Study Smart: Mastering the "All-Nighter"
Just remembered about the exam tomorrow? Collect yourself. Walk to Starbucks and
purchase a doppio espresso. Only after your caffeine fix is in hand, are you prepared
to begin your nightlong memorization marathon. Don’t eat too much sugar while you’re
studying and drink plenty of water—no one processes information efficiently when
they’re dehydrated. In college I kept a secret stash of double shot espressos in
the back of the fridge—they’re a little expensive but the convenience of emergency
caffeine reserves is worth the cost.
Here are some study strategies that helped me succeed on exams:
Let your syllabus outline a study guide for you. Before you begin
reviewing your course materials, pull out your syllabus. A good course syllabus
should create a natural study outline for you. Consider how much time was spent
on the topics included on your syllabus and which parts of the information you recall
feeling less than confident about. I would consider making a list of all topics,
books, and information that you would like to review in the next few hours on a
separate sheet of paper.
Organize your materials. Regardless of whether I planned on reviewing
them, I found that gathering all of the books, handouts, and old papers written
for the class is helpful. Not only do you save yourself the time and hassle of searching
your dorm for them later, but actually seeing these materials will help you focus
and remind you about some of the topics that you may have forgotten. Arrange these
materials so that you can access the ones that you will rely on the most during
your study session.
Re-read critical text. If you have actually read all of the chapters,
books, and packets assigned throughout the semester you’ll probably just have to
skim the text to refresh your memory. If not, I would suggest reading the introduction
of all uncovered texts and at least a couple chapters of each. Don’t spend all of
your time reading however, save plenty of time to gather essay material and/or practice
any problems that you cannot consistently solve. In addition to reading through
this material, also read through any essays or quizzes that you completed throughout
the semester. This will help you identify the focus of the course and
hopefully give you insight into what topics will appear on the exam.
Take notes. Take notes on the topics that you are reviewing. Writing
down this information will help you remember it. It is always easier to recall an
answer or information that you have written down, it will help you recall it later.
Before taking new notes, however, I would suggest writing down all of the information
pertinent to the exam that is already stored in your memory. This will help you
integrate anything new that you learn as you study and also make it easier to recall
the information quickly on test day.
Sleep three hours. If you feel that you have made enough headway
to pry yourself away from your books for a couple of hours to nap, it’s a good idea
to do so. Just make sure that you leave yourself a few hours before the exam to
recollect your thoughts and review the notes that you were taking before your break.
Don’t go to sleep a couple hours before the exam. This will only leave you feeling
rushed and unprepared when you wake up and it won’t allow you enough time to take
another look at your notes.