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When should you begin preparing for final exams? The best
way is to review for exams at weekly intervals during the entire academic term.
If you haven't yet begun your reviewing, however, now is the next best time to
begin.
Here are some exam prep ideas:
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Some of your instructors will hand out review sheets,
but if you haven't yet received one, start reviewing anyway.
·
Make a master review calendar, so that you do some
review every day. Be very specific. Instead of writing, "review math," write
something like, "math: review test #1," or, "history: ch3 ID's 25-50."
·
Find out from each instructor which chapters or
topics will be covered on the final exam, so you don't end up studying material
that you don't have to.
·
Review your graded tests and quizzes. Make sure you
understand both the items you got right
and the items you got wrong.
·
For true/false items for which the correct answer is "false,"
cross out the words that make the item false and rewrite it so that it would be
true.
·
For essay answers, rewrite your answer, correcting
and adding information as
necessary. You may want to show the rewritten version to your teacher to
make sure that you've written a full-credit version.
·
When reviewing a particular math topic for your math
or science class, work a couple of each kind of problem from your old tests and
quizzes. Do only enough to refresh your memory. It is not necessary to re-do
the entire test, unless you find that it takes a lot of repetition to refresh
your memory.
·
Be sure to memorize all necessary formulas for math
and science classes.
·
When reviewing history or literature material,
explain the essential events or story lines or themes orally to a fellow
student or to yourself.
·
If you expect essay questions on your final, make up
possible questions and actually write out the answers. Even if you don't guess
the exact questions, you will have thought about the important topics and will
be much better prepared to write the essays on the test. Make very brief
outlines of your essay answers. Memorize these outlines.
·
When you are taking the test, jot down your essay outline
on the back of the test page before you begin writing out your full essay
answer. Refer to your outline as necessary.
·
If you do not have access to your graded tests and
quizzes, use your notes for studying. Make photocopies of your notes and white
out essential information so that you can use your notes to quiz yourself. If,
for example, your notes list four causes for the American Civil War, leave the
bullets or the numbers 1-4, and delete the causes themselves. When you go back
to quiz yourself, you'll know that there were four items, and you'll then try
to recall them. Be sure to look back on your original notes to confirm your
answers.
·
Review vocabulary in short (15-minutes or less)
sessions.
·
Review concepts like essay ideas or mathematical
calculations in longer (30-45 min) sessions.
·
Schedule an overview session for each subject on the
night before the exam.
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