Gonna study for exams!

[Nathan]

All those of you that went through high school, college and uni have faced exams. Question is how did/do you usually deal with them? Do you study just a few minutes before, pulling one-nighters or do you study a few days in advance?

 

[Kyrul]

Studying? Haha, that never happened.

I was the D+ average student that all the teachers loved to deal with.

 

[derozio]

A few days in advance. It used to be easy for me before high school so I didn't even study till like 3-4 days before the exam. But then I started studying 15-20 days before exams once high school started. :p I was consistently in the top 3 of my class for a great deal of my school years. Except in the last two years. When I was mostly in the top 15ish haha. That's mostly because I got transferred to a school with mostly elites haha. But yeah, I never had much problems when it comes to regular school level studies.

But god damn is preparing for entrance exams for colleges like IIT hard. I had to take a drop. Studied for one year without computer/TV access. First exam on 6th april and I still feel like I haven't studied nearly enough. Like, not even 30%. :/ But meh. I'm just gonna give it my best shot. Whatever happens, happens.

 

[Lil MuDkiP849]

I like to use Index Cards and test myself through repetition. Like...if I see a term or verb and I'm not sure what it is, I write on one side of the index card "What is *verb*?" Then on the other side I figure out the definition and important uses for the verb and write all of that down. When I've got all my index cards, I shuffle them all together and go through each of them about 3-4 times.

Sure, knowing about it is one thing, but for how hard some exams I take are, you "really" have to know stuff inside and out.

 

[mikey]

I study the material a few days before to avoid doing an all-nighter. I study in sections, one section each day and then on the last day I usually study all the sections at once as a review.

 

[Nolafus]

The only subject I ever studied in high school was French. Besides that, I never studied. I was a pretty good student too, so I never really knew why. The only times I seemed to do poorly on tests was when I was really stressed about them, so I never studied the night before. Instead, I just played video games and made sure I wasn't all worked up about it.

That tactic still went into college for me, and it worked pretty well. Even if I had no idea what I was doing, if I could keep a level head, I could work my way through the problems and figure out the most logical solution.

In other words, I don't really study. Rather, I just make sure not to work myself up. And in case you were wondering, I was a good student.

 

[Flushed]

In high school I barely studied, and it worked out fine, but college isn't treating me as well. I always say I'm going to study ahead of time so I don't have to stay up all night the day before/day of, and so far it hasn't really worked out. I'll be procrastinating and then all of a sudden it's 3am, and I'd rather sleep than study. So I've been cramming the night before, and I've failed practically every exam. This time though, I'm gonna start studying sooner. I have a test on the 8th and I will not let myself procrastinate until the 7th.

 

[Raine]

Had my fair share of all-nighters back in university because I would leave all the material to the last minute and cram all the information I needed within the last 1-2 days before the exam D: Bad way of doing it because sometimes I would take naps and be scared of missing them. I found out that I normally study more than I need; start overthinking about things that I don't need to know. Now, in college, I barely have to study because even though the concepts are completely new to me, they're relatively easy to learn unlike my international friends who are struggling with trying to understand the material :c

 

[Nick]

I don't usually have to study for most subjects, but I'm studying my butt off for this psychology exam that I have coming next week.

 

[Puddle]

I rarely study now, in high school. But I'm sure I'll definitely study when the material gets harder at University

 

[Sheep]

I'll study the day before, maybe two or three days before if I really think I need the practice. Generally I'm quite lazy and tend to do decent enough on mosts tests anyway so there was never a big urge for me to study. Wish I did put more effort into some of them though... but that's in the past now. xD;

 

[Avishka]

A few days in advance. I don't study much the whole year....I start studying a week or two before the exams and due to the exams I have left PC twice for a month or two.

 

[Homura Akemi]

(the cool thing is I have exams all this week.)

I usually study the day before, like, all out. Read the notes that'll be assessed, maybe rewrite them so they stick to my head. In fact, today I was studying the night before the exam, and all morning. I ended up doing pretty well :)

 

[Dustmop]

Studying? I don't study. /effort
Typically, once I've read something, it's retained pretty well. Never had to study during grade school - public or home-schooling - and I was always an honors student. An honors student who spent her weekday evenings and free weekends home alone playing video games.

If it counts: I'm taking gunsmithing now and a couple of these exams have had me stumped. But I've learned that no amount of studying will help this material sink in, I'm not going to understand a skill I haven't physically done much, just calls for more practice!


My "college time" (a whole one, free semester on a scholarship) was a different matter. Sort of. Didn't study then, either, but I also skipped classes and exams week. Except for English. I liked that professor. In the end, I walked away with a barely passing average.. 2.0? 2.5? I don't remember which it was, didn't care enough. I still don't quite know how that happened, unless that's the average you get for almost paying attention in one class? But it was an amusing 4 months that I don't care to ever repeat.

 

[Darkwing Ducklett]

Well, when I was at University, I started about a month ahead of the exams, and after I'd written out my lecture notes twice (once in full, the second time condensed to the point of incomprehensibility onto mini cards I could carry about with me) I'd do practice questions until my eyeballs bled...or until about 1pm, whichever came first. I never worked for longer than four hours a day (unless I had an exam the same day, in which case I worked from about 8am right up to it) and always in the morning. I'm not an afternoon person. My brain shuts down. I walked away with 1st Class Honors (well, I scraped it with a 71% average, but nobody pays attention to your average over here) so I guess it worked out alright for me.

Before that I was a mess. I started revising maybe a week ahead of exams, did it whenever I felt like it - which was rarely - and didn't really have a system in place. I winged it, in short.

 

[Meganium]

I always study a few days in advance. I never do last minutes or all nighters. I believe that getting a full night's sleep and a good meal before the exam is beneficial to obtain a good grade.

 

[Honest]

Cram the night before and ace it/do pretty damn well is usually how it goes for me.

This term, I actually only had one midterm (got an A). I thought that was a great thing till I came to realize how many damn essays I'd have to deal with. >>

 

[Fernbutter]

I never study, like seriously, never.
It's ironic though, because I am one of the smartest in my class, even for subjects that I am absolutely terrible at, like maths, that would totally be able to fail me if it wanted to, I never would, during tests or finals, I wouldn't read or review anything, but my grades ranged from A+'s to Somewhere at B's. I can't tell what form of sorcery is this is, but it can only be explained by magic or ingenuity.

 

[Zorogami]

Depending on the subject i start studying either 3-4 days earlier or not at all.
I usually copy all that i need to know on paper, that way i memorize it better, and then i just re-read the papers a few times a day. If there are some exercices i can do, ill do a few of those as well

 

[Kikaito plush]

I study the day before the exam as I have found out if I study everyday for that exam I will fail it.