Midterms Season is here! Here’s five tips and tricks to memorize as much as you possibly can while staying sane:
- Read, Write, Repeat!
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Remember, don’t spend too much time on things you already know! Trusting your retention abilities is important when studying for large exams. Spend less time on concepts you already know and understand, and more on what you’re uncomfortable with. Review them once or twice, but spend your time on what you need help with… don’t brush it off until the night before! The best trick in the book is writing the material you need to remember over and over again until you know it like the back of your hand.
- Make a plan…. and stick to it!
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Now, before you fret over thinking about things in the future, think about how much you already know. If you’ve been attending classes and at least listening, you have a basic grasp of some of the easier concepts in classes. The next step is to pick out what you don’t know. Make a timed, precise schedule of when and how you’re going to spend time learning these concepts. Creating a schedule like this will encourage you to spend your time wisely, but in the end, it’s up to you! Don’t be afraid to allow some time for self-care as well! That brings me to my next point…
- Give yourself breaks!
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Don’t expect your brain to run on full power the whole time you’re studying, it’s bound to get a bit overwhelmed. The best way to combat this is by making time for hanging out with friends, getting some exercise, or watching an episode of Netflix… only ONE.
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Make acronyms for shortlists!
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The best part is, they don’t need to make sense to anyone but you! If you need to memorize lists or bullet points for something, acronyms are the way to go! You’ll remember these well past the exam time, and it comes in handy when you need to rattle something off to a professor.
- Print lists and hang them up in your workplace a week before.
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This one’s a personal favorite! If you’re anything like me, you can accidentally memorize the grocery list on the refrigerator without remembering what you studied last night. The truth of the matter is that we read thousands of words each day, and some of them stick with us. Sometimes, we put too much pressure on our brains by trying to make them memorize things on the spot. This causes us to only know them for short periods of time.
By hanging up notes and lists in your dorm or room, you give yourself more time with the material and chances are, you’ll accidentally memorize it. You end up looking at it multiple times a day, resulting in more time with the concepts!
Good luck! :)