Ah, it’s that dreaded time of year. It’s the end of the semester, and time to take those final exams. It can be overwhelming, but you can do it! Push through, review, and get ready to ace those exams. And, if you don’t know where to start, that’s okay. That’s what I’m here for, and probably why you’re reading this. Without further adieu, let’s get started with some tips.
1. Utilize Study Guides
If you’re in high school, chances are your teachers have given you a study guide of some sort to help you. If not, chances are there may have been review guides for each unit along the way. You may be saying “well, that’s a lot of work”, but I promise they help.
What study guides do is condense the material of a whole semester (or in some cases, year, or the course of the entire class) in a concise way that will be much quicker to review and highlight the most important terms and concepts. Not only this, but by doing study guides, you’re also reviewing your notes, as you have to find the information in your notes to transfer to the study guide.
Even if there is no study guide given to you, that doesn’t mean that you can’t do one. If I’m not given a study guide, I will make my own. Try to recall what the most important terms and concepts were that you were tested on. Go through your notes, and see what ideas seem to be the most important. In doing this, you are again reviewing your notes, which helps you study.
2. Study Old Tests
If you have the chance or opportunity to, go to your teacher and ask to review your old tests. Because what’s on the test is probably important, you will know that these are some of the most important concepts studied in each unit. Some teachers may also take questions directly from old tests, so if you’ve studied them already, they’re freshly planted in your brain, making it easier to recall on the final.
4. If It’s an AP Class: Take Practice AP Tests
If you’re taking an AP class, it’s likely that your teachers will give you practice AP tests as the final exam before you even take the AP test. AP releases every FRQ from every test up through the most recent test, so there’s plenty of FRQs that you can practice with. There’s usually a released multiple choice section from a previous exam, and some other practice multiple choice on the College Board website, but with some googling, you can find an abundance of practice multiple choice questions.
Practice tests are an excellent way to test your knowledge and find your weak points and what you need to study more. This way you can focus your studying on that, rather than the stuff you already know. I also like to mark any that I’m not sure about in some way, usually a star, so that I’m sure to review those topics as well.
5. Watch Review Videos
Ok. YouTube is awesome. You can find videos on almost any subject, so take advantage of it and supplement your study guide and note reviewing with some videos.
Crash Course is probably the most well known educational video maker, and for a good reason. There’s a wide variety of subjects out there, each of which has been covered in a series. From history to science, there’s a good chance your subject is on there. Crash Course videos are fast paced and quick, which make them great for reviewing. The people who present them are awesome, and the videos are overall very engaging.
Some subjects you can even find other videos besides the Crash Courses. For example, ACDC Leadership offers both macroeconomics and microeconomics in depth. They’re lined up with the AP curriculum, though you could realistically use them for any introductory micro or macro class. Mr. Clifford is very engaging and he has saved my macro understanding. He even did a review live stream, which was super helpful to study for my final practice AP test and the upcoming AP test itself.
With just a simple YouTube search, you can find something that relates to what you want to study. Videos will help you review, but they’re not as tedious as reading notes, so they are a nice way of reviewing while giving your brain a break.
6. Know the Test Format
Not all final exams are created equal. Usually, for mine at least, they’re about 100-150 multiple choice questions covering the whole semester. But sometimes, it may be fill in the blank, a shorter or longer multiple choice test, or only covering certain material. Use this to your advantage. If you know it’s only covering from a certain point onward, don’t waste your time on the information before that. Or, if you know that it’s fill in the blank, make sure you can definitively come up with answers from scratch.
Most importantly, remember that the test can only cover so much information! Don’t worry about little details, because it’s likely that they won’t show up since your teachers will want to cover all topics, rather than covering only certain ones in depth. Don’t stress over tiny, minute details. This always calms me down when studying for finals, because I know that I don’t need to stress about everything that was discussed.
All in all, the main key is to use your resources! Use study guides. Use the internet. Use YouTube videos. Use your old tests. Anything that you have, use it to your advantage. That way, you’ll be better prepared for your exams, and well on your way to nailing them.
-Tara
