Posted by Maria Dimitrova

Read this: to prepare fast for exams

Some professions require thorough knowledge in every subject and  exam results aren’t the ultimate goal in this case. Think of the time spent on studying as an investment in your future. When I asked a friend of mine who is studying medicine in New York for some tips on crash studying, she said it was something she hadn’t done because she knew that learning as much as possible during her student’s years was critical for her ability to become a good doctor.

However if your subject isn’t important for your future job performance, then it is really worth finding a way to pass an exam without spending a lot of time on it.

Be aware, though that techniques for efficient learning are not useful if the time spent over the textbook is not in full concentration. The principle that 20% of the efforts lead to 80% of the results can be applied here. You just need to find out which efforts/techniques are the most efficient for you so that you get the most of the time spent on studying.

Techniques for efficient learning
● Study from concept to detail. It will be much easier to learn the details if you take the time to learn the concept and theory first. The least efficient approach to studying is to attempt to memorize your notes from beginning to end. It’s not the words which are important-it’s the ideas.
● Learn how to skim the text. It’s a skill you should practice before the actual exam session. While reading a newspaper or a magazine, try to find the most important information by looking at the title, picture, subtitles, bolded sentences or words, etc. Skimming is similar to scanning because its aim is to separate the important from the unimportant facts with the difference that when you are scanning you actually know what you are looking for while when you are skimming you don’t.
You need to find the answer to the main questions: who, what, when, where, how, why. Look for exact names of people, places, ideas and words like therefore, whenever, until, because, and instead to clue you to how and why. Highlight the main ideas.
● Logically separate the information. It helps you get over the initial panic when you see the whole material for the exam knowing that you’ve got just a few days to prepare. When the material is divided into logical parts, it seems more manageable to study. Allot some time on each part. Having a plan also has an anti-anxiety effect as you are not going to read chaotically and frantically through the material without any orientation for your progress.
● Synthesize/condense the information; discover patterns and relations between the main things in the text. It’s much easier to learn 3 lists containing ten items instead of thirty separate items. This is how our brain perceives information – it can deal better with smaller number of items that have to be remembered.
A student shares their opinion about the “condense, then memorize” technique:
“Condense, then memorize. This is a technique that I recently learned from my English teacher. Basically, you write out everything you need to know for the course onto paper. You will likely have 10+ pages. The next day, condense these four pages. Do not remove any content, but instead remove unnecessary language. You should be able to recall all of the information from the original 10+ sheets by looking at the new four. The next couple days, repeat this step, but fit it onto a single page, divided into four sections. It may take a couple days of reviewing the sheets, but you should be able to recall all 10+ pages of information simply by looking at that page. The final step is to memorize the single sheet, so you can visualize it in your head during the exam.”
● Turn titles and subtitles into questions while reading and write them down somewhere. Then after reading the text and highlighting the main ideas, try to answer the test you’ve created. If you can’t answer any of the questions, go back to the paragraph or chapter which contains it and reread. This is another technique that facilitates the process of learning because it also divides the material into manageable chunks.
An interesting discovery made bypsychologist Karin Humphreys and Amy Beth Warriner suggests that the more time you spend trying to remember a word on the tip of your tongue actually makes it more likely that you’ll struggle with the word again in the future. The researchers advise that you focus on looking up the correct answers rather than trying to recall the information. To prevent future problems following a tip-of-the-tongue event, the best way to break the cycle is to repeat the word to yourself, either silently or out loud. According to Humphreys, this step creates another procedural memory that helps minimize the negative effect of the prior incorrect practice.
● Make diagrams, charts, drawings, flash cards and mind maps. Visual aids like these enhance absorption of information. Label the items in the drawings and diagrams.
Here is what a student has shared about the usefulness of mind maps:
