This year I have turned on a new leaf, I have decided to buckle down and study hard. But the only problem is with tests. everything else i get an 85% or better, even quizes lol! Only with tests the turnout is diffrent. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I should study to improve my grades in tests? Like any habbits to go through like reading through notes and re-reading the chapter. I have tried mostly everything and I still dont do that well, =/. This is for Physics, so you have to study and re-read, unlike math where it is just all practice and going over formulas and doing the math yourself. Alot of people have recomended I go over notes and just read the chapter, but I know there are some other methods like taking key concepts and making a large study guide to look over etc, things like that. If anyone has any ideas on what would help plz let me know asap...the test is coming soon.

I find that cramming the day before or the morning before the test is excellent. But i'm not suggesting that should be the only method of study or only way. dangerous. lol.

For me especially with Physics I have to write down key concepts and just go over it. Or in the book go over the examples. Do shortcuts like for formulas. There's a term for this. Like you know for Chemistry Boyles law. Boyles law formula is Pressure over Volume. "boyles pot vegetable" lol. or charles one. (see tv) or C= T/V. you get the point.

or go over things and quiz yourself. like with chapter questions and whatnot. that's all that helps me. or have a study partner. Learning when its fun or studying with a freind is a good way to understand stuff.

Quit Night studying. Study in day light. Get up very early (At time of sunrise, when you can feel the fresh moist air in the morning) and study at that time.

If you are reading notes, read a bit loud. (so that your voice should be audible to you).

Keep a seperate book for jotting down key points and make a summary of it. By the time you finish your chapter, this book should have all the important points. So, at the time of tests, you have to just go through this new notes you have made.

Take a gap of 15-20 mins in every 2 hours.

Before you begin to to read any topic, go through the summary of that topic first. Get an idea of what you are going to read and learn exactly. This will engage your mind and improve your contentration.

These points should help you This is what I used to do for my tests.

I suggest studying with someone who knows more about the subject, make it as a one on one tutorial for both of you. If you do not understand something ask him, and you two will get to learn with his answer. And during the examinations, you will remember the answers to a particular question because you have talked or "argued" about that topic last night.

Always prepare your things before the examination, be sure to have all your stuff with you in the bag (pen, paper, eraser), and always bring extras. You do not want to paniced because you have no pen, while everyone is already answering the test questionaires.

Sleep early the night before the examination, you do not want to get up the bed late and be late at the exams. be at the school at ;least thirty minutes before the examination so you will feel releaxed.

And finally pray! goodluck to your exams!

Just reading through notes or looking over them doesn't actually get them into your brain, as you are not really thinking about what you're reading. Typing written notes onto the computer, or re-writing them onto index cards can be very effective, especially if you limit the space you have to write on. This makes you think about what you've written, and what is really important about what you've got to write.

Another popular technique is a mind-map. Put the subject in the middle of a large sheet of paper, and then draw arrows coming off of it, with important main sections of the subject on the end of them. Then branch off those main topics with everything you know about it, going down many levels and linking parts to other sections etc. Then go through a text book or your notes and see what you've missed. They are the main things you need to revise.

Practising questions from past exam papers can also be very useful, as it gives you an idea of the wording and style of the questions, and what sort of answers you are expected to give. If it's an internal exam try asking teachers for past papers, and normally they'll give them to you if you want to improve your grade. If it's an external exam them try looking at the examining board's website, where you can often find past papers and mark schemes.

Dependant on what country you are in (these are UK examining boards), the following links may be useful.

• AQA Examining Board
• OCR Exams
• EdExcel Examining Body

Well for me I will most of the time reread the chapter for example Biology. That normall helps me if I do it but sometimes it doesn't work out all that well. What I will do is if I have to remember something I will put it in a funny mnemonic device so I remember it. Like right now we are studying the organization of an animal like
Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Orders, Family, Genus, Species. I remember the order of that by Kings Play Chess, Others Frequently Get Stoned. lol Seems to work for me if I reread everything a couple times.

studying the day before sometimes is quite helpful to me because it stays longer in my mind. this is not advisable because it could make you lose the information at the last moment (what i call "black out"). it would be better to study a few days before the exam, depending on the coverage of the exam. if the coverage is somewhat long, you have to prepare and study a few more days. it's good if you study longer each day, but sometimes, our attention span is shorter so studying longer can be quite boring and you might find yourself sleeping or staring to space halfway the study time. i suggest you leave 2 to 3 hours per day (if you have a lot of time to study before the exam) just to study on the subject. my rule of thumb (which was told by my professor when i was still a freshman in college) is you have to study twice the number of hours the subject consumes in your weekly class. for example, if one of your subjects runs for about an hour twice a week (that would make it two hours of the subject per week), you have to study on it like 4 hours. and like what i've said before, you can distribute the number of hours of study to each day of the week if you still have time.

like what others had said, getting a tutor or at least someone who knows more about the subject and is willing to help you would be fine. personally, tutors don't apply to me because i've had problems when my mom got me one. apparently, i really didn't need a tutor because i realized that i got higher scores studying alone that when i studied with the tutor.

taking down notes during class would also be helpful. you don't need to take down everything your professor says. you just have to take note of the important ones. it's more helpful if you listen first before you take down notes. our mind can only take one thing and process it one at a time. that is if you are multitasking. hehe.

and lastly, try to get some problem sets and sample exams to help you through the studying process. most of the students in our school (if not all), pass the exam with the help of sample exams. i don't know if you can get sample exams to subjects like language subjects but mostly can be used for math, physics and other subjects that need some computing and problem solving. take your time in studying this.

ask your professor if there's something that you don't understand. after all, they're there to teach. the common misconception about being shy in asking a prof is the feeling of being judged because you weren't able to understand what your prof had just taught you. as my profs always say, "we don't bite".

What is the test like? Is it for high school or college? If the test is mostly multiple choice and short answer, then the best way to study is to know and understand the key concepts, and to read the books and notes. If the test is problems-based with little or no discussion then it's good to know how to do the problems. The best way is to do all the homework, understand what you're doing, then test yourself with practice problems. The key to learning the material is not to study everything in a one-night mega-cram session, but to catch up with all your assignments and reading by doing and homework and reading frequently. You can probably remember a lot if you study everything in one night, but it's a lot of pressure, and you'll forget everything right after the test.
I guess it depends on the student. Some people just have good memory!