How to
start
studying
When it comes to choosing how’d we like to spend our time, studying for a test or exam is not usually at the top of the list. As a result, it’s very common for students to procrastinate and leave their study until the last minute. Another reason why students often delay their study is because they’re not sure where to start.
You may have heard the saying… a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step… well what’s important here is that if we understand really clearly what the first step of our study journey looks like then we can start to break a daunting task down into much more management steps. What’s more, if you have a plan of attack for your study, when the time comes to get started you’re much more likely to actually do it!
So what’s our plan of attack, what’s the first step in our study journey?
The first thing you want to do when you sit down to study is to spend some time trying to understand the scope of the exam. What could be tested and what’s not likely to be tested. One way to do this is to read your notes from class, look at example problems that were done, was anything called out as particularly important? Write down the topics you think will most likely be tested so you can start to form a plan to learn about these topics.
The second thing to do when you first sit down to study is to do some example problems. These could be examples from your notes, text books, or old exam papers. This process provides many advantages:
Firstly it gets you mind going… almost like jump starting a car. It makes you think.
Secondly, it helps you understand the type of questions that could be asked (also helps with determining the scope of the exam).
Lastly, It starts to hone your study by giving you a sense of what you already know and what you’re going to have to learn.
Use these two tools (understanding the scope and doing example problems) when you first sit down to study. This will help you formulate a great study plan moving forward.
