How to Study Smarter: Effective Study Techniques for Exams

Introduction

You are currently reading this guide as you sit in a nearly empty classroom at midnight. You have an exam at 9 A.M. and have only half of your text read. You feel a sense of urgency as you ignore all of your messages and try to study. After a couple of minutes of studying, you feel even more lost than when you first sat down.

It isn’t lack of effort that causes this. Studying usually feels productive, but your brain may not be grabbing and using the information as much as you think. There are plenty of study techniques that can change this. Rather than judging how much you’ve studied by the number of pages you’ve read, you can judge it by how much you can explain and remember without your notes.

You don’t need to spend a lot of money or time setting up an elaborate system. There are a lot of study techniques that are informed by research and can make your study sessions a lot more productive.

Effective Study Techniques for Exams

There are many ways to study, but not all techniques help you retain information. The focus should be on techniques that help you retrieve information rather than review it. There should be a distinction when you’re studying to to see if you can produce the information rather than recognize it.

Let’s say you’re studying for your biology exam and you want to memorize cell division. You can go over the chapter and feel a sense of security as you recognize the terms mitosis and chromosomes, but you may not be able to explain the entire process. You want your studying to be difficult in order to provide your brain with the opportunity to retrieve the information rather than recognizing it.

Different subjects require different groups of techniques. Vocabulary can be handled with retrieval and spaced review. Math requires problem solving and analysis of mistakes. Writing abilities need practice with constructing and writing arguments under time pressure. No secret method exists; it is a system that fits your subject, the format of your exam, and the time you have available.

Why Do Students Struggle With Exam Prep?

The Illusion of Knowing

Rereading a paragraph multiple times can make something feel familiar, which can be mistaken for having learned it. A student may be able to define opportunity cost, but may not be able to give an example of it. Retrieval is the key to studying, you must be able to answer the question before looking at the answer.

Cramming

Compressing a long period of time into a short time leaves no time for repetition and correction. Learning 100 vocab words the night before a test may not seem problematic, but if those words are learned out of context, they will be difficult to remember. If you space out your study sessions, you will have many opportunities to rehearse the information.

Cognitive Overload

Attention and working memory have a limit. Studying five chemistry reaction types while texting and switching browser tabs leaves you mentally drained and having learned very little. You need to focus on one task at a time and eliminate distractions.

The Cost of Distractions

Distractions break deep focus. With just a quick phone check, you can devolve into a ten minute scroll, and your focus can be partly hijacked even after you return to your notes. This is costly especially with calculus, as the switch cost is high due to the nature of the subject requiring containment of a line of thought. A technique can only be as good as the distraction free environment.

Best Ways to Improve Your Exam Preparation

These approaches work best combined – using focused sessions to structure your time, active recall to test yourself, spaced repetition to retain information, and practice exams to simulate the real thing.

Use the Pomodoro Technique

This involves studying for 25 minutes straight, taking a 5 minute break, and then repeating. After a few cycles, take a longer break. The important part of this technique is structuring your time in a way that removes distractions. Tell yourself that you can only study for 5 practice problems. Take even shorter breaks to avoid breaking the technique.

Use Spaced Repetition Instead of Cramming

This involves reviewing material multiple times instead of trying to learn it all in one sitting. Review it once today, then maybe once more a few days from now. Spend more time reviewing the material you miss. This is great for learning vocab and formulas.

Practice Active Recall

Active recall says to close the book and write down the steps of photosynthesis after you’ve finished reading about it. Then, check your work. The trick is to not check your work until you have struggled for a short period of time. This works with flashcards, journals, explanations, and any other way you can think to quiz yourself.

Use the Feynman Technique

When something is too difficult to explain, utilize the Feynman Technique. This requires you to explain the concept in layman’s terms, as if you are teaching a child who has no prior knowledge of the subject. This will help you identify any gaps in your understanding and will prevent you from falling back on fancy terminology.

Take Practice Tests Under Real Exam Conditions

When taking practice tests, you must simulate the conditions of the actual test. This means you must solve the problems within the time constraints and in a quiet room with no notes. This can help you identify a multitude of issues that you normally wouldn’t notice, such as not being able to apply a formula you’ve memorized or constantly getting a specific question type wrong.

Try Interleaved Practice

When doing practice problems, use interleaved practice. For example, do one problem each of algebra, geometry, and then a word problem, as opposed to doing 20 algebra problems in a row. This will help you identify which method is applicable like a real world situation, even though it feels slower and more difficult at first.

Create Mind Maps

Create mind maps to organize related information. For the Industrial Revolution, you would place the topic in the center and then place technology, working conditions, urbanization, and the political effects. It is more beneficial to build the map yourself to show the relationships you have identified as opposed to studying a completed diagram. Keep your mind maps simple and organized. You should not spend so much time designing them that you neglect to add the information.

Teach What You Have Learned

One way to identify what you have learned is to teach it. Having a classmate explain a portion of World War I and then having them ask you “why did that lead to this?” is a good way to determine what you are still not able to explain. You do not need to have an formal study group to do this, you can use a friend or family member, or you can even pretend to study with an imaginary student.

