How to be better in school with a little effort

We have all been there — You sit down at the exam and look at the test, realizing that you know nothing about the questions. How can one turn this around and be one of those who always seem to get the answers correct on each exam?

The first thing is to know what kind of class you are taking. Is it a math or math related class, or is it about facts which can easily be read in a book? Math related classes are best experienced if you first read the relevant chapters before the class starts. It may not be easy, but try at least to scan though the text a couple of minutes before class. Try to refrain from taking notes, except where you know that it is not covered in the relevant books. It is much easier to grasp a complicated concept if you don’t have to worry about getting all the notes down on paper.

If you instead have a fact based class, you may also want to read the relevant chapters beforehand, but it is not as important as with math related subjects. When making notes, only write what is absolutely necessary and try to understand the message that your lecturer is trying to convey to you. After class, you may want to finalize your notes, and add other things that you might have come up with. When you later read the book, just add that information to the notes as well, so you build up your personal information store. It will be invaluable to you when the exam is coming close.

Ideally you would have read all course literature when there are two weeks left until the exam, and you would have a large collection of notes and information from all the lectures. Get yourself hooked up with some friends and study together. You will experience much better results if you work together with a few people instead of just sitting alone and trying to understand everything.

It is of course always good to reward yourself when you have been studying for an exam for a week or two. Go see a movie, buy a game, go out and eat or anything else you enjoy.