T IPS E SSENTIAL FOR C RAMMING

(P ART 1)
1. Find out what exactl y you need to study.
First of all, find out what exactly you need to study, putting
the highest-priority items at the top of your list. Some
lecturers hold review classes before the exams; be there. Find
out what topics the lecturer thinks are important. As well, ask
questions. Many lecturers give out course outlines; so be sure
to use them. While they probably won't cover everything that
will be on the exams, you'll at least be able to focus on the key
topics.

2. Write the key ideas and keep repeating

them.
Write the key ideas or formulas on a sheet of paper and keep
on studying from that sheet. Repetition is important. Go
through your course outline and your notes and look up the
important or most repeated topics in your textbook. Scan the
key sections of your text and write down any new information
you find that seems important. The idea here is not to write
down everything, but rather to identify the specific ideas, facts
or equations that are likely to be on the exams and focus on
those topics as much as possible.

3. Use the concept of chunki ng to reduce t he

information.
Reduce the information into five big categories. Go back
through your text and class notes and identify all the
important words or phrases. There may be dozens of
important terms. Write down the chapter headings, lecture
themes, or chapter titles. These are the main ideas or concepts
you'll need to understand. Write a short paragraph to define
or discuss each of your major concepts (good practice for the
short essay question).

Go back and forth, reading and examining yourself on the

individual terms and the long definitions until you are pretty
comfortable. Re-write the main ideas and try reproducing
your definitions without looking at your previous definitions.
Each time you include one of the terms, highlight it. This is a
visual that will reinforce information. Keep at this until you
can incorporate all your terms into one of your concept
paragraphs.

4. Read the chapter summaries.

Chapter summaries usually do a good job at summarizing the
important points. If there're no chapter summaries, then skim
through the text and write down key ideas. Look at the
beginnings and ends of textbook chapters. The first page of a
chapter often identifies key points that will aid your
understanding of the material. The last couple of pages will
often summarize the chapter, define or highlight key terms,
and, in the case of math texts, list important equations.

5. Skip the details for now.

Only come back to them if you see that you have time after
you have learned the key points. Since your time is limited,
you have to choose what you study. Don't attempt to learn
everything, focus on things that will get you the most points
on the exam. Skip it! If you're having trouble understanding
something, skip it. You can't afford to spend all night trying
to learn something that may only make up a very small
portion of the exam.

Given your limited amount of time, chances are high that you
won't be able to study every single thing that will be on the
exam to the point of mastery. This is where prioritizing comes
in. Spend more time on chapters or sections of the material
that you know make up a large portion of the exam.

The above nuggets are extracted from the book: The

Firstclass You. For more, you can download the book
at:
https://payhip.com/b/bupt
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