HOW TO PREPARE FOR YOUR EXAMS
- Gather your materials now! It is very important to be organized before you begin
the task of studying for such a huge exam. Find all your notes, handouts, outside
readings (if your section has them) study guides, texts and put them in chronological
order. You will waste several hours of valuable time if you do not do this first. - Divide and conquer!
*Begin your study today! Take the amount of units, chapters, sections, outside readings,
etc. and divide them by the number of days you have left to prepare for the final up to 2-3
days before the exam. You want to leave some time for general review of all units, or to
focus on the areas that still remain the most difficult.
*Plan how much you can study each night, breaking this enormous task into more
manageable units of study. Set reasonable goals – it may not be possible to cover an
entire unit in one night – you do have other HW and other subjects to prepare for finals.
*Write down your study plan in your planner and work very hard to stick with it. If you
can’t, revise your plan to something that works for you. - Plan how to study! Learning material in smaller “chunks” will be more effective and
far less stressful than cramming a few days before. Intensive studying, rapid
reviewing, identifying important aspects, connecting facts to other eras, testing
yourself are the ways to study. Many students find making notecards to be a very
effective way of exam prep, especially for the ID questions. For many, rewriting
material helps to learn it. You may need to create some “memory tricks” for certain
facts, names, and dates that you want to remember. The very best students use
memory tricks when needed to assist them in recalling information! Follow your
study guide carefully for specific areas you should be concentrating on. - Plan your essays! If you have been given a list of essays, a few of which may
definitely appear on your exam, don’t play the odds and think you will definitely
predict which essay(s) will appear – prepare responses for all of them! This does not
mean you have to write out entire essays but you should have a good working outline
for each. Even if you have not been given your essays to prepare ahead of time,
review the key elements of your notes (major themes/ideas, etc.) and consider the
following ideas to help you create possible essay questions, plan essays and form
working outlines:
*Understand what the question is asking you by underlining all the aspects
of it that must be addressed in your answer. Most essay questions have 2-3
parts to answer. If you are unsure about the wording of the question don’t
guess- consult with your teacher!
*Brainstorm ideas!
*Decide what your main points of your essay will be. These will
be your topic sentences of your support paragraphs. Three ideas are a
minimum number to plan.
*List details that support your main points.
*Next plan your thesis - your overall idea that ties your essay
together. Remember this should be a position that you can defend and
prove. Your main points will be the way you prove your thesis idea. See if
they do indeed support your thesis.
*Delete repetitive ideas! Avoid “padding” your essay with lots of
words that really do not say much or add to the topic.
*Plan your conclusion ideas – Conclusions generally restate the
thesis (using different words!), evaluate ideas, or connect the ideas to
something relevant to today. Depending on the nature of your essay you
decide what fits best. - Attend extra help/review sessions given by your teacher. Even if you think you
have the information “down cold”, attending some, or all, of the extra review sessions
may further clarify information for you. If your current grade is disappointing to you,
know that you must increase your study time to improve it. Extra help/review sessions
can do this for you. - Take some deep breaths! If you have followed these study suggestions, know that
you have absolutely done your best to prepare for your final! Good Luck!!!
Prepared by: Mrs. Mazzullo
