Preparing for Exams
Exams are the one thing in college that scared me the most. They count for most, if not all, of your final grade and they can be on way more information than traditional tests in high school. I have my first exam this morning at 10 so it's safe to say I'm nervous, but after preparing using these tips I feel much more confident that I'll do well.
5 Tips for Acing your Exam
1. Keep All of Your Notes
In almost every post I've done about taking notes I've mentioned keeping a running record of all your notes. Whether this be electronically, with apps like OneNote, or in a binder. Having a running record of all your notes in one place is the most important piece of advice I can give anyone for exams. When you have your notes in order of when you took them it makes studying so much easier because you know where the notes for a specific topic are.
2. Make an outline of what you need to study and when you're going to study it.
Make a list of all of the topics that you need to study. Then break it down into what topics you know you need extra help in. Then literally write an outline of the topics breaking up the easy and hard ones.
3. Give yourself some breaks
Study for 15-25 tops then take a 5 minute break. If you constantly study without any breaks you're gonna be mrs tempted to look at your phone when you should be working. But if you put your phone away for the 20 minutes or so that you're studying for, instead of 2 hours, then you will be able to stay more focused on work and less focused on checking Twitter.
4. Study with a group
If you only stdy by yourself you could be missing out on a great learning opportunity. When you're with a group of people someone may ask a question that you didn't know you needed answered, or someone may be able to answer a question that you couldn't answer yourself. You can also learn new study techniques from them.
5. Keep distractions to a minimum.
This may seem obvious but this is the one thing that nobody ever does. Turn your phone off. Bring a watch to check the time. Download an app for your computer to block social media. Do anything you can to limit outside distractions. It can be super helpful for studying, and for you psyche, to have a couple hours to yourself to study.
Let's take the stress out of college exams. If you use any of these tips let me know how they worked for you!
xoxo
AME
