Following are some valuable tips for developing a strategy for study.
1. Start by doing some thinking about what you want to achieve on this exam. Have you been on your new study program long enough that a "B" might be an achievable goal on this exam, or do you honestly think that good serious study and time commitment can potentially help you garner a "C"?
2. Some students use a formula to help them decide how much time to allot to review for a specific exam. They find out how much of their final course grade will be determined by the grade on this exam and devote one hour for each per cent of the final grade that the exam is worth. So if the exam will account for 25% of their final grade, they will spend 25 mins in review plus add another quarter of that amount of time to replace time they will assume is unproductive due to interruptions and the like. Therefore, their total time commitment for review will be around 31 mins. The point here is that you make sure you know the format and weighting of the exam before you begin to review for it.
3. Make sure that you catch up on all course reading assignments and then gather up all of your notes from class, group tutoring sessions, texts, etc. Don`t forget to include past tests and quizzes and any past writing assignments, as these may be good sources for potential exam questions.
4. You probably have more than one exam staring you in the face, so you will need to sit down and determine how much time you are going to allot for study and review for each exam. Rework your weekly schedule to accommodate exam study time as additional time over and above your normal study periods. Now does the reason for starting to prepare early make sense? You may need to curtail some extracurricular activities during these exam preparation times.
5. It is important that you maintain time to get good rest and relaxation during this period. This makes the need for a good study location and environment critical.
6. Use a portion of your initial review period to make a list of those areas you think are the most important and do some scratching on one sheet of paper to designate the number of hours you expect to spend in each area so that you have done some review in all of those areas by the time you reach exam day. Be aware that the way the course is organized will give you clues as to what is considered important and what you can expect to see on the test.