic—even if your answer was correct.
Don’t look up correct answers online. You’ll find the one question you got wrong and forget the 30 you got right.
Don’t post-mortem the exam. Detailed analysis of what went wrong helps nobody when you can’t change it.

Between Same-Day Exams

If you have two exams in one day:

Eat a proper meal between them.
Do 10 minutes of light review for the afternoon exam—key formulas or dates only.
Don’t discuss the morning exam with anyone.
Find a quiet space to reset mentally.

Special Situations

Running Out of Time

If you’re running out of time with questions remaining:

Switch to bullet points for essay questions. You’ll get some marks for key points even without full prose.
For calculation questions, write out the method even if you can’t complete the calculation.
For short-answer questions, write the most important point first.

Some marks are always better than no marks.

Extra Time / Access Arrangements

If you have approved access arrangements (extra time, a reader, a scribe, etc.):

Use your extra time. Don’t finish early just because others are leaving. The time was granted because you need it.
Practise with your arrangements. If you use a laptop, practise typing exam answers. If you have a scribe, practise dictating answers clearly.
Know your entitlements. If something isn’t set up correctly on exam day, speak to the invigilator immediately.

Feeling Unwell on Exam Day

If you’re genuinely ill on exam day:

Go to the exam if you possibly can. Sitting the exam while unwell is almost always better than missing it. Special consideration can be applied to account for illness.
Tell the invigilator. They’ll record that you were unwell, which supports a special consideration application.
If you truly cannot attend, contact your school immediately. They can apply for special consideration or arrange a contingency paper.

Multiple Exams in Exam Season

During peak exam season, you might have exams on consecutive days:

Plan your inter-exam revision in advance. Don’t decide what to revise at 9pm the night before.
Keep evening revision light—30 minutes maximum per subject.
Prioritise sleep over last-minute cramming. Always.
Accept that you won’t feel fully prepared for every single exam. That’s normal and expected.

Your Exam Day Summary

The night before:

Pack your bag with everything you need.
Set two alarms.
Light review only—20 minutes maximum.
Get 8 hours of sleep.

On the morning:

Eat a proper breakfast.
Quick 10-minute warm-up review.
Arrive 15-20 minutes early.

In the exam:

Read the front cover and scan the paper.
Allocate time by marks.
Start with your strongest question.
If stuck, move on and come back.
Use the last 10 minutes to check and fill gaps.

After the exam:

Don’t compare answers.
Eat, rest, move on.
Focus forward on the next exam.

You’ve done the work. Trust your preparation, manage your time, and show what you know.

GCSE Revision Guide 2026 — Evidence-based revision strategies that actually work
A-Level Study Strategies — How to succeed at advanced level

About UpGrades

UpGrades is an adaptive revision platform that uses evidence-based techniques—active recall, spaced repetition, and personalised gap detection—to help GCSE and A-Level students prepare effectively. Our system tracks what you know and what you don’t, automatically adjusting to focus on your weak areas.

Join the waitlist to be notified when we launch.

Table of Contents