More often than not, preparing to be successful at an exam requires strategizing what you’ll be doing with your time. Indeed, hard-working students with poor grades is what made Stanford College postdoctoral researcher Patricia Chen interested in studying techniques in the first place. The researcher found that many students misplaced their energy and effort by not having a definite study plan that involved theory, practice, and revision. Moreover, it was found that students with higher grades than their peers didn’t devote more time to studying; they were doing it more effectively than the rest.
According to a recent study, students who utilize a strategic approach can improve their exam scores by one-third of a letter. In other words, having a creative approach toward the study material, revision, and the right exam preparation techniques can be a game-changer for your university career. Let’s take a look at the best three tried-and-true tactics to get your studying to the next level.
Time is Always King
Procrastination is one of the main stress sources (and reason for failure) among college students, according to recent studies. Indeed, the alarming percentage of students engaging in procrastination goes up to 95%. Moreover, 50% say they procrastinate in a consistent and problematic manner. Therefore, the first aspect to address for successful exam preparation is to make a plan, create a schedule, and avoid leaving all the studying to the last moment.
The reason is that “chunking” knowledge is much better for the mind to take it. Indeed, when we sleep, our brain reorganizes information, stores what’s needed, and gets rid of toxic waste besides repairing cells and restoring energy. Therefore, the best you can do after studying and revising is to sleep on it so you can give your body some time to store and organize the info getting it ready for exam day.
Get Creative
A recent study on Asian students showed that the creativity level applied to studying and the outcome in terms of performance are positively related. In other words, the more creative the student the better the results; thus, thinking out of the box when planning your studying sessions is more than welcome.
In this sense, you can use technology and resources from any area to make your studying hours more productive and fun. For example, utilizing software, such as a country generator when playing geography games, can prove to be a game-changer for some students to memorize difficult data. Moreover, the fact of using games to make information stick while studying already is a creative approach. Likewise, creating spider charts and using your fridge’s magnets to see them every day, and applying what you’ve learned in a fun situation can be the differentiator between top-tier and regular results or even failure.
Practice, Practice, and then Practice Some More
Once you’ve covered all the material, it is time to put that to work. In that sense, practicing with old tests is paramount for your studying strategy. This is because utilizing the knowledge you’ve just acquired is a must to perform well in an exam situation. Remember, you’re not just trying to understand and acquire the knowledge; you need to apply it to solve questions, hypothetical situations, and exercises.
Perhaps, the best way to practice is to create a study group with your fellow students and explain concepts to each other. You could, for example, divide the topics and have all the participants to explain one each, taking care to rotate the topics. That way, all members in the group get to explain every topic. Furthermore, completing old mocks or exams and passing them to other students for correction and feedback is a great exercise to solidify your knowledge and also understand how to read questions properly. Regardless of the approach you choose, you should always practice what you’ve learned before taking any exams.
Exams are stressful, difficult situations for most students. These feelings mostly come from being badly prepared, leaving all studying to the last minute, and not practicing enough. That being said, there’s a big part of the student population who make a big studying effort and still get worse results than expected. Hopefully, the above series of tips and strategies can contribute to a great performance. Indeed, they will help you make the most of every minute dedicated to studying.