How to Study for a Test the Night Before

How to Study for a Test the Night Before Youve procrastinated for who knows how long, and youre arriving at the point where, if you dont start studying now, youll go into the test with a head devoid of information. You probably know this already, but this happens to everyone. As long as you dont make a habit out of it, youre fine. Youll have a chance to reflect on what you did and why it was bad later on, now lets focus on getting you through the test with a passing grade. Get Your Space Ready If you can, go to a public space. Even though its been well-documented in the Internet that people can fall asleep pretty much anywhere, you should make sleeping an unappealing option by placing yourself as far away as possible from your bed. If you cant go to a cafe or library, make sure you make yourself as uncomfortable as possible to stave off sleep. Dont wear sweatpants, dont sit in a chair you can lay in, and stay as far away from pillows as possible. Clean your desk and use it. Get everything ready, including but not limited to: textbooks, notes, writing utensils, something to drink and something to snack on. Ideally, youll be sitting at this desk without getting up for awhile, so try and prepare everything beforehand. 50/10 You have to strike a balance between breaks and working, so set a timer for 50 minutes, and dont lift your head from that textbook before its up. As soon as times up, get up and move! Go to the bathroom, make some tea or just walk around for a bit to give yourself some energy. If youre using a computer, dont go on Facebook, Twitter or wherever else you prefer to waste time online. Youll no doubt end up in a content vortex and wont come out until an hour later. Theres no time to waste right now, so if youre using anything with a screen to study, just leave it for the duration of the break. Be Efficient When you have limited time to study, you cant afford to read all the chapters in-depth. If you encounter some information that you cant parse on your first read through and its not absolutely vital, it might be best to just move on. A lot of this process is basically going to be throwing information into your head, and hoping it sticks. Dont use a highlighter. All the highly relevant information is probably going to be bolded or highlighted in another way in your textbook. Highlighting is for when you need to find stuff in a wall of text for later use, and with the time constraints that youre under at most what you can hope is one thorough reading of the text. Yeah, it seems like some vague attempt at doing what students who dont need to cram do, but highlighters are not magical. After you finish each chapter, get a piece of paper and write down all the information that you think you will need when taking the test, in bullet point form, with headings and subheadings. This will do wonders for what information you retain, and youll quickly see what parts of the chapter youll need to revise to cover the gaps – if you have the time to do that, that is. Try these helpful memory improvement tecniques to memorize better! Go to Bed After youve done all your reading, drink a glass of water and head off for some sleep. Youll need at least a power nap before the exam, since coming in with your brain fried from all the information youve been cramming into it wont do any good. After waking up and getting ready, read through your notes. If you read the textbook, the stuff youve written down should bring up related information. See? Results! After its all over, take a look at how you got yourself in this situation. If you routinely have to cram for exams the night before, then its time to think about how you can reverse the habit. Resolve to always be on top of your reading and never turn in your homework late. Staying up all night to get a passing grade is a huge toll, and, in any case, barely passing every test you have shouldnt be the way you spend your time in college.