Learn Hardcore Russian: Перед экзаменом я всегда немного нервничаю, даже если хорошо готовился. - Before an exam I always get a little nervous, even if I prepared well.

So перед экзаменом literally means “in front of / before the exam (in time)”.
You cannot use экзамен or экзамена here; with перед you must use the instrumental.

Could I say до экзамена instead of перед экзаменом? What is the difference?

Both are possible, but they are not identical:

перед экзаменом – “right before the exam”, close to the exam time, focusing on the moment just beforehand.
до экзамена – “before the exam” in a broader sense: any time earlier than the exam, possibly long before it.

In this sentence, перед экзаменом sounds more natural, because being nervous is usually about the time immediately before the exam, not the whole period leading up to it.

Why is готовился in the past tense if the main verb нервничаю is in the present?

Russian often uses the past tense for actions that are completed before another reference point, even in general statements or about the future.

я всегда немного нервничаю – a general, habitual present (I always get nervous).
даже если хорошо готовился – “even if I have prepared well (before that moment).”

Each time there is an exam:

First, you prepare (a completed action → past: готовился).
Then, right before it, you are nervous (habitual present: нервничаю).

In English, you might say “even if I’ve prepared well” (present perfect). Russian uses the simple past готовился for this meaning.

Why is there no я in даже если хорошо готовился? Is the subject still “I”?

Yes, the subject is still “I”.

In Russian, subject pronouns are often dropped when they are clear from context. Here:

The first clause already has я: я всегда немного нервничаю.
The second clause logically has the same subject, so repeating я is optional.

Both are grammatically correct:

…даже если я хорошо готовился.
…даже если хорошо готовился. (more natural, less repetitive)

Why is готовился masculine? What would a woman or a group say?

Russian past tense agrees with the gender and number of the subject, even when the subject is я (“I”).

Masculine singular: я готовился
Feminine singular: я готовилась
Plural: мы готовились

So:

A man would say: Перед экзаменом я всегда немного нервничаю, даже если хорошо готовился.
A woman would say: …даже если хорошо готовилась.
A group would say: …даже если хорошо готовились.

Is there a missing к экзамену after готовился? Should it be готовился к экзамену?

The full, explicit version would be:

готовился к экзамену – “prepared for the exam”.

In this sentence, к экзамену is understood from context (we just mentioned перед экзаменом), so it can be omitted:

…даже если (я) хорошо готовился (к экзамену).

This is very normal in Russian: when it’s obvious what you prepared for, people often just say готовился without repeating к экзамену.

Could I say Я всегда немного нервничаю перед экзаменом… instead? Is that the same?

Yes, that is absolutely correct:

Перед экзаменом я всегда немного нервничаю…
Я всегда немного нервничаю перед экзаменом…

Both mean the same. The word order difference is mostly about emphasis:

Starting with Перед экзаменом puts more focus on the time-situation (“As for before the exam, I always get a bit nervous…”).
Starting with Я is a neutral, very typical word order.

Both sound natural.

Where can немного go? Are sentences like я немного всегда нервничаю correct?

The most natural positions here are:

Я всегда немного нервничаю… (as in the sentence)
Я немного нервничаю перед экзаменом…

Both sound normal.

These are awkward or wrong:

Я немного всегда нервничаю… – sounds unnatural; всегда (“always”) prefers to come before the verb or at the very start.
Я нервничаю всегда немного… – possible, but sounds strange and overly marked in this simple sentence.

A good rule of thumb:
всегда (frequency) tends to be closer to the subject, and немного (degree) tends to be closer to the verb.

What is the difference between нервничаю and just saying я немного нервный?

нервничаю (from нервничать) describes a temporary state or reaction:
Я немного нервничаю ≈ “I’m a bit nervous (right now / in this situation).”
нервный is an adjective that often describes someone’s character or typical behavior:
Я немного нервный ≈ “I’m a rather nervous person (by nature).”

In this sentence, we clearly mean how the speaker feels before an exam, so я всегда немного нервничаю is the natural choice.

What is the difference between нервничать and волноваться?

Both can be translated as “to be nervous / to worry”, but they have slightly different flavors:

нервничать – to be nervous, on edge, jittery; often about agitation or stress:
- Я всегда немного нервничаю перед экзаменом.
волноваться – to worry, be anxious, be concerned (often more about inner emotional worry):
- Я всегда немного волнуюсь перед экзаменом.

In this context, нервничать and волноваться are both possible; нервничать sounds a bit more like “I get tense / I’m on edge.”

Why is there a comma before даже если?

In Russian, a subordinate clause introduced by conjunctions like если, когда, потому что, чтобы is normally separated by a comma from the main clause.

Here, даже если хорошо готовился is a subordinate clause of condition (“even if I prepared well”), so we write:

…я всегда немного нервничаю, даже если хорошо готовился.

The full conjunction is даже если (“even if”). The comma goes before it because that’s where the subordinate clause starts.

How do you pronounce нервничаю? It looks difficult.

Нервничаю is stressed on the first syllable:

не́рвничаю – roughly: NEHRV-nee-cha-yu

Tips:

The рвн cluster in нерв- is tight; Russian speakers often pronounce it smoothly, almost like “nerv-” in English “nervous”, but with a rolled or tapped р.
The ч is like “ch” in “church”.
The ending -ю is like “yu” in “you”.

So the rhythm is: NEHRV-nee-cha-yu (stress on NEHRV).