How to pass exams perfectly without pausing life

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Scientifically based habits that help you study well with minimal stress.

Blogger Robert Bateman told how he received his law degree, while managing to work 40 hours a week, spending time with a small child and playing sports. Here are some tips and habits to keep him from going crazy.

1. Go to class and remember the main goal

You need to attend classes not only to learn the material - you can do it yourself. Besides, you still won't remember everything you hear the first time. Classes are an opportunity to learn about exams, get acquainted with how everything works from the inside. And here's what you need to try to do first.

• Find previous exam tickets or sample answers. They will be very useful to you because they will help you understand how questions are usually framed. Look at the university website. If the materials are not available, search the library for hands-on textbooks.
• Find an approach to teachers. Remember, they almost always want you to pass their exams. So don't be afraid to ask what exactly is in store for you. Someone willingly shares information, someone does not. In any case, you will hear some advice and find out who has which favorite subject. It is also worth finding out what books or research papers your teachers have published. This will highlight their main areas of interest.
• Get to know your classmates. Even if you do not find friends, it is necessary to share information and sources. Create a general chat in some messenger where you can discuss an article or find out what you missed.
• Don't start homework even if it doesn't get grades. You need to build a good reputation among teachers. Be someone who strives for knowledge and learns with pleasure.

2. Organize the learning process

Take notes by hand

So you get used to it in advance, because the answers on the exams, most likely, will also have to be written with the most ordinary ballpoint pen. In addition, information is better remembered this way. Research has shown that notebook users are less likely to answer theoretical questions.

Writing by hand is slower, which means you have to reformulate the information and write down only the most important things. Highlight the main points with colored markers and be sure to write down everything related to exams.

To be honest, I hardly flipped through my notes. But I scanned them and uploaded them to Evernote, and then accessed them often. Without this application, I would probably go crazy.

Robert Bateman

Find a handy app for organizing your notes and don't forget to add them to it.

Collect as much information as possible

Save useful articles, notes, photos and add tags to them. So you can easily find what you need by repeating a topic. Even if in the end not all of the collected materials will be useful to you, it will still be useful.

For example, use the following tagging system:

• General subject.
• A specific theme within this item.
• Document type.

If there is a chance that the entry will help you get an extra point on the exam, take 10-20 seconds to add the necessary tags to it.

3. Start preparing as early as possible, but do not forget to rest

By memorizing everything at the last minute, you will not get a good grade, and you will harm your health. It is much more useful to memorize information gradually, taking breaks.

Scientists have proven this by conducting an experiment. More than 850 thousand participants learned to play the online game. The researchers analyzed two different learning approaches: one group practiced 10 times with a 24-hour break in the middle, and the other 15 times without a break. The results for both groups were the same. The extra time for practice was wasted.

While preparing for the exams, my fellow students drank coffee at three in the morning and did not look up from their notes. I prepared as usual, for an hour or two a day, as I had done three months before.

Robert Bateman

This approach works not only because you are less nervous in the process, but also because of sleep. During slow wave sleep, the brain consolidates memories. So this dream is like the "Save" button for the information received during the day. If before the exam you were nervous and did not get enough sleep, then you will cope with the tasks much worse.

4. Develop a curriculum

Any item seems immense until you start putting everything on the shelves. Think of it as a series of courses or modules that have topics within them. Some of them are more important, some overlap in different modules.

Find out exactly when the exam will take place as early as possible, at least in what month. Then develop a curriculum for yourself. For example like this:

1. Count the number of days until exams start.
2. Determine how many items to cook.
3. Set aside a few days for each module to begin with to gather information on specific topics.
4. Divide the remaining days by the number of topics. Don't forget to include the weekend in this schedule.
5. Don't just dive into interesting subjects. Also concentrate on what is bad for you.

5. Establish a routine

Decide when and where to practice. And get down to business before you have time to dissuade yourself.

I did it while I was on the bus. This is about 60% of all my independent studies. It took me a long time to drive, so I immediately turned on my laptop and began to study. I listened to music without words or white noise in order to be less distracted by what was happening around me. It also helped while away the road.

When you have a routine, you don't need to think about motivation. There is no need to sit and wait for her to appear. You know what to do - you just have to start.

Robert Bateman

6. Practice, but do it right

Taking the exam is a skill that can be trained. It is a waste of time to re-read the materials many times trying to memorize them. According to researchers, such attempts are practically ineffective. To really remember something, you need to think deeply and understand the subject. Forget about cards with definitions and dates. Practice taking exams.

I knew that my exams would last three hours and each would have three questions with a detailed answer. I figured out what the questions might be, and began to practice answering them. First I wrote on my laptop, looking at my notes and not limiting my time. As the exams approached, I began to write by hand. Then he stopped peeking at the notes. Then he began to time the time.

I wrote no more than one essay a day. What question I had to answer depended on what I was reading that day. By the time the exams began, I had essentially learned a lot of texts. Could put together parts of different essays for the required answer. So I memorized a lot of information. For each of the four exams, I studied four topics. For each topic, I remembered the names of at least twenty court cases, the year of passage and the main principle, and often also the names of judges and quotes from sentences.

I'm not a genius. When I was in school, I had pretty mediocre grades. Now I know what I did wrong then:

• I approached my studies in a disorganized manner.
• I learned everything at the last moment.
• Didn't train to take exams.

When I changed these habits, I began to study perfectly well, and at the same time I had enough time for the rest of my life.