How can I make sure I stay focused on the question in the exam?

Writing in exam conditions can be very difficult. We often panic and start writing an answer to the question we think we have seen as opposed to the one we have actually been asked. It is also very easy to get caught up in one point and lose sight of your argument as a whole when writing in timed conditions. Unbalanced preparation is often a key cause of this – if you feel more confident in one area you will likely jump at the chance to answer on this, sometimes without paying attention to the specificities of the question itself. The solution to this is to make sure you have a secure grounding in all topics so that you feel less invested in certain areas. Another way of ensuring that you are answering the question in front of you is, perhaps obviously, to read it. I find that keeping a tally of how many times I have read the question (actually read, not just skimmed) as I plan and write helps me to respond properly to the specific wording of the question asked. By the end of the exam I aim to have a tally of 7-10 which seems like a lot but is really necessary to get the question into your head so you can respond to that question, not the one that your panicked exam-brain wants to respond to.Clear writing style in the main body of your essay will also help you maintain clarity. An introduction which establishes your argument and the points you will use to support it not only gives your examiner a clear view of your approach to the question but will also mean that you have to be strict with yourself to ensure that you continue to follow the argument which you outlined in your introduction. Alongside this, introductory and concluding sentences to your individual paragraphs will help present your answer as confident and in control to the examiner. You should present your point at the beginning of each paragraph and explain how it supports your argument as a whole at the end. An introductory sentence might be: ‘The conflict between emotion and reason in the Gothic is demonstrated through Stoker’s contrast of characters from scientific and superstitious backgrounds.’ Followed by your concluding sentence: ‘The different approaches of characters to the defeat of Dracula emphasises the gulf between the rational and the emotional in the Gothic and sheds light upon the Victorian public’s attempts to navigate this opposition’. This again will help clarify for you and the examiner where your argument is going and how your answer is a direct response to what you have been asked.