What is the best way to study for an exam?

Here’s the Nazi method for studying (100% guarantee :P) – Make a study schedule and stick to it. While studying, sit at a desk, NOT on your bed or any other such comfy place. While studying, also avoid any distractions such as computer or any gadgets nearby. If you need your computer because the study information is on it, disconnect the internet while studying. Try to study at the same time everyday. Depending on what kind of learner you are, you will have to follow certain strategies. For example, if you learn by repetition, take notes and re-read them. While taking practice tests, it’s best to take the test at the same time of the day that you would take the official test on. It helps to mentally prepare yourself for D-day. Make sure you keep eating right (with breakfast being a must!) and regularly, and don’t cage yourself in the house. Go out for a walk every now and then. Also, sleeping well is important since it helps with memory retention. The day before the test, don’t do major cramming, just look through your notes or the highlighted portions of your text. If you follow your study schedule, you won’t get stressed and also won’t feel the need to cram the night before. Good Luck!

It varies from person to person, cc34. For me, taking the material and breaking it into manageable chunks and organizing it in the best way for me to understand it is what works. I think there is a little bit of magic in the rewriting of the key points myself—that helps inscribe them in my memory.

Good luck!

thanks marina—you always come through. i do the same—write it out.

Here are some ideas from yesterdays question.

Good luck.

I find that it’s best to go outside with your notes, find a secluded area, and pace around while you read the notes aloud. Keep re-reading them until you can say them all without looking at the sheet. Once you can memorize all your notes and say them aloud, you’re good to go.

A teacher I once had told me to study for one particular subject for 20 min. straight. No music, no TV, no candles, no food. All of those will be memory triggers and you will rely on them to recall what you’re trying to learn. Be focused for 20 solid minutes. Take a 15 min. break to get a snack or drink and stretch your legs. Then hammer down and go 20 min. again on a completely different subject. If It’s not too late, try and do this for a week before your exam time!

One of the best ways to study, in addition to committing yourself to small chunks of study over a period of time, is to come at the subject from a variety of ways. If you can use graphic organizers to help you rearrange the ideas or make new connections within the topics, you will remember it more easily and with less effort.

Study buddies are also a good way, because there are a variety of questions that you can ask each other, which helps with retention. Think of Bloom’s Taxonomy for studying, using higher order thinking skills to help consolidate the information. This link has a simplified version, but basically you want to find ways to analyze, synthesize, and apply the information in a unique way to your brain.

http://www.teachers.ash.org.au/researchskills/dalton.htm

It also depends on what you are studying. Hope this helps.

Outline the material as you go through the course. All key issues are contained in the outline. Study the outline for the Final. For finer points or specific issues go back to your text. As previously mentioned this involves “writing out” your notes and outlining them in chronological form as the material was presented to you so that your outline review is just that… Review! Outlines longer than 10 pages risk becoming burdensome and useless. Ask the teacher about what topics will be covered. Sometimes they even tell you. Study those. If its the 11th hour, and you’re just now looking at the Big Fucking Manual coming at you, well… Dominus Vobiscum my son.

I gave some lurve to a few people here… great ideas!

To add to these or BOOST them… definitely highlight while you go and the week before the text just read the highlighted text from all the manuals and books.

Pay close attention to details also, I recently took a work test that had about 10 books and 3 manuals and some of the questions where from obscure material on a chart that I knew existed, but did not study or review the self explanatory columns. It was not about memorizing anything, but being familiar with all of the material.

Also see what you can find out about the testing agency. What type of test will it be? Fill in, Multiples, or essay… how detailed will it be? Ask what the test will be like. Maybe others who have taken it can help you out.

Good luck and let us know how it goes!