01
What exam preparation with me looks like
Exam prep isn't a rerun of the whole semester. In our first conversation I'll ask what the test or exam covers, when it is, and which topics feel weakest. Then we spend our time where it earns the most marks, not on chapters you already know well. Sessions usually run 60 to 90 minutes, and intensive exam prep sessions can go longer.
A typical session mixes three things. Short, clear explanations of the ideas you're shaky on. Practice questions worked under exam conditions, with you doing the writing. And exam technique: reading the question properly, showing working that can earn method marks, and deciding which questions to tackle first.
- Targeted revision of your weakest topics
- Past paper walkthroughs and practice questions
- Strategy coaching: timing, question order and showing working
- A revision plan that fits the days you have left
- Concept breakdowns you can keep revising from
02
Subjects I help students prepare for
I prepare students for tests and exams in programming (Python and Java), SQL and databases, algorithms and data structures, information systems, systems analysis and UML, web and mobile development, and maths, including algebra, calculus and discrete maths. Across 2+ years of tutoring, I've covered 24+ subjects and guided 150+ students.
Different subjects need different revision. Content-heavy modules like information systems reward clear summaries and practice at structuring written answers. Maths and programming reward doing, under time pressure, again and again. Part of my job is telling you which kind of revision your module actually needs, so your hours go into the right activity.
03
How to study for a programming exam
Programming exams often ask you to write or trace code under time pressure, sometimes on paper, without an IDE catching your mistakes. So reading code matters as much as writing it. Take short programs and predict exactly what they print before you run them. When you're wrong, find the line where your prediction and reality split.
Then write small programs from a blank page, against the clock. Copying a working example teaches you to recognise code, not to produce it. In sessions, you plan a short problem in plain language, then code it while I watch for the habits that cost marks: loops that run once too often, unhandled edge cases, and variables used before they're set.
04
If you only have a week
A week is enough to make a real difference if you spend it on the right things. The plan below is the shape I'd suggest to most students. The key idea is to find your weak spots early, by testing yourself, instead of discovering them in the exam.
For maths, cover the worked solution, attempt the problem, then check. My maths tutoring page has more on studying for maths specifically. For programming, write code from a blank page. In both, the mistakes you make this week are useful: they show you exactly what to fix before it costs marks.
- Days 1 and 2: list every topic, rate yourself honestly, and do one practice question per topic
- Days 3 to 5: work hardest on the weakest topics, doing questions rather than rereading
- Day 6: one full practice paper, timed, in exam conditions
- Day 7: review your mistakes, redo the ones you got wrong, and sleep properly
05
Supplementary exams and last-minute help
If you've been given a supplementary exam, you already know which module you need to pass and roughly where it went wrong. That's useful information. We start with the topics that cost you the most, rebuild them properly, then practise in exam conditions so the second attempt feels different from the first.
Last-minute help only works if it's honest about time. With days rather than weeks, we won't try to cover everything. We pick the topics that carry the most weight, make sure you can do the standard questions on them, and work on technique so you don't lose easy marks to panic or poor timing.
06
Build a revision timetable you'll actually follow
A revision timetable usually fails because it's too ambitious. Start from your exam dates, whether that's mid-year or end-of-year exams, and work backwards. Block out the hours you genuinely have, not the ones you wish you had, and give each module time according to its weight and how weak you feel in it.
Put specific tasks in each block: “ten recursion questions”, not “study programming”. A vague block turns into an hour of rereading slides. Leave one empty slot each week, because something always runs over. For a fuller method, read my guide on how to study for university exams.
07
Why students prepare for exams with me
I'm a student too, in the second year of an IIE Bachelor of Computer and Information Sciences, so I know exam season from the inside: the pressure, the anxiety, the deadlines piling up. I graduated top of a class of 200+ in the IIE Higher Certificate in Mobile Application and Web Development and won the Full Stack Impact Award 2025.
Nomvelo Dlamini (First-Year Computer Science) wrote: “I was genuinely lost in my first semester, falling behind and too embarrassed to ask for help in class. Jorryn made everything feel manageable. The sessions were calm, structured, and I finally understood what I was supposed to be learning. My grade improved significantly in two weeks.”
If you'd like something to revise from between sessions, I can also prepare study notes that condense a topic into clear, structured pages written in my own words, built around the questions you're likely to face. You still do the practice, but you'll know exactly what to practise.
