Preparing for Exams: the Do’s and Dont’s of Study Methods

Whether you are preparing for an exam in school or college, preparation can be an intense endeavor that can sometimes overwhelm students. The key to everything is to have a way of setting yourself up so that you can be at your peak performance when you sit down to take that test, and set yourself up for the best chance of success. Preparation preparation the night before the exam doesn’t start and stop, and when it comes to your study, it promotes behavior. Writing will not only help you in the short term, but you will create something that will help you for the rest of your life.

Never start . it is

When you know the exam is 2 months away, it is very easy for someone to start the procrastination cycle. This is where you convince yourself that the test is so far away that you don’t have to worry about it, and that you have a lot of time before the learning curve happens. Then suddenly two months have passed, you only have a few days left to study, and your stress level starts to go through the roof as you think to yourself that there isn’t enough time left to prepare. It’s a habit that needs to be broken, and even if you don’t go into it with the same voraciousness as if it had been tested the same week, starting before “break-time” is going to not only keep the information at bay, but you’ll remember it for a long time.

Notes and Flashcards

The best study-aid that anyone can try is taking personal notes from classes or from assigned lessons. If you read or hear something for the first time, make sure to write it down so you can refer to it later when you review. A high percentage of the material we read is lost in the transfer from short-term memory to long-term memory simply because we did not spend enough time learning the terminology or substance. Indeed, in matters as deep as medicine or things like history, which deals with so many different times and people, it is almost impossible to retain everything that is read or heard about for the first time. They are known as where we look back and refresh our memory to prevent it from making a long-term contribution to our brain.

When you read a text and come across a term, date, event, or something special that you’re only learning about for the first time, or that you feel is on trial, it’s set in you. flash card These flashcards are for your personal use, so you can decide how best to store them, but just by creating a Term in advance, you’ll have study material ready when the exam gets closer. The best way to use flashcards is to carry them around in your bag or backpack so that you can refer to them when the time comes. Great times to review these flashcards are when they were at home watching television and commercials started; when you’re heading to campus, when you’re stuck between classes, or when you have free time in other classes. Everyone has a few spare moments throughout their day where they’re waiting or wasting time, and if you can get your sparks out and briefly review the material, you’ll be a few steps ahead of the curve.

Keep up with Lectures and Class Attendance

It is usually given that the most difficult material of the quarter, semester, or year ends in the exam. A teacher or professor will usually impress upon you what is important and what will be tested in time. By attending classes and keeping up with all the assigned lessons, you will set yourself up for success. Skipping class, or waiting to catch up with lessons the next night is a disaster because there might be material you don’t understand. Also, some materials can be “heavy” and need to be read between sessions to fully grasp the concepts. In order to prepare yourself at your best, this makes it very important to attend your classes and keep up with the text.

Reacquainting With Buddy

Since most of us can teach ourselves basic concepts and learn by reading, it is very useful to do it together with a friend or a group of friends to move on to the study material. Asking each other about topics and sharing your thoughts on the subject will ensure that everyone understands the course methodology. Sometimes one student will take one part of the course better than the other, and someone who will be involved in the offensive thoughts and ideas will be helpful. This can also be a great time to pull out the dreads and quiz each other on the most important things and definitions to make sure everyone knows what’s going on in the course.

Figure out what time of day you learn best

Everyone else has a scale at which they learn the material, and it’s important when you can remember the most information. Some people learn better by studying on the weekends, others work better in the evenings, others do it in the morning before running to class. By leaving what time of day you retain the best information, save time in time by using it to your advantage. If you learn best at night, then make sure you study at night to make full use of your learning abilities.

Set Yourself Up to Succeed the Night Before the Exam

No matter how many times you think it works or how many stories you’ve heard about cramming through tests the night before an exam, it’s been proven that it doesn’t really work. By doing this, you are cramming a lot of information into your short term memory and hoping you can remember it all day. By simply sleeping, you will forget a lot, and by not committing information to long-term memory, you will remember even less the following week. When you’re taking courses that directly affect your profession, or what you’ll take later in your academic career, you want to make sure you’re learning the information rather than memorizing it. This means that you will have to prepare the night before, and when the night before the temptation comes, you must have the courage to follow some easy steps. The first and most important thing is to be well rested sleeping through the night before the exam, and your brain is working at its peak. You also want to try and be healthy not only that night (so you sleep well) but at lunch on the day of the test so that you don’t end up crashing in the exam or getting tired as you take it. If you cram, you’re more likely to be exhausted during the test, and much less likely to retain any information you’ve learned.

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