Studying for Tests: Final Tips on Studying for Your Test

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So you’ve prepared and practiced. What else should you know before you dive in and take your test? Consider these final tips on how to most effectively study for a test:

• Focus on your weak areas. Look through homework or notes and find the areas you don’t understand or the problems that you struggled with. Rather than waste time studying what you already know, focus on what you don’t know and need to know.
• Set up a study group of students of similar abilities and similar motives. Studying in groups is more fun than studying alone; you can create games and quiz each other. Also, in a group, you get different perspectives on the information. If you create a study group, you can select a time, meeting place, and interval for the group to meet. When considering who you want to join the group, make sure you all have the same achievement goals. For example, if everyone in the group is striving for an “A,” you don’t want a student in your group who’d be thrilled with a “C.”
• Share information even if you don’t study in a group. Remember there aren’t a limited number of “A’s” available. Strive for a cooperative attitude with your classmates. Help them out when you can, and they’ll do the same in return. For example, if you’re not a good note-taker, you may ask to borrow and copy from someone who does take notes so that you can see what good notes look like.
• Rather than memorize facts, use a better method for recalling information. For example, you might create a song, tell a story, conceptualize the idea as a picture, create a rhyme, or use a mnemonic device (usually a sentence in which the first letter reminds you of a particular word or phrase).To create a mnemonic device, take the first letter of every word, and then create a sentence to help you recall those words. This method is great when there’s information you do need to memorize. For example, to remember the order of the planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto), you might create a sentence like “My very educated mother just served us nine pizzas.”
• Experience the idea in as much detail as possible. Engage all your senses and imagine what you see, hear, taste, feel, or touch.
• Quiz yourself throughout your assignments, not just before tests. Doing so not only helps you study but at the same time improves your memory and recall skills.
• Relate the information to other ideas or subjects. For example, how are two topics similar? Different? How do two
  topics depend on each other? Does one cause the other? For example, think about how a country’s history (for instance, the French Revolution) affects its culture or literature.
• Apply the information. The information you most easily recall is information that’s relevant and useful in everyday situations in life. For example, learning the multiplication tables is pure memorization, but you can probably do multiplication in your head to figure out how much an item is at a 50-percent-off sale, how much tip to leave, and so on. A good instructor strives to teach and stress relevant and applicable skills. If not, look on your own for ways to apply your knowledge. Here’s another example: Think about what you know about germs or vitamins when you brush your teeth.
• Learn to apply conceptual information (ideas) as well as procedural (steps or processes). Math is usually a procedural application; history is conceptual. For example, you might apply information or ideas to current events, movies, TV programs, news features, and so on. Think about Darwin’s theory of evolution and the “survival of the fittest.” How is this theory played out (or not played out) in popular TV contests such as Survivor or The Apprentice? As another example, you may have seen the popular movie The Matrix. Does it remind you of any other stories you know, from the Bible, perhaps?
• Don’t waste time worrying. When you’re prepared, you’ll feel confident, and this positive attitude will come in handy when you tackle the test.