With final exams coming up, you’re probably putting all of your study strategies into practice. Whether you have your study schedule set already or are looking for a new one, review a few recommendations to make sure you’re getting the most out of your study time and setting yourself up for success.
Review study guides and semester notes
If your professor gives you a study guide, begin filling it out early. While study guides are unlikely to contain all of the information the professor will test you on, they are a good place to start. When professors are creating exams, often the study guide is the first place they will look for questions.
If your professor does not give you a study guide, don’t worry! Use the learning objectives posted by your professor or go through your notes and sum up the main concepts to create your own. And remember, depending on the class, you may not have enough time to read every word of your notes before the exam, and that is OK. Rely on your note-taking skills and focus on the most important takeaway from each lesson.
Consult previous and practice exams
Just as some professors give out study guides, others share examples of previous exams. If your professor does this, make sure to use them. Set yourself up in a quiet room with no notes, and take them as if they were a real exam. Although they won’t be identical to the test you’ll take, they will do wonders for showing you what you already know and what you need to review.
Some professors may even reuse questions from past exams they’ve shared, so make sure you get those free points! Additionally, these previous exams will also help get you used to your professor’s testing format.
Consider studying with a group
Although studying with others doesn’t work for everyone, for some it can actually help with focus and offers a chance to share ideas and discuss questions. If this sounds like you, find a group of students you can study with before the exam.
Set a date, time and place to sit down and get substantial studying done. If you’re not sure where to go, try studying in your residence hall’s common area or reserve a group study room at Kelvin Smith Library. Just make sure you aren’t disturbing anyone else as they try to study.
Understand, don’t memorize
As you study, you are bound to come across questions you simply don’t know the answer to. When this happens, rather than simply memorizing the correct answer, go back into your notes and try to understand the answer. This will help you learn the information and build knowledge for later use, but it will also be helpful when an unexpected free response question, or a tricky multiple choice shows up on the exam. A great way to test if you really understand something is to try and explain or teach it to someone else.
Be kind to yourself
One of the hardest things about preparing for exams is that you need to hold yourself accountable while also keeping yourself from burning out. As you study, pay attention to how you are feeling. Make sure you are staying focused, but don’t be afraid to give yourself a break when you need one. After all, this is a stressful time.
Take care of yourself during exam week
Once it gets to the week of the exam, make sure you are eating right, hydrating and sleeping. Take time early on to plan out your schedule so you don’t have to cram the night before. Once the exam is over, no matter how it went, let yourself relax. Be happy! It’s over.