How does one go about preparing for an essay exam? Probably the best way is to start the first day of class. Cramming is stressful, stupid, and unnecessary. Preparing for a test by cramming puts the information into short-term memory, like the phone number that you look up and remember only long enough to dial it. The material can be learned better by studying it over a long period of time. Repetition and reinforcement help you to store information in long-term memory.
Preparing for a test can be broken into a number of easy steps that are sometimes called "studying."
Lecture notes
Notes on the readings
Relate the lecture notes to the readings
Prepare a sample exam.
Look up the answers to your exam questions and memorize the details necessary to support those answers.
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1. Lecture notes
Ideally, one should take notes in class and transcribe them into a readable form very soon after class. Notes that are not transcribed are often impossible to figure out several months later when you need to study for a comprehensive final. Transcribing class notes into a neat and understandable form is also an opportunity to be certain that one understands the lecture. Write down any questions that you have as you transcribe your notes so that you can ask the professor during the next class period or get clarification from others during a study group session.
2. Notes on the readings
Read all assigned material before the class it is assigned for, and take good notes on your readings. You will rarely have time to reread this material before the exam (and it would be foolish to wait to read it until the night before the test). Your notes should be your own version of commercially available "Cliff Notes" or "Monarch Notes" (which don't exist for most textbooks). Making notes on the readings also gives you the opportunity to see what you don't understand so that you can write down any questions you have. If your questions are not answered by the lecture on this material, you should ask them in class.
3. Relate the lecture notes to the readings
It may seem strange to take notes on your notes, but this is a good tool for helping you to see the relationship between the lecture notes and the readings. Sometimes the relationship is not entirely clear. If this is the case, try to put yourself in your professor's shoes. There is a connection; you just have to find it. Think about it and write down your thoughts. This will help you to prepare for the exam. Often, college professors do not refer to readings in their lectures. Often they do not go over the readings in great detail as your high school teachers did. This is because they are expecting you to use your critical thinking skills to find the connection between the readings and the lectures.
4. Prepare a sample exam.
About three or four days before the exam, make a list of the topics that your professor spent a lot of time lecturing on and about which topics s/he was very animated and lively. These topics will most certainly appear on your exam in some form. Think yourself into the mind of your professor and try to make up questions that s/he might ask. Come up with a minimum of five essay questions.
5. Look up the answers to your exam questions and memorize the details necessary to support those answers.
Students usually object that learning the answers to their exam questions won't help them on a test. However, in my experience, the details that you memorized to support the answer to your sample question can usually be used to answer the question that does appear on the test if you prepared well.
The biggest mistake students make in answering exam questions when they know the answers is in failing to supply the details. Details make the difference between a correct answer that is a "C" and a correct answer that is an "A." The "C" answer may be accurate but will lack specific examples, quotations, or dates that the "A" answer supplies. Too many students see only that they did not make any mistakes and try to argue that a "C" answer should be a higher grade. If you get a "C" on an exam question, look in your lecture notes and readings for the details that you might have supplied. This will help you to do better the next time.
6. Get enough sleep the night before the test.
source: Copyright © 1998 Pennsylvania State University
Contact: Kathleen Nulton Kemmerer kxk30@psu.edu