Start your preparation early
If you want to achieve the best score you can, you should lay the groundwork well in advance. 'Attend lectures and seminars throughout the semester, and keep up with weekly readings and coursework,' advises Dr Cecile Brich, study development tutor at York St John University.
'For most types of exam at university level, you'll need to have thought quite deeply about your subject, and be able to manipulate concepts confidently enough to apply them to new problems.
'This is not something you can do well by cramming the night before. Working regularly and keeping lecture and further reading notes up to date makes revision much more effective and much less stressful.'
Gareth agrees that trying to take in lots of information the night before your exam is a bad idea. 'It will only disrupt your sleep and potentially confuse you,' he cautions.
Another tried and tested revision technique is working through past exam papers. 'Having a look at them will give you a good idea of the types of questions likely to come up, and how best to prepare for them,' suggests Dr Brich. 'You can then try answering them by hand under timed conditions, in order to gauge how confident you feel with the material.'
Pay particularly close attention to detail if you're practising multiple choice papers, she warns. 'Answer options can often sound similar, and require you to be confident with specific terminology.'
You should be able to obtain past exam papers from your lecturers or university library.