My Boarding School Blog

Tips for exam takers

For anyone who has ever taken any type of exam before, a good study habit can be the deciding factor on whether or not you pass or fail. Here are a few basic tips that you can follow if you want to pass that all important exam.

Time Management

Before you start to study, make sure you have an sufficient amount of time to complete this task. Keep in mind that the amount of time you’ll need to study for a college exam is probably quite a bit more than the time you needed to study in high school.

Study Environment

What’s the best environment for studying for an exam? For the most part, that’s a personal decision. Some students need dead quiet. Some students have trouble concentrating without background music or other noise in the room. Some students study better alone, and others need company. The trick is to figure out what works best for you.

Get Help From the Professor or TA

Here’s an important tip that professors frequently tell their students, but that students frequently ignore. Look over the material at least several days before the exam, and then ask the professor if you have any questions! Of course, this means you can’t put off your studying until the last minute.

Figure Out What’s Important

As you study, pay special attention to what the professor thinks is most important. You can make educated guesses that certain kinds of material will be on the test.

Flashcards and Other Tricks

For many students, it’s helpful to write things down as you study. This helps reinforce the information in your mind, and it also gives you an easy way to look over information before the test.

One popular way of studying in this manner is by using flashcards, usually created with index cards. This is a good way to learn definitions and important words, as you can write the word on one side and the definition on the other. Be careful, though– make sure you fully understand what the definition actually means, and how it relates to the rest of the material.

Another helpful trick is to make a succinct outline of your notes and the readings. If you do this, be careful not to leave out any material that’s important.

Some students find it helpful simply to scribble down notes on a piece of paper as they study, or type things into a Word document. Although this isn’t the most organized way to study, this method can be effective in helping to reinforce material.

Remember passing the exams are just a part of the bigger picture, which is to LEARN.

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