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Preparing for Exams
Despite what you might think, cramming is the worst way to prepare for an exam. You can’t cram a semester of learning into one evening of study. It leaves you exhausted and distressed. Worse, it forces information into short-term memory, where it will soon vanish. To succeed on exams and learn for the long term, follow these tips:
Keys to Exam Preparation
- Keep up with your daily work. Do the readings, complete the assignments, and focus your efforts on grasping the information. If you learn the material day by day, you will be better prepared to take an exam, whenever it comes.
- Know the exam. Find out what the test will cover, what kinds of questions you will face, how much time you will have, and how best to prepare.
- Use multimodal study forms. Read, then write, then discuss, then reflect. View visuals and videos. Conduct experiments. Participate in class projects. Get your senses involved to make the information vivid and memorable.
- Study in different places. If you study only at the kitchen table or at a desk in your room, you are telling your brain that the information is specific to one location. If you study in different locations, your brain will categorize the material as something that is needed in many places, including the test location.
- Interweave topics. Don’t study one subject solidly for hours at a time. Doing so fails to create deep connections in your brain. Instead, study one subject for a while, and then shift to another subject. Interweaving subjects keeps your brain fresh, helps you form connections across disciplines, and teaches your brain that the information is needed in multiple contexts.
- Study at different times. Instead of cramming for four hours on the night before a big test, study for one hour a week for each week before the test. You’re spending the same amount of time, but by spacing out your study, you train your brain to put the information into your long-term memory.
- Get a good night’s sleep before the exam. Your brain works best when it is rested. Staying up all night to study makes you less sharp and less capable.
- Eat breakfast. Your brain needs glucose in order to function well, so going into an exam hungry limits your ability to think. Eat well, without stuffing yourself, which will make you sleepy and sluggish.
- Calm yourself. Panic is not your friend. Take deep breaths (but don’t hyperventilate). Remind yourself that this is just an exam, and life is much bigger than exams.
- Move, if you can, during the exam. Stretch occasionally. Pivot and flex. Movement gets your blood flowing. Your brain needs 20 percent of the oxygen supply in your blood to function optimally.