My first college midterm is coming up, and like many of you, I do not have a set study routine that I use for exams. I’m still working out the kinks, but a common thread of studying I used that had helped me in high school was to tailor each method to the class. Here are two methods I personally tried out:
Mapping – ★★★☆☆
“Good for history, social, and science classes”
I have not used this method since my junior year of AP Bio when I learned this, but my teacher at the time taught us the method of making a huge map of connecting the terms and ideas together. It sounds easier than it is, but like all study methods, there is no right or wrong way to do this.
For starters, because I already have read the content, and learned the vocab, all I had to do was connect the concepts together.
Tips + the basic skeleton (Happy Halloween lol):
1. Start with the first chapter. Put the main idea/big vocab word in the middle and make a web by putting each main concept in connecting bubbles.
2. By writing the main ideas/vocab words in connecting bubbles, you are able to connect these ideas to other chapters.
3. Think of real-world or personal examples to connect the concepts. You are able to remember the content more if you can apply the vocab words to your own life.
For example: For the biology term “cell,” it makes me think of a city. City hall is the nucleus and the proteins are like workers.
4. To remember complicated information, using mnemonic devices helps to remember information for later use.
READ, READ, READ – ★★☆☆☆
“Difficult to do, but maybe helpful later.”
I wish it was easier than said. But reading through all the given content and watching the videos assigned to the content, even if you are not able to remember everything, the familiarity may help you to remember connections. I found this to be helpful during some of my classes in high school. As long as I read through the textbook, I was able to make some connections during quizzes and homework assignments.
This is a good BASIC start to studying and I see it as a bare minimum. Of course, for supplemental help on certain topics you don’t understand as much, I recommend Khan Academy or Youtube videos for visual help.
Tips:
1. Plan ahead!: Read a little each day instead of reading in one sitting and sleep on it. Reading a little each day will also help with retaining the content
2. Read thoroughly and take notes of headings, vocabulary words, examples of ideas that apply to you
– For instance – I like to write down vocab words with their definitions and also think of stuff I already know.
3. Do practice quizzes or practice questions and take note of the ideas you got wrong and why you got them wrong
4. Color coding is also very helpful with differentiating what might be on exams and what is important