Hi you,
If I've learned anything in my first 3 months of college, it's that college tests are nothing compared to high school tests. The material taught is very vague while the material on the test itself is way too specific, you don't have nearly enough time to prepare for one particular test because you're too busy studying for just about every other class and lastly, curves are rare and underused. However, even under the pressure and new intensity, I've luckily found a system that works. Fortunately I've managed to make at least an A on all of my college exams so I'm here to share my methods with you! Keep in mind that everyone learns differently and requires different things to understand the material so make sure to customize my study tips to fit you!
First Things First, Identify What You Know...
To be able to perfect a subject, you must identify what you actually know about the subject. This has been a huge help in allowing me to focus my time and energy learning the things I haven't exactly mastered yet rather than the stuff I probably already know well enough. If your teacher is kind enough to provide you with a study guide, I would recommend printing it out, sitting down with a pen and paper, and writing down everything you know about each vocabulary word/main idea/concept/etc. Make sure to take your time while doing this so you can really write it all down. The work seems tedious but in order to get the results, you have to put in the work.
Create An Outline...
I've quickly noticed that college professors (well teachers in general really) would rather you get the bigger picture of a concept rather than it's small details. Now that doesn't mean it's not important to know certain details, but keep this in mind: what's the point of memorizing the details if you don't even understand why you need to know it? What I'm pushing here is that it's more efficient to spend less time memorizing information and more time understanding it. Taking the time to understand what you're learning will probably help you memorize things quicker because you'll be able to connect the bigger picture. This being said, create an outline. Identify the key concepts and general ideas of that particular unit and write them out. After you do that, write down the vocabulary words you need to know under each concept and the details that go with them. Laying out your information visually can help you understand how it all connects.
YouTube is Your Best friend...
You probably already know this but I'll go ahead and throw it out there just for funsies. Watching YouTube videos (the right ones) over what your learning can really help. Sometimes teachers don't really cover absolutely every detail and unfortunately may not help you connect all the dots that need to be connected. Watching another student/teacher/whomever explain it to you through a video and be proven more than helpful. It's nice to hear the same information more than once in many different variations. Take advantage of your resources!! There's a lot out there that can help you.
Quizlet is Key...
We all use it and rightly so. Many people actually take the time to create a quizlet over the test material after they've already taken it believe it or not. Fortunately for us, it's free and easy to access when we need it. Quizlet has features that allow you to use the information by practicing with flashcards, practice spelling everything out, play different types of games and it even creates practice tests for you with all of the information. Take some time to play around with the different quizlet sets out there and take advantage of the different ways you can use it!
Those are all of my handy dandy tips on how I've successfully gotten through the majority of tests this first semester of college and so far its working for me! I hope you try some of these and they end up working for you too!
love always, A
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