Sevion DaCosta

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As the students are experiencing the few last hell weeks of the year, exam season

(szn for all the trendy folks) is ungrudgingly approaching. As the board of stewards

recently concluded the first ever Student-Steward drop in session, the question of how to

best study for exams came up. For this reason I have made a short list that will lead to

success on exams.

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1. Organize your binder/computer folders.

When you are studying material from all/half of the school year, it is essential to

be able to quickly find information in a binder. Organizing your binder in chronological

order of themes will make studying go as smooth as possible. For those students who use

computer notes, organize your computer folders to ensure that you have everything. This

includes titles, dates, all class notes and test review packages. This step should be

completed first and done as soon as possible.

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2. Make a study plan

Plan the amount of allotted time you will spend on each class, and what days you

are studying on. Ensure your schedule is in accordance to your date of exam, difficulty of

that class and the amount of material needed to be covered. Implement study breaks in

your daily study schedule and attempt, as much as possible, to stick to your plan.

Creating a 2-3 week plan and daily plans with create efficient study habits.

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3. Find your study techniques

For each class you will have different study techniques. You simply cannot study

for an English exam, the same way you would for math exam. Some people like to form

study groups, highlight notes, or rewrite notes. The best advice is to find what techniques

work best for you in each subject area.

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4. Hide your distractions

This may be the hardest step for teenagers when it comes to studying. If you

constantly use your smart phone, give it to your mom, put in downstairs, and guarantee

that it is out of sight. To block distractions on your Internet browser, “StayFocused” is a

tremendous Google chrome extension. It requires the users to add their most used

websites to the “blocked list”, then prompts the user to set the allotted time they are

allowed to use those websites between a study time (ex. My stay focused gives me 15

minutes after 3:30pm for my most used websites)

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5. Put your “nose to the grindstone”

The last step is to be proactive, and in conjunction with the previous points, this

will be the easiest step. Being proactive does not simply mean doing your questions; you

should also be asking your teachers questions, writing any old exams, exam review

packages.

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Good luck to everyone on their exams and look for emails regarding more

Steward-Student drop in sessions!