Students

Last-minute study tips for college students

Create an action plan to reduce stress and maximize your ability to succeed on final exams.

Steve Truong

2013-12-04

It can feel like final exams are perpetually lurking around the corner. Studying for so many exams in one week can definitely be overwhelming, in addition to the wrapping up of final projects two days prior to final exam week. However, if you have a plan of action, things could be significantly less stressful. So without further adieu, here are my last-minute studying tips to help maximize your ability to succeed on final exams.

1. Plan it 

Start planning out how you will divide up your study time and the order in which you'll tackle your studies. I usually go for what makes the most sense: study in the order that you'll take your final exams.

Pro tip: I suggest leaving a day or two before the start of final exams as days to review your study materials instead of putting them together. Planning this into your study schedule will help you get all the study materials (study guides, flash cards, etc.) together early on in the game. You will be able to actually sit down and study them before exam time.  

2. Write (or type) it

This is absolutely essential. Many times, students will simply just go over in-class lecture presentations and skim through the reading assignments to refresh themselves on the material. For a handful of students, this may work. For the majority, myself included, this is not enough. Type or write out the material that you absolutely do not know. This will help you get a better grasp of the concepts because you are spending your own time to write/type it out. In addition, put things into your own words. The jargon that comes alongside lecture material is not the most enjoyable and can be a nightmare to fully comprehend. If you put things into your own words, you're more likely to remember the material.

Pro tip: Write your own exam questions and answer them. If you do this, you'll often find when you take the exam that the questions you wrote were actually more difficult than the ones asked on the exam.

3. Break it 

Study breaks are important. Oftentimes, you'll see students just hammering away at their studies without a break. However, your brain needs some time to process. Your brain cannot store an unlimited amount of information. It can get overwhelmed with everything that you are trying to cram into it in such a short amount of time. The solution: take study breaks and give your brain a chance for the information to be processed and stored.

Pro tip: Energize yourself during breaks with a small snack (granola bar, yogurt, etc.). This will help keep you from studying until exhaustion and you'll have some energy to power through the study session. 

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Learn more about how to succeed at Arizona State University's W. P. Carey School of Business.

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