Unless you’re a wunderkind, you need to study and prepare for a test. However, if this is your first year of college or high school, you still don’t have a lot of experience on how to properly study for exams. But don’t worry, with these easy tips, you will get to organize your time, study hard and ace your tests. Some of these tips might sound like common sense, and others concern your wellbeing, but all of them are equally important if you want to study and perform better when the time comes to show your knowledge. Let’s see the best ways to prepare for exams:
Start early
It’s common sense, but there’s no going around early revision. Your brain needs enough time to go over everything, create connections and achieve proper understanding. And if you’re struggling, you will have enough time to do research, read around the subject and ask for help. The best strategy is to review a subject in full before you switch to another, making sure you understand every point. If you want to study smart and actually learn and retain information, starting early is the key.
Organize your time
Some subjects are easier for you than others, while some might require extra reading and research on your side. Therefore, it’s more than smart to plan your revision, considering how much time you might need for each subject. Consider how much time you have every day for studying and see when you will study during the day. Do you have any other chores and commitments during your study time?
Plan your study time in a way that will ensure the greatest success for you. For instance, when do you concentrate best—morning, afternoon or evening? Can you do great amounts of reading at a particular time but love to do your writing at night? Create a plan, but make sure to be flexible as study circumstances change quickly.
Use quality study materials
Quality study material is key to aced exams, so make sure to get accurate notes and plenty of visual aids when revising. If you haven’t been able to write down notes lately because online classes are hard to keep up with, it’s all right, because you can find great UTS study notes online on many subjects. Use these as your base, and fill them in with your own info and highlight where the gaps lie if any. As you use your notes, study and get closer to your test, you can condense your notes into diagrams. Diagrams are great for quickly recalling the main points for any exam.
Vary revision styles
Spice up your study sessions by adding some variety to your revision. Always doing the same thing (reading your notes, looking at diagrams, etc.) will get dull quickly, so don’t hesitate to try different techniques and exercises. For instance, you can make mock papers and compile questions to exchange with your colleagues. Mark them for each other as well and you will get to see how you perform and learn new things from your peers in the process. You can also draw mind maps to test what you’ve learned and compare them with your notes. Or you can create an online discussion group with your friends, colleagues or other kids interested in the subject and go over a particular issue or field.
Practice on old tests
If you have access to old tests (you tutor or older kids should be able to provide these for you), make sure to try out your hand at exams. This will familiarize you with the format of the questions and how much you need to write down. And make sure to time yourself, to ensure every section of the test receives the right amount of attention.
Gather your friends
You might prefer to study alone, but group study sessions can introduce you to a whole new world of information. You probably have some questions your friends know how to answer and vice versa. Just ensure you’re staying on topic and respecting the time limit, and your study sessions can challenge you in all the right ways.
Take care of yourself
Your mother is right, you need to take good care of your health if you want to work hard, so eat well, stay hydrated and get plenty of rest. This goes for your study, revision and exam period. Eat a varied diet, use water to stay hydrated (you can’t survive on coffee and energy drinks) and get at least 7 hours of sleep a day. Another great idea is to get regular breaks and exercise. Any sort of moderate-intensity activity will do—a brisk walk, jog, some lifting, basketball, swimming—you just need to get your blood pumping and fill your body with fresh oxygen that will boost your focus.
Studying is the worst part of education, but present every step of the way. Luckily, with these study tips, you can learn everything in time and retain your sanity in the process.
