Four Overlooked Exam Studying Techniques

By Uloop Guest Writer on July 9, 2013

If you don’t do well on this exam, your life is over! Well, no, that’s not quite true. So take a deep breath, calm down, and apply sound studying techniques like the four that follow. With some hard work and a little luck, you’ll blow that upcoming exam right out of the water.

Get Organized

If you have a lot of studying to do, make sure you have the time to do it. Make a schedule. How long are you going to spend studying each day? What topics will you concentrate on each day? Be reasonable. Pulling all-nighters might help you cram some information in your brain, but you’ll be so tired in the morning that you won’t be able to access that information.

It’s best to start studying for an exam early, take frequent breaks, and don’t let the pressure overwhelm you. Also make sure that you have a good space to study in. You want some place that’s free of distractions and has enough room for you to spread out your textbooks, notebooks, and other study materials.

Learn the Big Ideas First

Identify the foundational blocks of the course for which you’re studying. Which ideas came up again and again? For example, if your exam is based on certain literature, make sure you understand the setting, the underlying themes, and what motivates the main characters. When you get a grasp of the big ideas, the little details become easier to understand because of their relationship to the larger concepts.

To help you learn the big ideas, it’s helpful to create an outline, a flow chart, or a diagram. Having the information in an at-a-glance format takes you a step away from the overwhelming parade of black and white textbook pages. Fundamentally, it will help you to focus. Also, the process of creating an outline or chart will cement some of the information into your brain.

Use Flash Cards

Try to predict some of the questions on the exam, and create flash cards to match. Being able to shuffle the flash cards and practice answers in different orders will train you to quickly access the information. Flash cards are also great because they create a portable way to study, so even when you only have a few minutes, you have easy access to the important facts you need to learn for your upcoming exam.

Talk it Out

Other students are also a great study resource. If you’re preparing to take the ACT or another high-pressure exam, one often overlooked exam studying technique that you should use is talking about the exam subjects. Form a study group so you can help each other prepare. Talking about the information also helps you to learn it because you first have to process it, and then come up with the words to explain it. When you can explain a subject clearly to someone else, it’s evidence that you know your stuff and it reinforces your knowledge.

In fact, you can even talk about the information to people outside your study group. Who knows? Maybe your parents are dying to hear all about sines, cosines, and tangents.

When test day arrives, don’t be the jittery, over-caffeinated, sleep-deprived, super-nervous student. Prepare well and go into that exam confident that the results will be in your favor.

Sources:

http://www.fastweb.com/student-life/articles/941-9-ways-to-prepare-for-finals

http://www.topuniversities.com/student-info/health-and-support/exam-preparation-ten-study-tips

http://www.albany.edu/main/features/2004/12-04/1exams/exams.html

Image via Flickr by Konrad Lawson

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