Stressed about finals? The Daily Lobo has your back. Check out these quick study tips from Paulette Baca, student manager for workshops and study strategies at CAPS.
Look over your notes
Get a basic idea of what has been covered in the class. Identify your weak and strong areas and prioritize. Start with your weak areas first so if you run out of time you will have spent it studying what you didn’t know rather than what you just needed to review.
Read the book
Textbooks are helpful when you are in need of more in-depth knowledge than your notes, or when you need visual representations like charts or graphs.
Do extra problems, especially for math and science classes.
If you were only assigned the even-numbered problems, do the odds.
Check your answers with your book, professor or TA.
Use the study guides given out by most teachers.
Not all classes have them, but if they do have study guides, this is a teacher’s way of telling you exactly what you need to know to pass the test. If your teacher didn’t make a study guide, ask him or her what will be on the test and take notes.
Study in a group
Another perspective is often helpful. If you missed any information, your friends may be able to help you. If they don’t understand a concept, you might be able to explain it to them.
Make sure to stay on track and motivated by holding each other accountable.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
Make a study plan — Don’t cram.
The worst thing you can do is study for eight hours straight and take a test on no sleep. Plan your study schedule in advance and stick to it. What classes are most difficult? Which finals come first and which do you have more time for? Break it down by what classes are most important and which finals are coming soonest.
Get a good night’s rest on test day.
You will wake up more refreshed and a lot more of your information will be processed. If you don’t sleep enough you might not actually retain what you were studying.
Eat a solid breakfast.
Many students will probably ignore tip no. 6 and cram for the exam anyway. If you do, don’t take a test on a stomach full of the red bull, Big Macs and Snickers bars you used to help you finish studying the night before. Eat some cereal or fruit before the big day.
Be prepared.
Look over the test requirements — do you need a blue book, a calculator or a certain pencil?
Check out caps.unm.edu for upcoming “mock finals” in core subject areas including math and English. For a schedule of this week’s upcoming events, click on ‘workshops.’
