Im in my exam year. Can anyone offer flawless study advice?

You will need to cultivate the study habits that work with your learning strengths.

It’s not a perfect on-to-one comparison, but I’ll use my martial arts studies as an example: When I learn a new stance, move, punch or kick, I can’t get it by looking in the mirror. I have to feel it in my body. Someone will sometimes actually position my body in the proper position so I can feel it. I am a kinesthetic learner when it comes to physical activities. All the other people in my class look in in the mirror.

There are different ways people will best pick up and retain information for “book learning” as well. This list can help you figure out how to do that for yourself. Good luck!

I’ve never seen any magic tricks that seemed to work, what you need is repetition. So, start by not waiting for the last minute and cramming, start your studying process from day one. I think you need to process the information in as many ways as possible, so go to class and take notes, even if everything is supplied in a powerpoint, because writing it down forces your brain to process the information. Then read the text, and try to reproduce the information in your own words. Check your work, and if you didn’t get something, go over it again. Finally, help anyone else in your classes that you can. If you teach the material to someone else in your own words, you will really know it. So now you are listening to the material (lecture), reading the material (text and notes), writing the material (notes and reproducing in your own words, and speaking the material (helping fellow students). By processing it in all these ways, you will learn it.

What is “Exam year”? and what are 5A1’s?

For me, I simply read, re-read and re-read again, taking notes everytime. Making sure to never re-write something I wrote before. I find that this gets me to think about what I have written and what I am writing. The more I think about it the more I remember. Pair this with self-decipline plus drive and you have the making of great study habits.

Again, this is from my own personal experience – LB

In college I took a class on learning and memory and we discussed effective studying methods.

Here is some of what I learned:
– Use various methods of studying including writing down questions and answers as well as reading them out loud
– Don’t study everything in topics, you need to mix up. This may seem contradictory to common sense but it is better for your memory.
– You absolutely need to use retrieval methods. This means you can’t just read it and retain it. You have to use notecards or write out the questions and answer them without looking at the answers at first. You won’t retain anything for any period of time without using retrieval.
– Split up your study time. For example if you have only 4 hours to study it is better to study one hour each day than to study all four hours at once or splitting into two sections (although two sections is still better than studying all at once)

Other Tips:
– If you were drinking soda when you study it is best to drink soda when you take the test. If you always sit in the same spot in class, take your test in that spot. This is called state dependent memory.
– Get some sleep and eat breakfast. This honestly helps. It is more brain power.
– Use devices to help you remember (pnemonic devices). If it’s a list of five things you need to know then use the first letter of each item and make a word with it. This helps tremendously.
– The brain becomes less able to learn after 20 minutes of sitting so take several movement breaks.

What I do:
I use notecards. It takes forever (2–4 hours) to write them all out but it is worth it. The time it takes to write them out actually helps you retain the information. Then I mix them up really good.
After that I split them up into sections of ten. I study ten at a time until I have them memorized. Then I study the next ten. Then I’ll combine those two and study that twenty. Etc.. until I am finished. This is the first time then after that it usually comes easy and I can just go through the whole batch. This works so well! When I sit down at a test information spues out of me. It’s great.

Sleep is a big key, it’s when the brain puts things in order. It’s a good idea to do some amount of your studying right before bed, and make sure you always get a good night’s sleep before exams.