Prepare for exams by doing exams. It’s the most obvious advice in the world. And ignored by almost every student in the world. You don’t practice for your driving test by repeatedly cleaning your car doors, you don’t prepare for a martial arts tournament by laundering your belt over and over, so why would you prepare for an exam by making the prettiest notes in the world?
Of course your notes should be clear and useful. But so many students spend blissful ours organizing and rewriting their notes, coloring them in like a My Little Pony disco, buying every kind of file folder to collect and subdivide every section, all because that’s procrastination. Tidying notes is always easier than actually studying them. But unless you’re handing in your notes as the practical part of your Logistics exam then there are no marks for making them beautiful.
Do practice and past exams as early as possible. Try one the first week of your course if you can. Of course you won’t be able to do it, you won’t even be able to start most of it, but now you’ll know what you’re working towards. You’ll see the structures you’re facing, the problems to pick apart, even the style of solution that’s most useful. There’s no point in memorizing derivations for a number crunching exam. And you don’t want to have done nothing but numbers only for an exam to ask “Part c) What physical principle is at play here? If you could alter one constant which would give the greatest increase in range?”
The first time you try something is the worst you’ll ever be at it. So don’t let your first exam be the real one! Too many students see exams as a Final Boss, something you struggle through the levels to face and then it’s a final showdown. But anyone playing video games will tell you that’s a terrible idea. Because the Final Boss always annihilates you the first time you fight them. You need to try several times to learn their patterns, their weaknesses, how to avoid their traps and strike them the hardest. And your exam is even more satisfying to defeat than the Great Grey Wolf Sif.
Don’t restrict yourself only to exams. The point of any course is to make YOU better at the course, not feed the exam another set of answers, and you want to be ready in case there are any unexpected questions or changes to the exam structure. But definitely do regular exam practice. Because the future is uncertain, the world is changing, but one thing you can be sure of in university is that you will definitely need to do exams.
Of course your notes should be clear and useful. But so many students spend blissful ours organizing and rewriting their notes, coloring them in like a My Little Pony disco, buying every kind of file folder to collect and subdivide every section, all because that’s procrastination. Tidying notes is always easier than actually studying them. But unless you’re handing in your notes as the practical part of your Logistics exam then there are no marks for making them beautiful.
Do practice and past exams as early as possible. Try one the first week of your course if you can. Of course you won’t be able to do it, you won’t even be able to start most of it, but now you’ll know what you’re working towards. You’ll see the structures you’re facing, the problems to pick apart, even the style of solution that’s most useful. There’s no point in memorizing derivations for a number crunching exam. And you don’t want to have done nothing but numbers only for an exam to ask “Part c) What physical principle is at play here? If you could alter one constant which would give the greatest increase in range?”
Don’t treat exams as a Final Boss. Final Bosses always destroy you the first time.
The first time you try something is the worst you’ll ever be at it. So don’t let your first exam be the real one! Too many students see exams as a Final Boss, something you struggle through the levels to face and then it’s a final showdown. But anyone playing video games will tell you that’s a terrible idea. Because the Final Boss always annihilates you the first time you fight them. You need to try several times to learn their patterns, their weaknesses, how to avoid their traps and strike them the hardest. And your exam is even more satisfying to defeat than the Great Grey Wolf Sif.
Don’t restrict yourself only to exams. The point of any course is to make YOU better at the course, not feed the exam another set of answers, and you want to be ready in case there are any unexpected questions or changes to the exam structure. But definitely do regular exam practice. Because the future is uncertain, the world is changing, but one thing you can be sure of in university is that you will definitely need to do exams.
