Review For Your Exam

Conduct Systematic Review:

Daily Review - review your lecture notes for at least 10 minutes before and after class and scan your reading assignments (sections, underlined information etc.). This helps move information from your short-term to long-term memory. Also review them throughout the day (during normal breaks, on the train, waiting in line etc.).

Weekly Review - study an hour at a time on each subject. Review the notes and readings. Develop and review index or flash cards. Review the outline of the chapters in the text and develop questions from the materials.

Major Review - conduct it the week before the exam. Integrate the materials and concepts. Study for extended time (2-4 hours with breaks) for each subject. Study the most difficult materials first - when you are most alert.

Create Review Tools:

Make and Study a Checklist - make a list for each subject (reading assignments by chapters, dates of notes with subjects etc.) and type of problems to be solved (definitions, major ideas, theories, individual formulas). This is your to-do-list.

Mind Map Summary Sheets - from memory, create a list of all the information you know (without your book or notes) about key ideas and concepts. Write down everything you can recall associated with the concept, idea, or definition; then refer to your notes to fill in the blanks. This assists you in recalling important information and lets you know what you recall about key topics, as well as lets you know your level of understanding and what you need to study further.

Create Flash Cards - develop cards of key information from your notes, lectures, and readings. Write the terms or concepts on one side and the definitions or explanations on the reverse side. Take them everywhere and review them at all opportunities - review them from both sides, seeing the definition and naming the term and seeing the term and explaining the definition (with the same method for concepts).

Strategize and Predict the Text Content/Questions:

Trial Run - brainstorm the questions using multiple formats and take your mock test (this gets easier as the semester goes along and you become accustomed to the professors style and type of questions he/she will ask).

•  Ask the Instructor - ask him/her what to expect and the concepts likely to be emphasized.

•  Get Old Exams - check with the instructor, library, office, and at times, student organizations. Oftentimes, old exams are available for review and guidance.

Adopted from Becoming a Master Student, Tenth Edition.

Russell Conwell Center

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