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Best way to cram for an exam

E

etalns

Diamond Member
A buddy and I have to cram for an exam in a few days. Well, more specifically, 3 exams in 5 days.

They all happen within a 48 hour period. It's based on 1 months worth of material.

Think if we worked on notes in the meantime, and then on Sunday we quizzed each other on all the material, did exam 1 on monday morning, quizzed each other on all the material throughout monday evening and tuesday morning, did exam 2, and then quizzed each other all through that day and did exam 3 we would be okay?

Or does anyone know any better cram methods?

I'm a mere freshman :S
 
Originally posted by: Udel
What class/material?
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Basic Nutrition
Social Determinants of Health
Pharmacology

None of them have difficult concepts. It's all, unfortunately, memorization.

The exams are primarily multiple choice based, so it's largely an issue of recognition as opposed to regurgitation.
 
Memorization should be easy. Its all about the time you put in. Grab alot of caffine and don't hesitate to pull an all nighter. Some people will tell you otherwise, but studying the material all night before a test ususally keeps it fresh in my mind when I take it. Thats just me though. Good luck! :thumbsup:
 
Originally posted by: Udel
Memorization should be easy. Its all about the time you put in. Grab alot of caffine and don't hesitate to pull an all nighter. Some people will tell you otherwise, but studying the material all night before a test ususally keeps it fresh in my mind when I take it. Thats just me though. Good luck! :thumbsup:
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All nighters aren't an option fro this one, because there's tests two days in a row. So If I pull an all nighter for one, I'll crash and burn before the other one.
 
In addition to reviewing notes, I always found it helpful to visit the university library and get copies of previous year midterm and final exams to review the questions asked. Invariably some of the same questions were asked, especially in multiple choice exams.
 
Originally posted by: D1gger
In addition to reviewing notes, I always found it helpful to visit the university library and get copies of previous year midterm and final exams to review the questions asked. Invariably some of the same questions were asked, especially in multiple choice exams.
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For these first year classes past exams are not available 🙁

 
if you have a plan, any plan, it wil lprobably work for ya. esp quizzing each other. You should do fine, stick with your idea
 
For straight memorization, I found it easier to make a table or flash cards for those type of classes. It's sort of pointless to read many chapters and expect to remember things. I just hit the key words and definitions and that would get me 90% of the answers (very rarely was it a problem that required thinking, either you knew the definition or you didnt).
 
Originally posted by: NiKeFiDO
if you have a plan, any plan, it wil lprobably work for ya. esp quizzing each other. You should do fine, stick with your idea
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Thanks for the boost of confidence 🙂
 
Originally posted by: duragezic
For straight memorization, I found it easier to make a table or flash cards for those type of classes. It's sort of pointless to read many chapters and expect to remember things. I just hit the key words and definitions and that would get me 90% of the answers (very rarely was it a problem that required thinking, either you knew the definition or you didnt).
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I won't be reading through the textbook. I have EXTREMELY condensed notes, which only highlight the very key facts. I'll be going through those, as writin cue cards would consume too mnuch time to make.
 
Sounds like a ok plan. Memorization tests are useless as you'll forget the week later and never learn the material. But, you have to deal with that crap on occasion. The best thing is repetition the few days before.

You can always cram the night before the 3rd exam if you have to.

I would do a little of exam 2 and 3 studying earlier than you planned though. It'll help a bit with memory and will break up the monotony of studying for just one exam all day long.
 
Originally posted by: mdchesne
Originally posted by: Qosis

Or does anyone know any better cram methods?
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here's one: don't cram 😉
more to the point: rewrite your notes. you learn stuff more doing active learning
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I'm rewriting the notes now. I'll be rewriting the notes for each class for the next few days, 1 day for each class to write the notes. Then Sunday will be the mass review day.
 
Originally posted by: dullard
Originally posted by: mdchesne
here's one: don't cram 😉
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For pure memorization tests, cramming is the only way.
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I hate to say it, but I think you may be right. I studied a lot of this material several weeks ago, and I don't remember it at all. I did some notes on some of it a few days ago, and I still remember every fact from that piece of work.
 
Originally posted by: dullard
Sounds like a ok plan. Memorization tests are useless as you'll forget the week later and never learn the material. But, you have to deal with that crap on occasion. The best thing is repetition the few days before.

You can always cram the night before the 3rd exam if you have to.

I would do a little of exam 2 and 3 studying earlier than you planned though. It'll help a bit with memory and will break up the monotony of studying for just one exam all day long.
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While I would break it up usually, I think I can overcome the monotony as a result of my desire to not do poorly 😉 If I get too bored of the work, I'll just take an hour off and then get back to it again.

For each test I'll have about 8 hours minimum of cramming before (that's MORE than enough time to go through the material and quiz on every fact about 4 times.)
 
I never had success when studying with a friend. What I did:

-set time to study from x to x
-take break
-study x-x
-take break
-repeat all might long until test time
-take test
-eat/sleep 4hrs
-repeat for next test
 
Originally posted by: TStep
I never had success when studying with a friend. What I did:

-set time to study from x to x
-take break
-study x-x
-take break
-repeat all might long until test time
-take test
-eat/sleep 4hrs
-repeat for next test
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How did you do on em? Percentage wise, and above or below class average?
 
Also, tstep, what would you do during your study sessions? Right now I'm spending the days writing notes on each subject, and I was going to use the day before to review for each one.
 
Easy, plan in advance 😉 But you might be able to pull it off since it's only MCQs. Try cramming 3 tests in 1 day : electromagnetics, continuous signals and systems + physics of devices :shocked:

Best method : Review the text/notes in a storybook fashion and try to tie everything together, making cliffs along the way. That's the method I usually use and it's served me extremely well in EE 🙂

Oh and get an early night before the test - tradeoff between having a full, hazy head or an empty, clear head 😛
 
Originally posted by: Qosis
A buddy and I have to cram for an exam in a few days. Well, more specifically, 3 exams in 5 days.

They all happen within a 48 hour period. It's based on 1 months worth of material.

Think if we worked on notes in the meantime, and then on Sunday we quizzed each other on all the material, did exam 1 on monday morning, quizzed each other on all the material throughout monday evening and tuesday morning, did exam 2, and then quizzed each other all through that day and did exam 3 we would be okay?

Or does anyone know any better cram methods?

I'm a mere freshman :S
Click to expand...

Best way? Spend all that time you were going to spend "cramming" and go to a local store and pick up an application and tell them you will be available full time after this semester 😉
 
Originally posted by: Qosis
Also, tstep, what would you do during your study sessions? Right now I'm spending the days writing notes on each subject, and I was going to use the day before to review for each one.
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I usually did ok. And I was not a class attender at all, a procrastinator, didn't study between tests, and all the other bad things that add up to a bad student.

study breaks consisted of wiffle ball, jammimg to tunes, basically anything that didn't have to do with studying. I definitely was not a model student. All classes were technical - Civil Engineering

 
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