School testing in recent years has mostly been held in one specific place: online. We’ve all been used to the ease and convenience of Zoom learning, which extends into test taking from our own private spaces. The lack of outside factors and limitations of pre-test planning have taken a lot of the stress out of these ordeals. However, with the gradual lessening of mask mandates and pushes to return to campus, we’re seeing more and more in-class learning and tests.
Don’t worry – ISO has you covered, and we’re certainly not going to let you go take your in-person exams unprepared.
Guidelines to Exam Prep
Knowing your enemy is half the battle. College professors will try their best to provide you as many resources leading up to the examination as possible, which you can get during review sessions or office hours. It is your job as a student to take these resources and turn them into something memorable enough to answer questions with confidence during your test. Self-made or study group guides will be your greatest ally here – it should be able to take the most important points of your texts and lectures and make them the primary pieces to follow. Organization is a key player for the success of a study guide – keeping your notes and information in a way that you will be able to follow will be important in how well you understand the content.
Got a final presentation instead of an exam? Study guides are still relevant! Important facts are likely the main points of your overall speech, so having them handy in a way that you understand them will be pivotal to your presentation’s success.
In both cases, a primary recommendation for remembering several terms or a specific pattern or order is to use a mnemonic device. These are subconscious methods that people have conditioned themselves to remember certain pieces of information, using several ways that turn random facts into something that can easily be remembered. One of the most common ways that people use mnemonic devices are within our phone number system, which helps us remember larger numbers in separate 3–4-digit sections “XXX-XXX-XXXX”.
Take Advantage of Your Learning Style
Everyone has vastly different ways to absorb and retain knowledge. No one is better than the other, but whether you abide by images, sounds, words, or your senses, you can utilize effective methods that appeal to each style – see which category you fall under here!
Visual learners rely on things like diagrams, sketches, and colors to retain material. We recommend representing your notes in more illustrated forms, using imagery to define important topics. Videos are also a great resource for visual key points, so consider using them as well to help build your study guide.
Auditory learners use mostly listening and oral communication to learn. People under this classification can use recordings of their lectures to fill themselves in on the most important parts, reading relevant study points out loud to encourage self-memorization, or even studying with lyric-free music to help maintain concentration.
Reading/Writing learners take information in the more traditional style, using readings and notes to help their memory before tests. Listing can be an important methodology for notetaking, as it can help in pointing out the most direct details and facts from a larger body of text. Skimming readings for important concepts is also a great tactic for these learners, as it saves time and allows for more material to be covered.
Lastly, Kinesthetic learners, or those who learn by doing or physically manipulating their environment or materials, are unique in that their engagement is increased when their bodies are focused on other things than just the material at hand. Methods like flash cards, which abide by usual reading and writing styles of learning but use shuffling and hand movement as a physical element, are a beneficial strategy to these learners. They can also use periods of the day where they are moving about to study – something as simple as taking a walk can provide the movement needed to create an ideal learning scenario.
On the Examination Date
On the day of your final, concentrate more on the efforts that will bring you the greatest success on your test, like:
- Having something to eat beforehand – going into a test while hungry is nearly the same as going unprepared.
- If you are a commuter, consider leaving your residence a little earlier than usual to account for unexpected circumstances.
- Use the bathroom – a full bladder will do you no favors during an important exam.
- Putting aside other sources of stress – tomorrow’s final is tomorrow. Focus on your task today.
- Write out the hardest things to memorize on your exam as you get it to avoid struggling to remember later.
- Read your exam questions carefully – wording may change a question you’ve studied for to something that requires an entirely different answer.
- Keep your momentum going – stopping mid-test can affect how you pace out your answers, and we all know how important time is during tests.
- Most importantly: Do not panic! If you made the right preparations, you have nothing to fear.
For more tips on finals preparation, view this ISO guide!
Overall, we hope that your transition into in-person learning has had minimal obstacles so far. With the end of the spring semester close in sight, students will only have finals as the last hurdle before getting to enjoy the sweet bliss of summertime joy. We hope you’ve made the most of your semester, and we wish you the best of luck in your finals and going forward.
For those approaching graduation with intentions to work after this semester, check out our OPT plans here. They’re a comprehensive, affordable way to ensure you are covered outside of your time at school!
