In this Section:

Time Management
& Organization

MIT Study Skills

Academic Integrity

Test-Taking
Strategies

• Define the
  Challenge at Hand
  
  
• Knowing What
  You Know
  
  
• Your Study
  Plan
  
  
• A Word About
  Test Anxiety
  
  
• Taking the
  Exam
  
  
• Different Types
  of Tests
  

Finals Preparation

TEST-TAKING STRATEGIES—Your Study Plan

Putting together your study plan will depend on several variables:

• How much time do you have to prepare?
• How confident do you feel about the material?
• What other pressures are competing for your time and attention?

Regular review of material throughout the term is the single best way to prepare for an exam. Marathon study sessions and cramming are not nearly as effective, but they are unfortunately the last alternatives for students short on time. Whether you are planning two weeks in advance or the night before the exam, you can still create an effective study plan to improve your performance.

Putting It Together

How much time do you have to invest in exam preparation and over how many days is that time spread? A student studying two hours each day for five days is in a different situation from a student studying ten hours the night before, although they are both investing the same amount of time. The second student will become fatigued, overloaded and stressed more easily, he or she will not have opportunities to consult with the TA or a tutor in problem areas as they arise. Breaking the work down into manageable pieces and spreading it over several days is essential. Planning more than one week in advance is ideal, especially when you have more than one exam to juggle.

Assume that you have 5 days to prepare, and that your schedule is tight. Your free time this week looks like this:

Sunday: 6 hours
Monday: 2 one-hour blocks
Tuesday: 2 two-hour blocks
Wednesday: 2 one-hour blocks
Thursday: 5 hours

• Make the most of the time you have. This is a total of 19 hours, but often the one-hour blocks are thrown away because they occur between classes. Those one-hour blocks are a perfect time to review notes, practice problems or organize yourself before speaking with your TA. If you discount these smaller pockets of time, you will be wasting 4-8 hours (a quarter to a half) of your potential study time. ALL of your time is valuable, so be sure to use it.
  
  
• Make your study sessions reasonable in length, working no longer than 2 hours without a break. If you plan to spend all 5 hours on Thursday studying, you should plan to take a 30 minute break in the middle to recuperate. Your mind needs time to assimilate and process the new information, and you will need a break to stay in good spirits.
  
  

Breakdown your studies in one of two ways:

1. You can study the most critical material first. Look at the updated sample checklist on the previous page. The highest priority material occurs during the fourth class. If you were planning to breakdown your studies by priority, you would study this material first, and then study the secondary material next (which happens to have been taught earlier), and so forth, always concentrating on mastering the next-most important information. This works well if the concepts you are learning in class are not closely interrelated.
   
   
2. You can study the material in the chronological sequence that you learned it. If the work of each class is interrelated and continually builds on the knowledge of previous work, then it makes more sense to take a chronological approach. Begin your studies with the material from the first class and move forward in chronological order, spending only small amounts of time in low priority areas and more time in higher priority areas. This review will give you a stronger basis from which to master the more important material when you get to it. If you choose to study in chronological order, be careful to pace yourself so that you do not leave a critical block to do the night before the exam simply because it occurs last on your checklist.
   
   The most important feature of both types of planning is to spend

• the most time on your highest priority work,
  
  

• a medium-amount of time on your second-priority work, and

• the least time on your lowest priority work (usually by skimming it).

• Schedule any supplemental meetings you might need, such as time with your TA, a tutor, your study group or a friend. Plan those meetings in advance, as well as the material you expect to cover during them. Establishing goals will keep you on track.

Planning Pitfalls

• Over-Preparing. Is your study plan too ambitious and unrealistic? Students with perfectionist tendencies can find themselves overwhelmed with exam preparation, feeling that a "perfect" understanding of all the material (and all possible combinations of the material) is required. Instructors at MIT will challenge you with exam questions requiring you to apply concepts creatively, but there is no way for you to anticipate every possible application of what you are learning. The technique of thinking flexibly is a skill you will develop with practice-- not by studying to an extreme degree. Be reasonable when you plan your studies and remember that instructors are testing what you can be reasonably be expected to know-- which is a finite and manageable amount of work.
  
  
• Too Little Time. Do you not have enough time to cover everything on your moderate and realistic list? Unfortunately, you will have to choose which things to study, and plan not to cover the rest. Only you will be able to judge which information is most critical to you, but remember this: Some studying is always better than no studying, so don't give up because it isn't possible to learn everything. Incremental progress is still progress, so cover what you can well. Quality, not quantity is the key.

From Planning Into Action

Here are some techniques to make certain your thoughtful planning stays on track.

• Choose a good location to study. This place should be clean, quiet, well-lit, a cool temperature and away from all distractions, such as friends or the television. Studying in a place similar to your exam environment might make you more comfortable during the test itself, as familiarity will help to mitigate the "alien" feeling of testing. Use this location for studying only, to help you cultivate a studious frame of mind while you are there. Always be certain to take everything with you that you will need to work, including books, lecture notes, past assignments, pens and pencils.
  
  
• Bring your checklist and stay on task. If you become stuck on a concept or problem, make a notation on your checklist to speak with your TA and move along. You might go over your allotted time and need to schedule more time for later. This is fine; your study plan is a guideline, not an absolute. Catch up as soon as possible, and continue as planned.
  
  
• Practice, practice, practice. Rework past assignment problems and sample problems from the text, noting how and why techniques are implemented. If you cannot explain the reasoning behind a mathematical process, then you likely don't understand it fully.
  
  
• Note similarities and differences among problems. This helps to cultivate the skill of thinking flexibly. How and why does a solution work? How else could a problem be solved? How does the knowledge you are acquiring relate with other concepts?
  
  
• Keep a list of formulae and major concepts. As you study, jot down items that you need to memorize and carry the list with you throughout the day. Review this material when you are caught standing in line or with time to spare between classes.
  
  
• Selectively review your texts. Do not re-read your text book; you have already done it once and to do so again would overload you. Review sections you have highlighted, any notes you made in the margins, formulae, definitions and chapter summaries. You should be refreshing your memory and clarifying information, not assimilating it in extreme detail.