The spring semester is flying by and, unfortunately for us students, there is no pot of gold at the end of this rainbow. Instead, there are finals. I think we can all agree that midnight crash outs are not an original experience. We have to review all different kinds of concepts, terms, and ideas from lectures we heard months ago in hopes they’ll stick in our brains long enough to make it through exams.Â
With the help of staff members from Ohio State, here are four tips from four professors that will help you succeed in your finals.Â
1) Prioritize long-term understanding over short-term memorization.
Say goodbye to late night cram sessions and last minute textbook skimming, and open the doors to a better way to study. Professor Clair Farris, from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, believes in the idea that “if you don’t use it, you lose it”, or that integrating course material into your everyday life enhances your long-term understanding of content.
“For instance, if you want to know more about Excel, create a spreadsheet to use like a budget or a food tracker. If it’s another language, try inserting it in normal conversions,” Farris said. It’s one thing to memorize a term, it’s another to understand the term enough to use it in your everyday life.Â
Farris reflected on her own experience in college, regretting the time she spent memorizing content instead of learning it.
She said, “We spend so much time on our classes (not to mention money), just to have it as a mark on our transcripts instead of a conquest for our learning.”Â
I ended up trying Farris’s study tip today at the dining hall, thinking about why Ohio State outsources their taquitos and insources the rest of their taco bar. (My logistics professor would be proud)!
2) No study guide? Create your own.
Taking an exam is bad enough, but not having a study guide or practice exam to help you anticipate what’s coming is even worse. It’s like walking into a lion’s den blindfolded… it doesn’t normally end well. So what do you do?
Senior Lecturer Jason DeWitt, from the Department of Philosophy in the College of Arts and Sciences, endorses making your own study guide. Lecture notes, textbooks, assignments, and other class materials are just the tip of the iceberg. Professors, classmates, tutors, and even AI tools are great resources to solidify your DIY study guide.Â
3) Start studying at least 1-1.5 weeks before your exam.
Do you know about the Forgetting Curve? Probably not, but you’re going to want to. Dr. David Widdifield, Vice Chair of the Marketing & Logistics department at the Max M. Fisher College of Business, believes the best time to start studying is at least 1-1.5 weeks before your exam. Widdifield attributed this time frame to the Forgetting Curve, a study that illustrates memory loss after learning a concept. Although it highlights how quickly knowledge can be forgotten, the study proved that memory loss can be adjusted, based on repetition of material.
To fight back against this evolving loss of memory, Widdifield suggests “breaking each study session into smaller segments to improve knowledge retention.” If you study different topics each day before your exam, start with the more difficult content and work your way up to content you feel most confident in.Â
Key takeaway: a late night, last minute study session isn’t going to effectively strengthen your memory, but a gradual study plan with intentional focus on small groups of content will!
4) Same day exams? Study in order.
What’s the secret to success with same day exams? Dr. Brittany Shoots-Reinhard, Research Professor and Senior Lecturer of the Psychology Department, recommends studying in the order that you’re taking your exams. Let’s say you have a Chemistry exam at 11:00 and a Biology exam at 4:00. Anytime you study for these exams, you should be studying Chemistry first and Biology after. Shoots-Reinhard says that “there’s evidence that context influences memory, so order might matter too.” This will condition your brain to remember information in the order that you will be taking your exams.