Preparing for exams

[outin]

Those of you who do exams, how long do you prepare the pieces for them? When I started I did not plan to take any, but if I would I guess I would need to really polish the pieces and know them well enough to play through whatever happens. I have worked on over 30 pieces (including the little studies assigned by my teacher) in a bit over a year and I only know maybe one or two well enough to even try an exam. Those I have been playing on and off for many months. But just studying 3-4 pieces during a year seems really boring to me...?

I don't think the strategy I used back when I studied other things would work with piano: Start to study for an exam as late as possible (too late), then study for a few days day and night and pass the exam and then forget everything