by Joyce D. Sinclair

Created on: January 05, 2009

For many college courses, exams are the crux of your final grade. Therefore, it's important to do as well as you can on the exams. Unlike in high school, where your teacher would give you a guided review or study guide, college professors do not hold your hand in that way. You are required to study on your own.

But where do you start studying for your exam? It starts with taking notes. The important thing about taking notes, especially if your professor doesn't use power point or board-written notes, is to get the important points down. Sometimes it's hard to determine if something is important or not. I try to write things down that would answer the journalist's questions: who? what? when? where? why? how many/much? And if your professor repeats something, then consider that important enough to write down. It's also good to keep handouts with the coordinating notes. I date everything that is handed to me as well as date my notes. That way, I can keep everything in a chronological order, making it easier to reference handouts with the notes given that day.

Another thing to remember is that it's ok to abbreviate words and phrases in your notes, but make sure you remember what your abbreviations stand for. There's nothing like trying to study for exams and not understanding your notes. It does no good. When I was in high school, I was graded on whether I took notes in a history class. Because I was also studying Japanese at the time, I would abbreviate longer words with symbols. Of course, my teacher didn't understand it, but I did, and that's all that matters. I also found it a good idea to get with a friend taking the same class and compare notes. Your friend may have written something down that you didn't get, and vice versa.

Now you look at your calendar and notice an exam coming up. It's best to start reviewing and studying a week before the exam to avoid the last night cram that has become so stereotypical of college students. I've always read through all of my notes several times during the first few days of review. Take note, you still might have a few more class dates before the exam, so you'll be adding to them. But because these are relatively fresh in your memory, then it's best to review the older notes first. Try to ask yourself questions that you think will be on the exam. Make sure you understand what you are reading and can mostly repeat back what you've written. Now is the time to clarify with your professor anything you may not understand still.

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