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Some Part IA exam advice

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This is some advice that I originally gave to some first-year maths students while I was at university. But this advice isn’t just useful for maths students at Cambridge: I believe this is applicable to technical subjects at many different levels. This is just a tidied-up version of my original advice.

This is my personal advice, and other people may say different things. Everybody learns and revises differently. Think about what will work best for you; don’t just do something because I said so.

The advice comes in two sections:

Academic

The first section is advice for how to prepare for the exam, and what to do once you’re in the exam. Most of this could be described as “obvious”, but enough people seem to forget it that it’s probably worth restating anyway.

And here are a few suggestions more specific to the Maths Tripos:

Health

The advice in this section comes partially from my DoS, Dr. Gog, and partially from my own experience.

Your health is far more important than any exam revision. It’s easy to just focus on revision, and forget to look after yourself in exam term. I made that mistake when I was at university. Please don’t do the same.

Finally…

I wish you the best of luck in whatever exam you’re taking.