Photo by Pixabay
Picture this: you’re in class and listening to a lecture and taking some notes. Class ends and some of your classmates are talking about the lesson. Then someone asks “Have you guys started studying yet?” And then you remember that exam season is coming up and you haven’t reviewed a thing. You wish you were the kind of person that was on top of all of your studying, and work, and friends, and family, but you just weren’t this semester. How does someone even balance good study habits with work and life? Never mind about that — you’ll worry about it for next semester because right now, you gotta worry about this current one.
Most of us have been there before. It doesn’t feel good to know that you have a mountain load of course materials to go over, but the good news is that you can still do well on your exam even though you haven’t started preparing for it since the start. In this article, I will share with you a study strategy for when you’re 2 weeks out from an exam.
Strategy for Week 1:
Figure out your Schedule
It’s time to bust out your calendar and figure out what you have coming up. I’d begin by marking down when your exams are and then start scheduling around them. If you have friend and family commitments coming up soon, see if you can reschedule for after your exam season. Or, try and make a study date out of one of your commitments.
If you have work scheduled on days close to your exam, try and swap shifts with someone.
Now that you have a set schedule of events that you cannot move around, it’s time to start scheduling in some study AND break times. While studying is important, it’s also extremely important to rest too.
Make sure that the time you schedule to study makes sense. For example, if you schedule in time to study in the hour between your class and work shift, you’re probably not going to get it done. Or if you schedule in time to study when you’re at your sleepiest, you’re probably not going to learn so much either. Figure out what times actually work for you and give it your full focus when it’s time.
Review your Class Syllabus
This is a great time to review your class syllabus and try and figure out what’s going to be on your exam. Most professor’s will give out hints in class on what’s going to be on the exam, or they’ll even have a review session before the exam. Make note of what the exam is going to heavily focus on, what you can just skim, and what you can skip.
Once you’ve figured that out, it’s time to start skimming through your course materials and get a feel for how long the chapters or units are.
Create a Study Guide
Now that you know when you can study, and what to study, it’s time to create your study guide. I’d use the remaining study days in week one to create your study guide.
Your class syllabus will give you directions for your study guide. Review your chapter / unit and then jot down the most important parts. Review your notes and add additional notes to supplement the chapter. It is important that you don’t just spend your time copying words verbatim. Take the time to summarize the concepts in your own words. This benefits you in 2 ways: You took the time to actually understand the concept, and you’ve created a summary for you to review later.
It is important that you don’t just copy the text directly because that’s a waste of time, and when you review your study guide later, you’ll really appreciate that you won’t need to read through much.
If you’re creating a study guide for a STEM class, I’d pick some problems from your homework that demonstrate the lesson well and do them on your study guide. I’d also add notes to explain why you have to use a certain formula, or document the process on how you’d go about solving a problem.
Strategy for Week 2:
At this point, you should be adding the finishing touches to your study guide. Now it is time to review all of your hard work.
Review Past Exams
Past exams for your class exist somewhere. Or if they don’t, they will exist for the same class, but under a different professor. Take the time to find them and review them.
Work on your Practice Exam
Some professors give out practice exams, or study guides. Whatever they give you, it’s worth it to work on them and then go to office hours for any questions or help you need. It’s good to do this so that you can see where you need additional review.
Spaced Repetition of your Study Guide
Review parts of your study guide throughout the week. Make sure that you’re breaking up your study guide review. And then when you’re a couple of days away from your exam, review your guide again.What you’re doing here is called spaced repetition. Spaced repetition is a highly effective study method because you are continually exposing yourself to the material, with breaks, that allows for information to stick better.
Rest and Relax
You’ve done a lot of work at this point and it’s time for you to relax. It can feel like you need to keep going, but you need to rest and relax to let the information sink in. This is because when you rest, your brain compresses and consolidates memories of what you just learned. This means that your brain replays what you just practiced and when you do that, there’s evidence that it allows what you just practiced to remain in your memories.
Alright, now take a deep breath. You’ve got this!
xx
