Hopefully you aren’t reading this the night before an exam…because
if you are then you’re screwed. I’m just kidding, but it is concerning. Anyhow,
if you’re in the middle of a cram session and you need some help then you came
to the right place. After four years of this, I mastered the art of cramming
for any exam. With some proper guidance you should be able to do well on the
exam (unless its calculus…then you really are screwed).
Take a deep breath
Now panic
Now take another deep breath
Honestly answer this question: Are you at least somewhat prepared for the exam?
If the answer to this question is no, then that’s’ okay. I
highly suggest taking a quick break and running to the closest gas station for
some Red Bull though, because you aren’t sleeping. When you get back, you need
to turn off your phone, get away from any friends (unless they’re studying for
the same exam), and give yourself a lecture about procrastinating. Now you need
to pull together every single resource you could possibly use on this exam to
study. Notes you took in class. Syllabus outlines of the exam content. Online
study guides. All of this is necessary.
Create the most basic outline you can
Make the simplest outline of the material that you possibly
can. If there were 5 main chapters on the exam, then there you go. This is how
you will make your study attempts possible. Then you need to spend some time
outlining each individual section (i.e. all the main sections in a chapter).
You probably have a pretty big list by now, but don’t panic. A lot of the
content is repetitive or you already know it.
Jump right in
Start with the first section you have. Skim read all the
material and make a point to note the things you have no fucking clue about.
Those will be your primary objectives. Do this for each main section and you
now have an idea of how much trouble you’re in. Instead of going through
chapter by chapter, you should spend your precious (prime-time) hours studying the
hardest material. Once you do this you will feel a lot more confident which
means you won’t panic and sabotage your study attempts.
Pace yourself
Don’t sit at a desk for five hours straight, you will not
learn that way. Get up when you start to get something so that you can walk
around and debrief yourself. Try and explain things out loud to yourself and
work through tricky topics. Don’t beat yourself up if you are confused, just
note that you need to go back to this material.
Don’t spend all your time on one section
Spend enough time on each section to at least know what the
sections is about. Focus on learning the basics of the chapter. An example of
this for an economics course would be to spend enough time on chapter seven to
know that it’s on supply and demand. Also try and see what it uses this
information for (because all school content does this). So I look through
chapter seven and realize that the chapter is not just about supply and demand,
it is about the factors that shift it. Now I know that I need to focus on
learning what factors shift supply and demand. This is the gist of cramming for
an exam.
Be economical
If you are running short on time, focus on the content you
believe is most important. To decide which content is important, think about
what you went over in class the most. That will likely be on the exam, so take
advantage of this by making sure you know this information. Teachers are smart
when they decide what to teach students, they give you the tools to go home and
study on your own. So the information a teacher goes over will allow you to
understand the more advanced topics.
My last piece of advice
BUY A STUDY GUIDE
If you are really concerned and need to do well on the exam,
buy a study guide. They aren’t that expensive and they work. The sooner you do
this, the better. This is what I did to get through school. Considering I got a
B.S. in economics without ever going to class, I’d say that study guides work.
Only buy one that is aimed at your school’s content. So since I went to Florida
State University, I only looked at study guides that were for FSU courses.
Ending Notes
If you prepare this way, you will probably have no problem
passing. You just have to stay calm and focused. And if you really need a high
grade and you know you aren’t going to get it, go to the doctor! Get a doctor’s
note and you will be able to take the exam at a later date. Best of luck with
your studies, you can do it!
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