Here I still give you a brief summary of what you can use on how to prepare for an exam in a week.
1. Go in Search of the Answers
As we have seen before, to prepare for an exam in a short time, what you will have to do is find an answer to the questions most frequently asked by the professor during the exam.
So, if your daily goal is 140 pages, you won’t have to study them all, but read them quickly in search of the answers to the questions you’ve collected. When you find them, underline the paragraphs that talk about them, highlight the keywords that remind you of the concept… and that’s it.
2. Study in Cycles
Even if you are attempting the “mission impossible” of preparing for an exam in a week, remember that you will not have to go through a maddened and desperate 10-hour study without ever lifting your head from the books. You would get a bad result.
So, remember this formula:
- 40 minutes of study
- 10-minute break
- 10 minutes of review of what you have studied in the previous 40 minutes, using only the keywords as a “mnemonic hook”.
Also read, 5 Tips on How to Prepare for Life After College Graduation
3. Make Your Mind Maps
To be able to memorize in a clear, precise, and indelible way what you are studying you will have to apply the right memory techniques.
I advise you to use mind maps (to find out how to build them click here ) thanks to which you can greatly facilitate the task of effectively structuring and memorizing concepts.
When to make them? At the end of the study day! That’s right, after reading the 140 pages, take a good hour off and think about having fun. Then reopen the book, retrieve the parts you have previously underlined, and according to them create your mind maps.
Think that, while you create a mind map, you memorize about 60/70% more of what you would store simply by reading and studying the same information in an ordinary way.
Also read, 5 Tips on How to Prepare for Life After College Graduation
Reward Yourself at the End of Each Studying Day
We are at the end of the day. Have you read your 140 pages, underlined the answers to the questions, and finally created your mind maps? Good! The time has come to reward yourself. Yes, this is the right time to do it, not just when you pass the exam.
So if during your study day you have met your requirements, put a nice green check on the plan and then decide how to reward yourself.
- Do you want ideas?
- A movie night with friends
- A pizza with friends
- An evening at the Play or doing a sport you like
Remember that you don’t need huge expenses. Just do something you like by dedicating yourself 110% to leisure, without thinking about what you have studied.
You have a plan, you are following it and this awareness must be a source of trust for you, it must convince you that what you are doing will work. So when you study, do it, and seriously. But when you disconnect, just disconnect. Additionally, you might want to delegate some of the more time-consuming tasks to a pro assignment writer with the words “Write my essay!”
The Next Day, review What You Have Studied
You can follow all your plans perfectly, and “get your bearings” day after day on how to prepare for an exam in a week, but remember that, according to the studies of the German psychologist Ebbinghaus, if you do not revise it is as if you have not studied anything!
I will not make it very long with scientific studies, because if you are here reading this article you already have little time, right? Suffice it to say that without reviewing what you have studied, within 24 hours you will forget more than 50% of the information, and within 48 hours you will exceed 70%.
What do you say, is it enough for you to convince yourself that you cannot fail to come back? “
But how can you review it? Well, without knowing it you have already done a job that will help you a lot in this phase: mind maps.
In fact, thanks to their construction, the memory of what you have studied will be easy to access. What you will need to do is sit in a quiet place, or walk alone in a room, and start mentally retracing the map remembering the keywords and concepts related to them.
It has to be a mental review, so not word for word. To give you an idea, 8 hours of study should be completed in about 45 minutes, a maximum of one hour.
Also read, How Does Inflation Work? Understand the ins and outs of inflation
Find Yourself a Learning Companion!
If I were there with you now, I would look you in the eye and say “This is the fundamental advice, follow it, respect it and you will see what results it will give you!”.
We are social beings and our nature leads us to try to deal with difficult situations as a group. Now, an exam can often be a difficult situation and it’s best to never feel alone!
You need to know that you are not alone in fighting, that you are not alone in struggling, and that you are not alone in feeling fear and moving forward anyway. This will make a big difference!
Then find a partner (serious though, who wants to do) and together with him face the preparation of this exam. You will not have to stay stuck all the time, it will be enough to hear from you at least once a day to take stock of the situation, tell you if you have met the goal, and help you with any difficult or unclear parts.
It will then be essential to use the sixth day to work together on the review, organizing a nice session during which you will ask each other questions and make sure that the answers are what you understand best about the subject.
Now, Get to It
Well, now you have a complete battle plan. Time is running out, but now you have a strategy that will allow you to drastically decrease the number of study hours needed to prepare for your next exam.
