You Should Be Studying

The semester is almost over, friends. Already I’m on the last page of my syllabi in several classes. And on the last page of every syllabus (most of the time, unless your teacher is so wonderful and gracious), there is that big, bold, all-caps statement that makes all college students shudder: FINAL EXAM.

Gasp! Shock! Awe! Face it—it’s coming whether you like it or not. In my two-and-a-half years of college, I still shudder at the thought of finals, especially cumulative finals with make-or-break percentages on your final grade. I can say, however, that over the years I have developed my own studying methods and techniques. This semester, in particular, I have analyzed the methods to successful academic results—that is, what works and what doesn’t work to produce desirable, Honors College-worthy test grades.  I’ve summed up everything I’ve learned in four easy points:

1.      Take “good” notes. This sounds like the no-brainer. Everybody can take notes. Just copy the professor’s PowerPoint onto a Word Document, right? Well, in my experience, I’ve realized that the PowerPoint presentation alone isn’t going to cut it. Most of the time, a PowerPoint is a general framework of everything else the professor says. The professor may put a few bullet-pointed terms on the screen, but are the definitions there? No. That’s why listening to the professor is key to understanding the essence of the topic. Taking notes without understanding is like drawing a picture without coloring it. It looks nice, but it’s boring. 

2.      Cover all bases. Your good notes are just one piece of the puzzle. The rest of the pieces include what the teacher said, what the readings said, what your friends said, what the PowerPoint said, and what Quizlet said. Now for some classes, professors will tell you to focus more on the lectures, or more on the readings. But if they give you the fateful phrase “everything is fair game,” it’s always better to be more prepared than less prepared. So after you study your notes, go back and look at everything else at least once.

3.      Start early. “But there’s so much to study!” I know. I’ve felt that way every day since freshman year. Something that proved especially effective for me this semester is starting early. For example, if I have ten pages of notes for the next exam, I would start eleven days early—studying one page each day for ten days, and bringing everything together on the eleventh day. I always found this method much more effective than cramming everything the night before the exam. That way I’m not spending all night teaching myself the material, because I had looked at the previous pages in advance. I used the latter method (i.e., cramming the night before) a couple of times this semester. It did not produce as successful grades as the former method.

4.      Bullet-bite. This is the hardest part. Let’s face it—the path to an undergraduate degree is hard work. Sometimes, all you have to do is bite the bullet. Just do it! “Okay, it’s bullet-biting time!” I tell myself. Time to put the phone away, log out of Facebook, get started, focus and don’t stop.

I realize that some of these methods might not work for you. These are just methods I’ve learned over the years and formulated over the course of this semester. You might have your own sure-fire way to study. Nevertheless, I hope that somehow what I’ve learned could help you survive the rest of this whirlwind semester and undeniable joy of Finals Week.