I just finished up my Physiology course which I started in the spring. As most courses go, the fall course ended with a long two day (12 hours total) final exam. Not only did it cover material from the fall, but it also included material from the spring. This meant I had to go over 7 weeks of old material that I had taken while quarantined and away from a school environment. Long story short, I managed to study effectively and take my final exam. After sitting at home with nothing else to do but study, I thought I’d share a few tips of how to most effectively prepare for exams.
1. Prepare Your Study Environment
Make your study environment as effective for studying as possible to prepare for exams. Do you have loud roommates? Grab ear plugs. Do you get tired easily? Make a cup of coffee or tea. Will you get cold? Grab a sweater. You get the idea. Just put everything within arm’s reach, so you don’t have to get up mid-way through studying material.
2. Make a Study Plan
This step is so essential especially if you’re studying material over many weeks to prepare for exams.
To do this, make a list of the weeks or main topics.
Then, under each of the weeks or main topics, list out the lectures, labs, quizzes, etc. This will help give you a bird’s eye view of everything that could potentially be tested on. But don’t worry, move on to the next step to make things more manageable.
Next to each lecture or lab, write down the key topics that were covered. The quizzes will help show you what your professors think are the important concepts to understand. Alternatively, your professor will have written down learning objectives. In that case, copy and paste them next to the lecture/lab.
Now, it’s not the best use of your time to study everything equally. You should study smarter, not harder. Focus on the material that you identified as being the key concepts. Estimate about how long it will take you to actively cover the material. But the very first thing you should do when you get started studying is take a practice test.
3. Test the Practice Test First
If you’re lucky and have a practice exam, you should take it first before you start studying to prepare for exams. The reason for this is twofold. One, if you wait to do it last, there’s a good chance you’ll run out of time to take it before the final. Two, and most importantly, the practice test is a great form of active studying. You can find out what material you’re not so great at, and look up answers to questions you got wrong. This will help reinforce difficult concepts at the beginning rather than have you get to do them when your waist deep in study material and already feeling stresses.
4. While Studying, Use Active Recall
Everyone’s studying strategy is a little different. If you’d like to read my post on note-taking, you can find it here. Ideally, you’ll have made your own personal study notes throughout the semester, but everyone is different and every school is different. However, whatever your study strategy is, make it active!
I’ve talked about the Feynmann technique before (you can find that post here), but boy oh boy is it helpful. Basically, before you approach a topic, write down everything you remember about it. You can use scrap paper or a white board, it doesn’t matter. The act of testing yourself and looking up the material afterwards will help you member those topics you weren’t so steady on. While you’re reviewing the material, you can make little short-handed notes to help re-inforce key concepts. Then, constantly test yourself on the material. Come back and do another Feynman session on the same topic an hour or two later. Active recall and repetition may seem like they take a lot of time to do, but they make the time you’re devoting to studying much more effective to prepare for exams.
5. Review with Friends
Test your knowledge with your friends to help you fill in gaps in your knowledge to prepare for exams. Also, explaining concepts to other people will help reinforce the material. Keep the study group to no more than four people. Also, when studying with friends, it can be tough to stay on track. Make a list of main concepts you would like to talk through before starting and write out how long you’d like to spend on each one so you can be mindful of your time.
