Make a 7 Day Study Plan

Goal: Evaluate & analyze, plan & organize (see the Study Plan Worksheet below to do this):

• What do you need to know & what do you know already?
• How much time do you have & how much time will you spend?

• Look to midterm/test grades—identify what content was challenging
• Identify material you have & what you need
• Create a study checklist (topics, formulas, etc.)
• Create a study schedule for the week

Goal: Create study materials.

• Focus 1st on what you don’t know
• As you make materials, learn as you go & then continue to study with them

Still creating study materials? Keep at it! You can engage with the goals of days 5 through 3 as you make your study materials, or finish your materials & then combine the goals within the days you have left.

• Create flashcards & study guide/s
• Find end-of-chapter questions/problems to answer
• Visit office hours with questions

Goal: Make links, find differences.

• Keep working on what’s challenging
• Introduce material you feel okay about
• Make connections & use what you know to learn what you don’t

• Write/draw content in your own words—summarize key points
• Write term definitions in your own words
• Draw figures from memory
• Synthesize lecture/reading/lab/recitation notes

Goal: Teach the material.

• Use the 80/20 rule—spend 80% of your time on new material, and 20% on old
• Practice saying content aloud—where are your gaps? What to focus on next?
• Use study partners/groups

• Teach flashcard terms/definitions
• Solve problems & explain the steps you took to get there
• Assign concepts to study group participants & everyone teaches/questions

Goal: Test yourself.

• Wait to look at answers
• Vary your testing activities
• Avoid familiarity traps—ask questions on ALL you’ve learned, in no pattern
• Teach your brain to find pathways back to the information

• Take practice tests & re-take challenging problems from prior tests
• Write & exchange test questions with your classmates—what will your instructor want to know you know?
• Mix old content with new content
• Visit office hours with any questions

Goal: Reflect & test more.

• Use yesterday’s challenge(s) to decide what to revisit & practice more
• Remember to test what you know well
• Explain processes & connections—know the steps to reaching answers

• Make concept maps connecting different sections/concepts from the term
• Continue to take & make tests/answer questions from memory; try to replicate your test environment
• Recite aloud, draw from memory, re-present information in new ways

Goal: Bring it all together.

• Continue to make connections/identify similarities & differences between all of the content
• Prioritize sleep & meals
• Do something relaxing

• Continue to replicate the test environment—the length of time you get, the room, etc.
• Keep thinking about what your instructor might ask & be sure you can answer
• Get good rest, be sure to eat & try to relax

Test Day!

• Keep to your normal routine
• Have everything you need
• Arrive early to choose your seat & get settled

• Believe in yourself—you’ve got this
• Take a minute before the test to write what you’re anxious about & then throw it away
• Deep breaths