Things You'll Need:
- School supplies
- Sense of organization
- Time management skills
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Step 1
Prepare to start studying for final exams at least two weeks beforehand. Most of the time, final exams do not require you to know specific facts, but rather general concepts and themes apparent throughout the course of the semester. Study a chapter a day before the final exam. If you have a final exam that covers 10 chapters, you can study a chapter a day for thirty minutes and have 4 days leftover to review general concepts and terms that you do not know.
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Step 2
While studying, mark things that you know and do not know in your notes. Develop a marking system. For example, if you mark a term or a fact with a checkmark, it means you already know the material. If you put a star next to it (or highlight it with a bright colored highlighter), then go back and review it the night before the exam.
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Step 3
Go back and ONLY review the items that you are not familiar with. If you review terms and concepts that you already know, then you are only wasting your time. Focus your attention on terms that you do not know.
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Step 4
The day before your final exam is scheduled, write out facts and other information, along with terms and other vocabulary or formulas, on one or two notecards. Get to your final exam about thirty minutes early and review these "last minute cheat sheets".
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Step 5
Attempt to spend 30 minutes to an hour per day (or per chapter) for each subject. This is a much more effective method than waiting until the night before your exam to cram. When you cram for an exam the night before, you are much more stressed out. Your mind has a hard time focusing on the material because you feel under pressure to study a lot in a short amount of time. It is better to dedicate yourself for the few weeks before finals than to be stressed the night before. Also, when you plan to cram, you lose a lot of sleep. You want to get a good night's sleep the night before the exam so that you can optimize your performance on your final exam.
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Step 6
Set your alarm for early the day of your final exam. Get a parent or a roommate to wake you up early so that you are not late. Plan to be at school 30 minutes to an hour before your exam. This way, you can grab a cup of coffee or a breakfast as a treat on your way to school, and enjoy / fuel your body while you study.
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Step 7
Five minutes before the exam: realize that there is absolutely nothing that you can do at this point to improve your score. If the final exam period is a few hours long, do a couple of stretches. Make sure that you have pens and paper available and that your pencils are sharpened. As soon as you get the exam, write down any formulas or concepts that will help you perform better on the final exam.
