How to Ace Your University Exam Everytime

Because it is common to see our fellow peers at university struggle to study and/or effectively study for tests and miterms, we have created a flexible study plan that is easy to follow to maximize your results!

By ENG 3050 Team 6

• Planner (or Calendar app on your phone) to plan out your time for upcoming exams
• Phone/Watch for timer
• Study Guide/Knowledge of what will be covered on the exam
• Utmost attention during lectures

Before it is even close to an exam, ensure you attend all classes and take high-quality notes during lectures.

Oftentimes, professors will specify what to expect on the exam before handing out a study guide (if they do). Some will even go over specific questions that are very similar to what will be seen on the exam. So make sure to attend all your lectures!

If you are confused about a particular topic during a lecture, stay after class and get the confusion cleared by the professor.

It is best to get it cleared as quickly as possible rather than e-mailing during study time close to an exam and risk waiting for an extensive period for a response.

This will also help in better retaining the information heading into study time.

When the time has come to begin studying for an exam, the first thing you should do is put away all distractions (such as your phone, turning off notifications or putting your phone on mute).

This will help ensure your focus is entirely on studying for the exam, and not make it easy for you to get off track by factors you can control (like your phone).

With your study guide or checklist, go over it and see how much of the material you remember from a particular chapter.

If there is a chapter that you remember the vast majority of the content of but another chapter where the material doesn't click as much, focus on the latter chapter for a good portion of your study sessions.

It is better than beginning to study right from the first chapter, as this ensures you are being efficient with your study time by focusing on the material you actually need to brush up on, and plan out your time according to that using a planner or the Calendar app on your phone.

Using the Pomodoro Technique, break your time up into 25-minute sessions.

Breaking your time up into small chunks of sessions rather than relentlessly studying at one go increases focus, reduces procrastination, and increases productivity.

This is especially vital for memory retention, as our brains are wired to process information in small chunks. By breaking study sessions into small chunks, it becomes a lot more manageable for the brain to comprehend the information and retain it for an extensive period of time.

And for every 25-minute session (1 Pomodoro), have a 5-minute break. After every 4 Pomodoro sessions, reward yourself with a 15-30 minute break.

For every 1-2 Pomodoro sessions, ensure you are focused on only one thing. So if it's a chapter, rewatching a recorded lecture, or practicing a problem, make sure you're only focused on one thing.

This helps you to stay focused and maximize your study time.

This is especially easy to do with a checklist or a study guide of how many topics will be covered on the exam. On the basis of that, divide your time appropriately as needed and focus on the tasks categorized by that.

At the end of each Pomodoro, review your notes and make sure you understand the material you covered before taking your break. This also helps in retaining the information.

To enforce and ensure you remember what you studied during a study session, test yourself to see which areas you have improved on and what you could focus on for the next Pomodoro sessions.

Examples include creating a Quizlet, doing practice problems posted by your professor and seeing how your work and answers compare with the answer key afterward and creating mnemonics if needed.

Keep a record of what you have studied and record it in detail (ie how much you have mastered a particular topic and what is something you could further improve on on that topic). This will also help in making sure you know and remember what remains to be covered for future Pomodoro sessions, as well as what you need to particularly focus on as mentioned in Step 8.

Irrespective of how much time you spend studying and/or how early/late in advance you study for the exam. It is important to stay motivated throughout all Pomodoro sessions.

A good method of achieving this is setting yourself small rewards after completing each Pomodoro or being done with all sessions for the day, such as treating yourself to your favorite chocolate/dessert or taking out time to watch a show you've been watching/been wanting to catch up on.