How to Prepare for Final Exams

1. Know what will be covered in the exam—are questions primarily from lectures, the textbook, or outside readings?  Is it cumulative?   What types of questions will it include— essay, short answer, multiple choice? Do the questions focus on main themes, details, or both? Ask your professor tactfully about the exam.  Do not say, “What’s going to be on the exam?”  Instead, try something like, “What are the most important concepts I need to review?”

2. Review course exams you have taken this semester.

3. Create a summary sheet of the course’s most significant information. This strategy provides an excellent focus for you as you review your readings and lecture notes. Then, reconstruct your summary sheet from memory. Do your best and, if you get stuck, review the original summary sheet, picture it in your mind, and construct it again—from scratch.

4. Space out your study sessions over as many days as possible, i.e. two hours of study, four days in a row, is far more efficient for your long term memory storage than eight hours in one study session.

5. Form study groups (with serious, like-minded students), divide course material, and take turns instructing each other.  Then, make up exam questions and essay topics and discuss your responses as a group.