6 Things I Learned From Studying For Exams in College
If you skip a topic or donât study it thoroughly enough because you think it wonât be on the exam, it will be. Study that in particular so you wonât be surprised when it shows up as the first question. Unless your professor explicitly states that it wonât be on the exam, donât skip any topics.
Put aside the content youâre comfortable and familiar with and start studying the things you donât know. Itâs hard and time consuming but thatâs where the actual learning happens.
Start studying at least 4 days in advance. I always regret not starting earlier when Iâm at the library 24 hours before the exam and not even close to being done. When Iâm having trouble focusing, Iâll sit there and imagine myself an hour before the exam scrambling to finish up a topic, wishing that I had these extra few minutes, hours, or days that I have now. Take advantage of the time you have right now.
Changing up my location helps a lot when Iâm studying. If I study in the same corner at the library, eventually my brain will start associating that spot with everything I do in that chair, including wasting time. For me, new location + new material = focus. A few location ideas: a quiet corner in the library, a noisy floor in the library, at your desk at home, a room with a view of the outdoors from high up, a bench/table outside, a cafe or brunch place.
Stay on top of studying and homework from day 1, not after syllabus week and not a month into the semester. When you submit a homework assignment, make it a point to 100% understand everything you just handed in. Homework is assigned for a reason; theyâre meant as practice exercises for the material you learned and exams often mimic them. Once you hand in homework, you should know and understand the material. This saves you time when itâs finals week and you have old and new material to study.
Well before the exam, make a list of topics you donât understand and get your questions answered. There have been so many times where I didnât fully understand something and thought, âItâs okay, theyâre probably not going to ask that,â and it shows up on the exam. When you get your question answered, branch out and ask things like, âWhat if it werenât this particular situation/these particular numbers but a different one instead. How would you work through it this time?â (physics/math) or âWhat caused that/what came after that as a result?â (history). Try to understand all possible scenarios if you can.