College Strategies

Lesson 8: Graduating from 1st Year and Planning Your Future

Passing your Final Exams

Get your sweatpants out of the closet, wrap yourself in a blanket and lock your door. It’s exam time! Keep your music down and be considerate of other students, so they will be considerate of you. You will know your exam schedule weeks before exam time actually starts, so you will have had the opportunity to figure out a schedule. Do not only look at which exam is on what date, but factor in whether or not you are doing bad in the course and if the exam is worth 50% or 20%! The hardest exams and those worth 50% of your final mark should receive the most attention. Those who seem to be easier and/or are worth less of your final mark have a smaller priority.

Divide your work in manageable sections. Do a general review of your notes first, then assigned questions and lastly practice old exams. Don’t go back further than 3 years because the course and syllabus can have significantly changed.

Schedule the day before each exam to be dedicated only to the next exam. Unless you have two exams in one day, then you will have to divide your day in two parts. On all other days try to vary what you study, it will make you less bored if you have some variation.

Make sure you have enough to eat, but don’t overeat. Your brain needs good food, but don’t restrict yourself too much if you need to satisfy a snack attack. Being too full and stuffed is bad for your concentration too, because your body wants to go into a rest mode to digest all that food. For a lot of people that means getting sleepy.

Regardless of the stress and pressure try to adhere to a good sleeping schedule. It will avoid exhaustion smack in the middle of your exams and you will be able to go on for longer. Add healthy study breaks to your regime, and still try to catch up with friends. Go out for a quick dinner and then go back to studying. You can also study in groups, even if it is not for the same exam it can help you to concentrate. If you make a commitment to study with other people it is harder to get distracted; you are less likely to go and surf the web if your friends are studying with you.

If you are freaking out and you are completely lost go and talk to the professor of the course. He will not tell you what is on the exam, but he can give you some good pointers nevertheless. He can tell you what topics to focus on specifically and calm you down. Looking at previous exams also gives you a pretty good idea of the major and recurring patterns. For example in certain courses there is always a particular mechanism question, or an essay you have to write. If you know this, you can focus on these things because they are worth more marks.

If you need to just pass a course, focus on the sections that will be worth big bucks on the exam. Pay attention to the rest as well, but less, because if you are scrambling marks and part marks together you have to get a system: tackle the big questions first. Skip everything you don’t know right away and then get back to it. Never leave a question blank; if there is nothing there they cannot give you part marks!

This is not a set rule, but it works for most people: never study an hour before an exam! At some point just stop. In the end all you will do is confuse yourself, and if you don’t know it by then there is no realistic chance of getting it in your head 5 minutes before entering the examination room.

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