As someone who went from never studying for tests in high school to acing all of my exams in college, I’ve had to build my studying technique from the ground up. In order to find techniques that DO work, you need to figure out what doesn’t. Here are just a few of my studying techniques that truly make all the difference when it comes to studying for, taking, and acing my exams.Â
Don’t: Wait til the last minute to start studying
Believe me, I know how hard it is to start studying for an exam. Initially, it can feel daunting and like you’ll never really learn all the information you need to know. However, waiting until a few days before the exam to start studying will only add unnecessary stress to the studying process.
Do: Start studying early
I personally recommend starting to lookover material about a week before the exam. You don’t necessarily need to start with 3-hour study sessions, but looking over your notes and beginning to build your study guide and flashcards well before the exam date will help the information stay fresh in your mind and make the load a little easier once the exam date gets closer.
Don’t: Study all night without stopping
I think one of the most common bad habits when studying in our generation is pulling all-nighters the night before the exam to study. Ultimately, sacrificing sleep in order to get some extra study time will not help you in the long run. Getting a full night’s rest is arguably just as important as actually knowing the information that will be on your exam. So don’t feel the need to sacrifice your sleep in order to study. If you really need to cram right before you take a test, I would highly recommend getting to sleep at around 8 pm so you can wake up early and have a morning study session before the exam, feeling refreshed and awake from a good night’s sleep.
Do: Take breaks!
Pulling an all-nighter to study isn’t just a bad idea because it sacrifices sleep, but also because you should absolutely be taking breaks in between study sessions. I personally will go through all of my flashcards once, then take a 5 to 10 minute break to reset, and then run the same set of flashcards again. Numerous studies have shown that taking breaks when studying, even short ones, drastically improves memory, as it reduces mental fatigue, reactivates neurons, and stimulates the hippocampus, which is in charge of converting short-term memories into long-term ones. So, while it may seem like you’re slacking off on your phone in between study sessions, it is actually dramatically increasing your ability to memorize, recite, and learn.
Don’t: Just read over your notes
Although reading over your notes is definitely a great way to start off your study session by making sure the information is fresh in your brain, it should never be your main method of studying. This is because reading over information doesn’t actually stimulate your brain in the way that you need it to for memorization and understanding.
Do: Active Recall
So, if you can’t just read your notes over and over, then what SHOULD you do? Active recall refers to the process in which our brains retrieve information that we’ve stored away. Methods for studying that fall under active recall include flashcards, brain dumps, and practice quizzes. Think of retrieving information as working out a muscle. If you regularly go to the gym and lift weights, you are exercising that muscle, making it stronger, and therefore making it easier to pick up heavy things in day-to-day life. By actively making your brain search for answers, you are strengthening the cognitive “muscle” of retrieving that information so that, on exam day, retrieving that same information from your brain will be much easier.
Don’t: Study the same questions over and over
So you’re using flashcards, great! However, after going through flashcards for a while, you may notice that you are answering mechanically instead of thinking out the answers. While this can be a good sign of memorization for some topics, it is still important to make sure you are thinking out your answers and that you haven’t just memorized your definitions. In addition, reciting the same flashcards over and over can quite simply get boring, and your brain will become passive and start reading flashcards much like reading out your notes.
Do: Think of new questions to answer
When this inevitably happens, I encourage you to come up with new open-ended questions to think of answers to. This makes sure that you fully understand the material and aren’t just memorizing terms and definitions. This also encourages deeper thinking, which then deepens your understanding of the subject and prepares you for questions that aren’t exactly like the ones on your flashcards.
In summary…
The main message of this article is that you must study with intention. Don’t just seek to memorize. Instead, seek to learn, understand, and recite your material easily. With that, I wish you luck on all your upcoming exams, and I urge you to try these techniques for yourself!