Alexandra O’Rourke—

With most students having to remember roughly 5 units of information in each of their 6 classes, how can students keep everything straight and organized? My best piece of advice, and the tactic I’ve used over the last three years, is to create a study guide. I use this tactic in the majority of my classes (except for math).

Let’s take an example- let’s say Chemistry. With about six units in each semester and about two days worth of review per unit, I figure that I need 12 “studying sessions” to make a study guide. I re-write out my notes from each unit and use the teacher provided topic list to condense everything. By the end, I would have made myself a 12-page study guide of everything I needed to know. Come in-class final review time (usually the Friday before exams!) I bring in my study guide and use sticky notes to write down things the teacher said or wanted us to focus on (you can do this on notability too, that’s what I usually do). Throughout exam week, instead of cramming new information into my brain, I re-read the study guide to refresh myself before the test. 

In all, here is what the study guide method reinforces:

1. Starting to study earlier with shorter time bursts (30 minutes for 12 days versus six hours in four days)
2. Long-term memory (let the information soak in!)
3. The ability to actually get something out of teacher review days instead of looking confused 
4. The ability to “teach yourself” topics you may be unclear with

So what about math? I would recommend creating a shorter guide of formulas or equations you need to remember, along with doing ALL of the practice tests handed out by your teacher. 

Best of luck with your finals!

Valerie Figueroa— 

Final projects, holiday planning and burn-out from the year make studying for finals extremely challenging. The studying process can feel very overwhelming, especially with such little time to study. However, with the right study habits your finals stress can be reduced so much. There are so many different study tactics. These five are my favorites and always secure my high grades.

1. Create your own study guide based on your notes from the semester. This study tactic is most useful for history and science; however, it can be useful in all classes. When making your study, you want to focus on the outline which your teacher gave you. You don’t want to go too in-depth in your studying as teachers will probably ask more basic questions on the material than the ones on your unit tests. So you don’t have to go super in-depth in your study, but instead, just focus on capturing the main ideas from each unit. Once you make your study guide, during finals week you can read through it highlighting important parts, and refreshing your brain of all the important topics/ideas.
2. Make your own flashcards/Quizlets. While it can be time-consuming, making your own flashcards or Quizlets helps you so much. When making your flashcards/Quizlets you are actually studying, making it easier to remember the terms. Especially, if the quizlet is based on notes it is way more beneficial to make your own quizlet since you will have been studying and learning when going back to your notes to make the Quizlet. Also, using actual paper flashcards instead of Quizlet helps you memorize terms better since when writing your brain starts learning the terms.
3. Seeing your teacher for help is so important! While it can be intimidating to meet with a teacher it is so important to reach out for help when you need it. Make sure to write questions down that you have when studying to ask your teacher. Also, if you don’t want to set up a meeting with a teacher on the last day of classes, most teachers do review sessions. While watching YouTube videos doesn’t supplement your teacher it can be very helpful sometimes!
4. Active recall strategy is a great way to test your knowledge. You can try teaching a unit to your pet or wall. Active recall strategy tells you how well you know the topic. So if you are stumbling on how to explain something then you know you have to review that some more. This is a great study tactic because it works with every class!
5. Studying with friends is also very beneficial. It allows you to bounce ideas off of them and it provides a supportive environment where you can ask them questions and vice versa. It is also helpful to share study resources (notes, study guides, etc.) with others since you might have gotten something wrong or need something explained in another way.

Finally, it is important to note that teachers want you to do well on the exam, and aren’t making it to trick you. Final exams are usually way easier than your regular unit exams! All in all, finals can be a very stressful time but with the right study habits you will do great!