5 Day Exam Study Plan, Study notes of Chemistry

Download 5 Day Exam Study Plan and more Study notes Chemistry in PDF only on Docsity! The 5-Day Study Plan When you have a large amount of material to study for a test, commit yourself to about two hours per day of very structured study time. By carefully following this approach, you will be able to systematically cover all of the material. By planning ahead, many students have found that the 5-Day Study Plan1 gets good results. Keys to the plan are: 1. Space out your learning over a period of at least 5 days 2. Divide material so you can work on it in chunks. 3. Each day, prepare a new chunk of information, and review previous days’ material. 4. Use active learning strategies to study the material (see chart on next page). 5. Use self-testing techniques to monitor your learning (see chart on next page). Eight to 10 hours of studying may be required to get an A or a B on an exam. This is just a general guideline. You may need to allow for more time depending on the difficulty of the class. Start early! More than any other technique, the key to performing well on exams is starting early and using short, frequent study sessions. The human brain learns academic material faster and better for an exam if done in brief blocks of time spread out over longer periods of time, rather than in a few lengthy sessions. For example, you will perform better on an exam if you spend one hour studying each day for 20 days than if you spend 10 hours studying each day for two days before an exam. Avoid cramming! If you have to cram, try to focus on remembering the information you do know, rather than trying to teach yourself new information. You will typically not remember what you tried to learn the night before the exam anyway, so it is best to make sure you really know some part of the information for the test. If you do have a few days, try to spread the studying out so you aren’t doing it all in one night. Get organized! The 5-Day Study Plan begins with dividing the material you need to study (e.g., chapters in your text and corresponding lecture notes) into 4 about equal parts: A, B, C & D (with “A” being the oldest and/or most difficult material and “D” being the most recently covered material). For example, if chapters 1-8 of your PSYC textbook will be on your upcoming test, you could divide them as follows. A = chapters 1-2, B = chapters 3-4, C = chapters 5-6, D = chapters 7-8. List your four groups of study materials here. A B C D Next, for each of your four groups of study materials, you need to select 2-3 preparation and review strategies. Take a look at the examples below. Each day you will prepare one section of material to review the following day. Each day (except for the first) you will review the material you already prepared. 1 Van Blerkom, Dianna. Orientation to College Learning. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 2004. Examples of ways to prepare and review Preparation strategies (what to make) – select 2-3 Review strategies (how to use it) – select 2-3 Create study sheets Recite study sheets Develop concept maps Replicate concept maps from memory Make word cards Recite word cards Make question cards Recite question cards Make formula cards Practice writing formulas Make problem cards Work problems Make self-tests Take self-tests under timed conditions Do study guides Practice study guide info out loud Re-mark text material Take notes on re-marked text Make a list of 20 topics that might be on the exam Recite the list of 20 topics Do problems Do “missed” problems w/o help Make an outline Recite notes from recall cues Summarize material Recite out loud Make charts of related material Re-create chart from memory List steps in a process (timeline) Recite steps from memory Predict essay questions Answer essay questions Answer questions at the end of the chapter Practice reciting main points Prepare material for study group Explain material to group members Example of a 5-day study plan over 6 days (taking one day off) Day Action Material Approximate time needed Day 1: Tues. Prepare Oldest/hardest chunk of material (A) 2 hours Day 2: Wed. Prepare Review 2nd oldest/hardest chunk of material (B) 1st chunk of material (A) 2 hours 30 minutes Day 3: Prepare 3rd chunk of material (C) 1 ½ hours Creating your 5-Day Study Plan Select 2-3 preparation and review strategies for each of your four groups of study materials, and list them in your 5-day study plan chart below. Make sure that your active review strategies fit with your preparation strategies. (For example, if you make flashcards as part of preparation, then actively review the flashcards; if you made charts of related material, recreate those charts from memory.) Follow your plan, noting the rotation of the different groups of materials (A, B, C, D) and about how much time is spent on each one. Note the dates below next to Day 1, etc. Day 1 ________________ Day 2 ________________ Day 3 ________________ Day 4 ________________ Day 5 ________________ Prepare Part A—2 hrs. Prepare Part B—2 hrs. Review Part A—30 min. Prepare Part C—1.5 hrs. Review Part B—30 min. Review Part A—15 min. Prepare Part D—1 hr. Review Part C—30 min. Review Part B—15 min. Review Part A—15 min. Review Part D—25 min. Review Part C—15 min. Review Part B—10 min. Review Part A—10 min. Self-test on all parts —1 hr. Total: 2 hours Total: 2.5 hours Total: 2 hrs. 15 min. Total: ~ 2 hours Total: ~ 2 hours Prepare 1. 2. 3. Prepare 1. 2. 3. Review 1. 2. 3. Prepare 1. 2. 3. Review 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Prepare 1. 2. 3. Review 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Review 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Self-Test (methods)