PRESS PLAY

REWIND

I hate preparing for an exam when there is so much information, so many topics and not enough time. I used to always start making study materials a few days before an exam and then forget about them and postpone studying for days. When the day before an exam came I had my study guide or note cards but there was a ton of information I had to cram in to one day.

FAST FORWARD

After looking through the CLS book and reading about different exam preparation strategies, I made a source outline and a topic outline. These outlines go hand and hand. The source outline categorizes each topic by source. A good tip is to only study by topic, never by source. To ensure you are only studying by topic, make a topic outline after the source outline. The topic outline reorganizes the source outline to make an outline of specific topics. You then rank the topics by need for review time.

A study schedule is also a helpful strategy during exam preparation. Similar to the Fritter Finder, a study schedule is a map of your whole week. Plan out your study time in blocks of 2 hours or less, depending on the ranking system you determined in your topic outline. Ask yourself, “What topics do I need to spend the most time on?” Allot study times for various times for each topic and stay true to your study schedule! When the exam comes you will be able to PRESS PLAY and all your organizational work and studying will pay off!

L A M E

I like this strategy because I am the type of Learner who needs a chunk of time to study for an exam. I like that each day I am only studying for an hour continuously. This Action, of only studying a little per day, is going to help me really learn the material rather than just memorizing and cramming the day or two before an exam. The Materials I used for this plan are topic and source outlines and a study schedule. These strategies help me to stay organized and on top of my work; I know everything I have to accomplish a week in advance which helps with the organization of the rest of my week. I Evaluate this technique very positively. I am the type of person who needs to be organized and informed of everything I have to do. The way I categorize my topics and sources helps me know exactly what is going to be on the exam and not skip anything in between.