<p>Post what you do to prepare for a Test or a quiz. Be specific please</p>
<p>Reason Im asking this is right now I havent really studied for my classes effectively in the past and want to find a new method</p>
<p>Again I’ve said this in other posts. You would really benefit from the study techniques mentioned in Cal Newport’s blog " Study Hacks". They’ll give you all the advice you’ll ever need :)</p>
<p>Usually, I just read. Whatever it is I have to study. Packets, worksheets, chapters in a textbook, etc. I tend to read it twice through, slowly, and then I’m good. Occasionally, I’ll make a two-sided sheet with words and translations for Latin vocab, though.</p>
<p>I make someone else quiz me on the material until I get it.</p>
<p>[Study</a> Hacks](<a href=“http://calnewport.com/blog/]Study”>Study Hacks - Decoding Patterns of Success - Cal Newport)</p>
<p>I have a couple ways of studying that work well for me, hope they work for you too!</p>
<p>I find it really helpful to make flashcards. Not only are you re-writing the info you need to know (like vocab, important events, etc), but when it comes time for a cumulative exam or final, you won’t be as overwhelmed trying to study everything at once.</p>
<p>Another strategy I have is talking out info I don’t understand with my friends. That way, I’m not frustrated if I can’t find out on my own, and my friends can ask me questions they need help on too. So it’s good for everyone, and study groups are super helpful in college!</p>
<p>Last one! If you are a procrastinator like me, I would recommend that you review short sections of a chapter, or whatever you’re learning as you go. So, when it comes time to take that final test, again, you’re not overwhelmed!</p>
<p>I like to come up with creative stuff that I can remember. I’ll make a sentence that I can use to remember what order something comes in or whatever details I may need to memorize. Also, repetition is key, at least for me. If you keep reading it, over and over again, it’ll become ingrained into your head and you’ll know it for sure. World History AP taught me that big time.</p>
<p>Read How to Be a Straight A Student by Cal Newport.</p>
<p>Mnemonics, flashcards, and stuff work well</p>
<p>But the best technique and the one I use to memorize masses of information is called the teaching technique. The idea is that if you can teach something to someone, you should know it well enough to take a test on it and ace it. Combined with small group studying, this technique is great and even fun! Get a friend together and try to teach him all you know about the concept. </p>
<p>I first figured this out when a friend of mine asked me for help in chemistry in my second quarter of college; I realized that in order to sound at all like I knew what I was talking about, I had to research the material, look online, etc and then summarize it myself into a system that was memorable but also complete. I realized that I loved to teach and that this worked well for me because once I had summarized and sorted out the material, I had more than memorized it; and the motivation was having someone else depend on you! Of course, this method doesn’t work for all kinds of classes.</p>
<p>But it works with just one person as well. All throughout my third quarter, I would sit in a room by myself and speak aloud what I had memorized for my Life Science midterms & final. It was as though I were talking to a friend; with this method, I realized I could memorize quite well masses and masses of material in a small amount of time. It was fantastic! </p>
<p>Also, while going through and memorizing chapters, stop in the middle of a chapter, and jump back to an older chapter and test yourself to see if you remember it. Trust me on this one. If you just try to read through like 4 chapters straight, your recall rate will be much lower than if you hop back and forth, constantly reinforcing the old while taking in the new; this makes your memory truly watertight (at least until the test is done!) and the more times you jump around, testing yourself on older material, the longer and faster you will recall it later on!</p>
<p>So this technique depends on speaking things aloud (not just in your mind) and it works really well on classes that involve tons of memorization or concepts. But classes that require practicing and putting pen to paper like math and English won’t benefit as much from it. Last of all, a rather hidden technique that’s useful (in particular when you need to remember speeches or some oral exam stuff) is sleeping. Sleep, at least for me, cements long strings of sentences in my memory. Thus, if you had a choice between sleeping before or after you study for a test, I would suggest the latter. Sleep solidifies what you know and I can’t really explain how or why.</p>
<p>Cramming the night/period before the test. Works 98% of the time.</p>
<p>Organize info into charts/categories.
Talk about it with others.
Retype notes.
Predict possible questions and group the information you would use for each possible question (for essay tests)</p>