by Brooke Shea

Created on: January 30, 2008   Last Updated: September 16, 2010

Preparing for an exam is one of the easiest things in the world if one will simply take good notes in class and keep up with them. Some people think that cramming the night before or the morning of an exam is the way to study or prepare for an exam. This is absolutely not true. In fact, cramming is one way to get confused and frustrated instead of prepared for an exam.

The first thing is to develop a habit of listening carefully and not thinking that one knows what is actually coming next, but concentrate on what the lecturer is saying. In order to train oneself to do so, one should listen to speeches on the radio, television, and or church meetings and take notes on those speeches. This is excellent practice for sharpening ones listening skills and taking notes.

Secondly, one needs to develop a good note taking shorthand. There is no necessity to write every work, just the major essence of what is being shared. If one knows regular abbreviations for various words, he/she can develop other abbreviations as necessary. For example, some that I use frequently are OT and NT for Old Testament and New Testament; and NJ for New Jerusalem.

The third thing one needs to do is to read over his or her notes every day, even the notes taken previously during the week, month, or six weeks, etc. This is very crucial! The day before the test or exam, one should read over the notes two or three times, especially those that cover an item that is not quite clearly cemented into one's mind. Therefore, there will not be the necessity to cram for exams and one can rest well the night before a big exam and not be completely stressed out.

Having followed this pattern during my college/university years, I never had to "study" for an exam, and I received an undergraduate degree with honors, and a graduate degree with high honors while carrying a heavy load, eighteen to twenty-one hours each semester, commuting, and rearing a family. The continued reading of notes kept the information fresh in my mind, and instead of trying to memorize information prior to an exam, I truly learned the information and still retain much of it even after many years. Preparation, not cramming, is the key.

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