Last Minute Study Techniques from Experienced Tutors

First and foremost, here’s our disclaimer: Studying at the very last minute is NOT a good idea, this article is meant to give you ideas on how to plan your time when the exam is near, rather an encouragement of studying at the last minute.

With SPM and STPM just around the corner, thousands of Malaysian youngsters are feeling the heat and pressure now. Whether you had study hard in the past years or just realized that the exam date is tomorrow, we try to ease your pain by picking the brain of a few experience educators listed on LookP.com. Here’s what they shared with us on how you should spend your time between now to the examination day to help you pass the exam with flying colors. 

1.     TuitionProvider.com is the largest online home tutor provider in Malaysia, with more than 1000 highly qualified tutors available. Having working closely with both students and tutors for 15 years, they are suggesting the below to students who wants to utilize the last minute effort effectively.

• Fully utilize the power of mind mapping, not only you can draw mind map for each chapter that helps you to have an overview of it, you should also draw mind map that connect each chapters which help you to under the bigger picture of that subject
• Get help from your tutor or friends on chapter that you are still unclear, time is running out!
  
  

2.     Alen has more than 16 years of experience in tutoring around Klang valley area. Having helped more than a hundred of students during in the past years, his advice for last-minute study: 

• Do all the past year papers that you can find, it is very common that questions being repeated in the past year exams
• Form a study group, you will learn faster that way. It is faster to ask a question and get answer in a study group and other students might offer a different point of view that help you to understand the concept better
  
  

3.     Beside his latest business venture in the musical world, Mr Lam also teaching English and Maths covering area from Sungai Long to Chearas and Ampang. With 14 years of experience in education, he suggest the below:

• Accept the fact that you can’t study everything now, focus on a few chapters instead. Pick those chapters that you are confident you can still learn in time
• Stay calm and don’t panic during exam, even if you encounter questions that you can’t answer. Just skip that question and continue it and complete the whole paper
  
  

4.     Alyson Loh not only provides home tuition, but also teaching at a tuition centre, focusing on Mandarin, English and Mathematics. She had met all sort of student during her years as a tutor. Her take on last minute study:

• Discover your learning style ASAP and applies the most effective learning method for yourself. For example, for those who prefer visual-style learning, use diagram or picture for your revision, while for auditory type, read out loud to yourself
• Sleep well and exercise during the exam period, it helps to boost your mental performance during exam

5.    Ms Yang has been a home-based tutor at Jalan Klang Lama for more than 10 years, for SPM, her subject of teaching are Math and Add Math. According to her, the most common problem among student is they do not understand the concept behind the chapter, hence not able to apply the right formula to solve the problem. She would help her student to tackle this problem by:

• Do ‘open book’ test. Work on past year papers but can refer to your own notes or books anytime you need. What’s important is, really understand and learn to apply the formula or concept in your notes or books
• Discuss the answer with your tutor and learn the right keywords and format of the marking scheme
  
  

6.     Mr Yong provide group and individual English lesson both offline and online. He is a strong advocate of taking your own notes during study, even if it is in point forms, it help students to learn much better and faster. These are his suggestions for last minute effort:

• Use your smartphone to your advantage, there are many apps that can help you learn better, such as mind mapping and note taking app
• Don’t spend too much time on your hundred-pages-long books but focus on your own notes or chapter summaries instead
  
  

7.     Mr Raymond Hee has 12 years of experience in tutoring student in Chemistry for all levels, including university. His advice would be

• Relax your mind and body is the best way to deal with pre exam anxiety and stress
• Ensure proper nutrition and sufficient sleep the day before exam
  
  

8.     Home Tuition 1-2-1 Malaysia is a reliable home tuition agency serving all locations in Malaysia. Helping Student to find suitable private tutor and tuition centre. They are suggesting some advice to do revision:

• For subjects which require analysing skill, eg: physics, chemistry and math, practise with exercise more efficient than just memorising the definition and formula
• For subject require memorising skill, eg: biology and history, write down on a paper after memorizing. This is to ensure that you can answer the question accuratelywhen exam time
  
  

So, here’s the roundup of the suggestion from some of the tutors listed on our website. If you are looking for more information about home tutors for SPM in Kuala Lumpur, read this article or have a look on our website. Think you have a better idea? We are all ears, email us here!