Must-Know Study Tips

Looking to soar through midterms and/or finals? Check out these must-know study tips to help you make the most of your study sessions!

Start with a pre-test.

Before you begin studying, first you need to assess what you know. Start with a pre-test to determine what you know and don’t know by using your notes to review the content. Ask yourself, if I was tested on this topic today, how would I do? You’ll want to spend more time studying the material you don’t know or aren’t as familiar with than the material that you can easily recall.  

Move beyond memorization.

In high school you may have been able to get by just memorizing material. However, you are tested at a much higher level on university exams and just memorizing information is often not enough! University professors often use the Bloom’s Taxonomy learning framework to create their exam questions. Multiple choice exams are often made up of remembering, understanding, and applying questions. You can use the framework to model your own study habits. Ask yourself: am I engaging with the material deeply?

Other ways to move beyond memorization: 

• Incorporate images into your studying (Dual Coding). This is one of the most effective ways to study as the information you’re studying is being coded in two different paths in your brain.
• Rephrase information into your own words.
• Create cue cards/Quizlets for each course to actively study the material.
• Teach the material to someone else – if you can explain the material in a different way, that’s when you know you have a good understanding of it! 

Test yourself in the way you’ll be tested.

You don’t want the first time you’re tested on the material you’re studying to be during your exam. Pro-tip: test yourself in the way you’ll be tested! Do you have to write an essay for your exam? Practice by sitting down and writing an essay in the duration you’ll be given on your exam. Facing down multiple-choice questions on your exam? Pull out your textbook and make use of those practice quiz sections! Anticipating content is one of the best ways you can study. 

Other ways to test yourself:  

• Group studying.
• Retrieval Practice – take out a blank piece of paper and write down everything you can remember about a topic without using study aids.
• Reviewing previous tests and re-testing yourself.
• Think like your professor – what questions would they include on the exam? What concepts did they emphasize in lecture?

Practice active recall.

Regularly practicing active recall is one of the most effective ways to remember what you’ve studied. Following Hermann Ebbinghaus’ Forgetting Curve, the biggest drop in retention happens soon after learning. The more you review and recall information you’ve previously learned, the more information you’ll retain.  

How to practice active recall:  

• Find meaning in the material. We will often forget information that we are not interested in. Make meaning of the material you’re studying! 
• Review material regularly. The more we review information, the more of it we will retain and the easier it will be to recall. 
• Use Spaced Practice. Spacing out your studying and practicing active review each day is one way you can check-in to see what you remember and what you don’t. 
• Study in chunks and summarize the most important information. This stops you from just passively re-reading your notes and allows you to actively engage with the material you’re studying.  

Reorganize information.

We often develop habits of studying information chronologically instead of studying what we don’t know first. Following the pre-test you made earlier, start by studying the information you don’t know first and then the material that you are able to recall more easily. As mentioned above, make sure you continuously review this material throughout your studying. This gets us out of the habit of “silo” studying – that is, only studying information as it was presented to us. You can also use the learning objectives found in your syllabus to reorganize content by major theme. These objectives are what your professors want you to learn, so it’s a good way to ensure you have a good grasp on the material you’ll be tested on. 

Identify procrastination triggers.

While the world would be a better place if we could eliminate procrastination all together, at the end of the day we’re still human! If we know how and why we procrastinate, we can take proactive steps to avoid it the best we can! Make sure that while you study you eliminate your procrastination triggers and study in an environment that won’t distract you. Watch this Managing Your Procrastination video to learn more.

Just get started!

Getting started is the hardest and sometimes scariest part of any task! Start the day by completing your hardest, most important task of the day, or by “eating your frog.” If you have two frogs, tackle the biggest one first! If you find you have a hard time getting started on your frog, try our 15-minute hack by simply just starting the task for 15 minutes and returning to it after a short break! Pro tip: break your big tasks into smaller chunks. The quicker and simpler a task is, the less we’ll procrastinate it!  

Incorporate breaks into your studying.

It might sound counter-productive, but our bodies are not designed to go, go, go with no breaks! Use the Power Hour technique to stay on task while taking regular breaks. Start by figuring out what you want to accomplish, work with focus and without distractions for 45 minutes, take a 10-minute break, review what you got done, and then do it all over again! Incorporate breaks into your routine to give your brain a break, eat food, get outside, or catch up with friends. You can also plan activities to look forward to and keep you motivated!  

Use the reward system!

If you’re still struggling to get studying, try using the reward system. Sometimes the reason we procrastinate is because we have discounted the importance of a task that’s due down the road (i.e., essay, exam, etc.), and something like watching Netflix, going out with friends, or playing video games seems more important in the moment. Until it’s not, of course, and you go into a full-blown panic. To combat this vicious cycle, try incorporating the things you want to do with tasks that will help future you. 

Examples:  

• Studying for a couple hours and then watching an episode on Netflix.
• Getting through three Power Hour study session and then going out to grab food with your friends.
• Using food! If you’re dreading reviewing material, try giving yourself a small treat every time you finish "X" number of pages or after you finish each section.

Looking for Additional Support?

Visit the Student Success Portal to register for a Exam Preparation workshop or book an Exam Preparation appointment with a Learning Consultant or Peer Academic Coach.