“I recently got my marks back from University. My grade point average was a 4.2 out of a possible 4.5, resting between an A and a perfect A+. In itself, this isn’t an incredible achievement. But I managed to do this while spending only a fraction of the time studying than many of the people I knew.
Is it just natural talent? Perhaps. I’ve always had a knack for understanding concepts and learning new ideas. But I also believe the way I learned the information played a role. Instead of cramming last minute or memorizing details, I try to organize information in a way that makes it easier to recall.
This strategy of organization I label holistic learning. Holistic learning is simply the process of organizing information into webs that interconnect ideas. Instead of forcing ideas into your skull, you focus on the relationships between information. Linking ideas together to see the whole, instead of just the parts.“
● Record the main ideas and facts on a device. If you are an auditory type of learner, this will be of great help to you.
● If you are a kinesthetic/haptic learner, combine reading with another activity. These are people who concentrate better when doing something physical while studying. You can read on an exercise bike, recite what you’ve learnt while pacing around the room, listen to the lectures you’ve recorded on your ipod or another recording device during a walk or jogging in the park.
● Allow yourself a 15- minute break every 45 minutes. Having just a few days for preparation doesn’t mean that you have to spend the whole days over the textbooks. The brain needs to rest regularly in order to maintain good level of concentration. You can’t compare reading an interesting book for hours with studying. When something provokes your interest naturally, you don’t need to use your willpower to do it. Unfortunately this doesn’t apply to all subjects. It takes much more energy to stay focused on something which you find boring or hard to absorb so your brain needs some time to recharge.
● If you find it extremely difficult to stay focused on the subject due to your temperament or the essence of the exam material, study in short, frequent sessions. It may seem rather different from the conventional idea of studying but it has been proven that short bursts of concentration repeated frequently are much more effective than one long session. So, even if you only have 10 minutes, DO IT. Take a break. Then study another 10 minutes. This “distributed learning” approach is highly efficient because it honors the way the brain likes to work.
● Teach it. Find someone who doesn’t understand the topic and teach it to them. This exercise forces you to organize. Spending five minutes explaining a concept can save you an hour of combined studying for the same effect.
This is something I strongly recommend as it helped me a lot during my test preparation at school. I loved the activity of explaining what I’ve learnt to my classmates in my own words. It’s the best way to check whether you’ve understood the material. Plus, you get clarifying questions from your companion so you find a way to express the ideas in the most logical way.
● Create a study group. If you know other students who will do crash studying for the exam, you can arrange meetings with them in which to discuss difficult questions and to examine each other. This will increase your organization during the exam preparation because you’ll know that by a certain moment in the day you’ll have to have learnt a certain amount of material.
Another suggestion is to divide the material into several parts and distribute it among the members of the group. Then when you meet, each of you will have to teach the others about his/her part of the material. This type of studying isn’t suitable for all students as they need to be able to express themselves clearly (a skill which takes more than a few days to master) and they have to be responsible and reliable. If you know you can rely on the people you’ve chosen, go for it. It’s best if the study group consists of no more than 5 people.
I had great success in preparing for my final exam in Business Administration together with a colleague of mine. We met every day for a week to examine each other and make sure neither of us missed anything important. But I have to point out that it wasn’t crash studying as the exam was the most crucial and I spent about two weeks studying before me and my colleague started the “revision meetings”.
● Eat healthy and wholesome food during the exam preparation.
● Maintain cool temperature in the room where you are studying as heat is a hindrance to concentration.
● Avoid studying the night before the exam. You need to be rested in order to be able to concentrate during the exam.
● Avoid sitting around panicked students while waiting for the exam to begin. If you don’t feel composed and able to help them relax, then it’s better to stay away so that you are not stricken by panic too.
Finally, bear in mind that you’ll be much more efficient in your preparation for the exam if you accept that your grade might not be the best considering the short time you’ve had for studying. Accepting this, you’ll reduce the stress and you’ll be able to focus on the task to enhance your chances of success as much as possible by implementing the techniques that work for you the most.