Keep a Mistake Log

You should keep a log of all of your mistakes. For each mistake you should include the question, your answer, the reason it was wrong, and how you should have answered it. After a while, this log will transform into a personalized study guide.

Match Your Study Method to the Exam Format

You should modify your study techniques to best fit the examination techniques. For a multiple choice examination, you should be able to recognize a lot of answers, but for an essay examination, you should be able to build a strong argument and write fluently within a time constraint. If your examination requires you to write three essays within a two hour time span, then reading examples of essays will not help you, you will have to practice writing within the time constraint and plan out your essays.

Protect Your Sleep Before the Exam

Protect your sleep before the exam. Many think that studying late into the night is productive, but it actually makes it harder for you to focus when you need to the most. If you have studied at normal times, you owe it to yourself to rest and review instead of doing a last minute semester recital at 3am.

Expert Tips for Study Sessions

• Attack your least favorite material first. A lot of people make the mistake of starting with the material they are comfortable with, but starting with the hard stuff while your attention is still well is better.
• When you study for too long, reviewing material in too many different places can make it difficult to retrieve info. You should depend on surrounding cues as little as possible.
• Notes should be done in haste. If you take really nice notes, you probably won’t use them.
• Make your task for the next session as specific as possible. Instead of “Study for Algebra”, try “Work Practice Problems 1-5”.
• Think about your last exam as a learning experience. If you forgot to explain something fully, then you should practice that type of recall the next time.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Reading something over and over. This gives you a false sense of security.
• If you highlight too much, nothing is prioritized.
• Studying with your phone nearby. This creates lots of distractions.
• Pulling all-nighters: Exhaustion negates any value extra hours have.
• Only practicing easy questions: Easy questions give a false sense of security and don’t help locate deficiencies.
• Ignoring mistakes after checking answers: A score is not a diagnosis, and an answer that is wrong needs to be analyzed to locate the flaw.
• Trying every technique at once: Procrastination is not the only negative consequence of constantly switching techniques.
• Confusing long hours with real progress: Progress should be evaluated by what is learned, not how long one sits to learn it.

Pros and Cons of Effective Study Techniques

Pros

Pros: Better and faster recognition of weaknesses, stronger command of exam format and timing, and more effective use of practice tests; richer understanding of concepts as a result of explaining; and more comprehensive mistake logs.

Cons

Cons: More demanding mentally as compared to rereading; must be done consistently for it to be effective; can seem slower at first; more subject and exam type specific requirements; requires introspection about knowledge gaps.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Many Hours Should I Study for an Exam?

There’s no set answer, but it can be determined by the subject, your understanding of the material, the format of the exam, and the time constraint. Sometimes a few well-spent hours are better than a full day of unproductive reading. Remember what you learned, not just how many hours you spent doing it.

Is It Better to Study Every Day or Cram?

Studying every day is better than studying everything the day of the exam. Constantly studying allows you to correct your mistakes and store the information long term. Studying should not be one long session. You should break it up into shorter more efficient sessions.

What’s the Fastest Way to Memorize Study Material?

There is no way to memorize large pieces of information in a short amount of time. You have to understand the information to store it long term. You should use repeated spacing to memorize the information. Flashcards are great for storing facts and terms. You should use practice questions and examples to memorize concepts.

How Can I Study Effectively the Night Before an Exam?

You should not try to learn everything. You should review what you have learned and what you forget. You should do a few practice questions and then take the rest of the information you have learned to memorize. You should get some rest instead of reading through your notes.

Is Active Recall Better Than Rereading?

Active recall is better for testing your knowledge. There are better ways to learn new information than rereading it. It can be used to support other ways of learning, but it should not be the only way of learning new information.

How Do I Study With No Motivation?

You should not wait to be motivated to study. You should study for a short period of time and do something small like answering five questions or doing twenty flashcards. Studying should be done in short intervals. You can use these ways of learning with a part time job. You should use active recall to learn new information and take practice tests to learn the information you need to learn the most with longer study sessions.

How Do I Know If My Study Method Is Effective?

To really test your study method, you need to put it to the test without your notes. Can you explain the concept? Can you solve a problem you’ve never seen before? Can you remember the information without it being right in front of you? If the answer to any of these is no, then your study method is not working. You can’t rely on the confidence you have with your notes.

Is It Good to Study With Music?

It really depends on the task and the person. Some people can listen to music with lyrics and be fine, but others can get really distracted with music with lyrics and can’t study at all. If you find yourself ignoring the material and focusing on the music, then you should probably listen to the music.

How Many Days or Weeks in Advance Should I Study for a Major Exam?

The further in advance you study, the more opportunities you have to review the material and identify what you need to study. With less time in advance, you can still focus on active recall to replace passive review.

Final Thoughts

The key to all of this is to make sure you give your brain multiple opportunities to understand, retain, and correct the information. The best way to see what you really know is to use active recall. There are a lot of methods you can use to help you do this. The key is to make sure you give yourself time to do this before the real exam.

You don’t have to use all of these methods all at once. The goal is to make the time you spend studying count, so try closing your book and testing yourself, replacing a rereading session with practice questions, or removing distractions for one session.

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