Studying for Final Exams

In the last blog we looked at the time frame and organization for final exams.  Now let’s think about exactly HOW you will study!

Gather all of the material you have for the exam and get an overview.  How many topics will be covered?  What are they?

Make a large review chart with all of the topics listed and then write the information you need to know.

If your professor gave you a study guide:
·         Write all of the information on the guide.   This means if there are people you will write out what you need to know about them.  If there are terms you will write the definitions.  If there are questions you will write the answers.  You get the idea!
·         It works much better in terms of your own learning if you do this yourself and do not divide the work among several friends and then share.
·         As above, divide this information into logical sections.

Be sure to use recall.  Practice recalling the information without looking at the material and then checking your accuracy.  You are doing what will be asked of you on the exam.  This recall strengthens how solidly the information is in your long-term memory and how easily you can retrieve it on the exam.  If you are in a study group, take turns quizzing each other and checking the answers.

Predict exam questions.  By now you have had at least one exam with this professor, so predict what he/she will ask on the final.  If it is an essay exam, predict the questions or at least the topics and outline possible answers.

Study plan:
·         Starting about one week before the exam, study one topic in-depth.
·         The next day study the second topic in-depth and review the first.
·         The next day study the third topic in-depth and review the first two.
·         Continue on until all topics have been studied.
·         Continue to review until the exam.

If it is an open-book exam the expectations are higher for complete and detailed essay answers.  You still have to prepare.  You can add page numbers lecture dates to the review chart mentioned above to help you find the information in the textbook and your notes.  Post-it notes with topics, information and page numbers are also helpful.

All of this information pertains to on-line exams.  More than likely you will have a very limited time to complete the exam, so you will not have time to look up the answers.  You still need to study and prepare!

Finally, get a good night’s sleep every night during finals and eat nutritious breakfasts!   Everything works together to ensure your success.  Good luck!

*****

First Semester Success: Learning Strategies and Motivation for Your First Semester (or Any Semester) of College, by Dr. Arden B. Hamer, is available at amazon.com, wordassociation.com and barnesandnoble.com.    Click on the upper right link.