For those of us who are drowning in midterm exams, there’s still hope in changing your study habits– if you find that they’re holding you back. My motto, especially when you’re pinched for time, is to study smarter, not harder.
Something to keep in mind is that strict memorization is not always the best way to study for exams, which is often the goal of using flash cards, or Quizlet. Don’t get me wrong, I still use flash cards from time to time when a concept just won’t stick! But truthfully, memorizing your lecture notes is not always what’s going to make you comprehend the material. Not only that, but if your exam is mostly multiple choice, memorizing terms verbatim is sometimes just extra work. Learning is all about getting familiar and habituated with a specific concept, and sometimes all you need is a review of your notes and rephrasing important ideas in your own words.
My tried and true method for studying is recopying my lecture notes or other valuable information on some loose leaf. I find that writing helps the concepts linger in my head more efficiently than just typing notes. I will rewrite my notes in a far more concise format, often shortening certain bullet points that run on for sentences to a few words. Most of the time, I will skip rewriting ideas that have been repeated numerous times in class, because I trust that the information is stuck in my head. It doesn’t matter if your notes look foreign to the next person. If you understand them, that’s all that matters.
By the time I’ve rewritten all of my notes, there’s certain bullet points that I’ve found are already sealed in my mind, so I don’t have to pay much attention to them in preparing for my quizzes/exams. Consequently, I will make my notes (the rewritten copy) even more succinct by highlighting the ideas or bullet points that I’m still struggling to remember. Now, I can glance over my material, specifically engaging in my highlighted points, to see what concepts I still need help remembering. Again, if you understand certain details and can explain specific objectives in your own words, that means you can truly apply what you’ve learned in class. Sometimes I will make further rewritten copies of my notes that are even more brief and paraphrased, copying them down until I feel fully prepared for my exam.
When you feel uneasy before an exam, keep in mind that you know more than you think you do. Especially if you go to almost every class, you retain information that you might have not even given much thought about. It shows when you have those lightbulb moments when searching for the right answer!
I bid you all good luck on your midterms! You’re gonna crush it!