Did you know every year, there is a disaster that hits college students twice a year in May and December? Without warning it sweeps in, disrupting lives of thousands of people. Some people don’t make it, and the people who do survive would rather forget the whole experience and look to the future.

Sound familiar? No, I’m not talking about tsunamis or hurricanes.

I’m talking about finals!

Do you think of finals like this? If so, it might be a good idea to face the pain and look back to see what you could have done better. What you might discover is that if you had done a few things differently earlier in the semester, the apocalypse called “Final’s Week” would have been a cake walk!

To do really well on your finals, you really have to start preparing on the first day of class. That way, instead of cramming for your finals next semester, you’ll only have to do a nice little review the night before. Sounds pretty sweet huh?

If you want to ace your finals, spend less time cramming for them, and have zero fear come final exam time, read these 6 tips and apply them to your studies next semester.

1) You didn’t really forget it all.

One thing most students don’t understand about memory is that it’s not like a textbook. You can’t go to the table of contents, look up the location of the memory, and turn to the right page.

It is also not like a chalkboard. You don’t erase memories to make room for new ones. They’re all still there!

So don’t sweat it if you feel like you have “forgotten everything.” Chances are the knowledge is still there in your brain somewhere. You just have to do some reviewing to refresh it.

2) Learn it the first time.

If you start reviewing and you still don’t feel things clicking, it is because you didn’t learn it right the first time, not because you forgot it.

If you were getting Cs and Ds on your exams leading up to test time, you probably were not doing a very great job learning the stuff during the semester, were ya?

3) Do well on tests.

Your tests will give you the best “sneak preview” you can get for your finals. So do your best on them. And hold onto those suckers! They’ll prove very valuable come finals time.

When I get my graded exams back, I always do two things:

1. Go back and look up answers for questions I got wrong.
2. Hold on to them!

Old tests are the best thing you can use to study for your finals. Better than your notes, better than your instructor’s Power Points, and better than your textbook.

4) Be consistent.

Some people, (like myself) do just fine without taking notes in class. Other people would rather not read the textbook. That’s fine, but do not change your habits half way through the semester unless you really believe you must.

If you keep switching things up every week, you will never find a good “groove” that works for you, and you will still be confused as hell during finals week.

Having good study skills requires that you know how to study. If you don’t know how to study for your course by finals time, you did something wrong.

5) Stay organized

Keep separate folders and notebooks for each class and keep all your old tests and notes in these folders. That way, the night before the final, you won’t be scrambling to find materials to study from.

6) Make friends in each class.

I have always been the type to do things on my own and this tip I learned fairly recently.

Making a few connections in each class will pay off down the road. Especially when you start taking courses for your major. You will inevitably find a few of the same people in each of your classes. Make them your allies! There are a lot of ways you can help each other out.

Sometimes in one class you will find someone who had already taken a class that you are currently in. Most people are more than willing to give you advice on how to do great in a class and if you’re really nice, they might even give you their old materials (notes, study guides, and even old tests!)

So here’s a recap of the 6 steps to preparing for your finals next semester:

1) Realize that you can’t forget everything you learned

6) Make friends in each class.

I cover a lot of these steps more in depth in my other posts, so look around, but these might get you started.

Wouldn’t it be cool if you could walk into your classroom on final exam day without worry and ace it? Bookmark this post and read it again in August (if you can remember!) If you start preparing early your finals will be a breeze.

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Test anxiety can be a total bummer. It screws up your grades and can make your school experience horrible. But wait a minute! Do you really have test anxiety? I read a good article recently that suggested that a lot of our “test anxiety” is simply an excuse we use when we don’t do so well in school.

So how to you know whether it’s true test anxiety or not? The gist of it is, true test anxiety is the result of something mental (internal.) If your anxiety is a result of something external that you have complete control over, sorry bud it ain’t true test anxiety.

In this post I will give you 4 guideposts for determining if it’s truly test anxiety

4 questions for figuring out if it’s really Test Anxiety

1) Do you feel it even when you’re totally prepared for the test?

Let me put it another way: Are you studying enough?

Be honest with yourself and decide whether you’re really putting enough time into preparing for your exams. It might be that you simply need to raise the bar a little bit. I like to cram for tests but I’ve also practiced a lot at it. If this is the case for you, you might want to look into developing better study habits, strategies, organization and time management.

By the way, here are two great articles to get your started:
The Radical Simplicity Manifesto by Cal Newport and Productivity in a Hostile Environment by Pick The Brain.

2) Are you truly trying?

Do you actually care about doing well on a particular test? Anxiety implies that there is some emotion involved. But if you simply don’t give a you-know-what, it ain’t test anxiety.

3) Are you truly more nervous than the kid sitting next to you?

Everyone gets nervous when it comes to taking tests. Everybody gets nervous about anything that comes with a lot of pressure. Even Al Pacino suffers pretty bad stage fright when in front of large groups of people. Yes, even Scarface gets nervous. It could be that you’re simply experiencing a healthy dose of anxiousness while taking a test.

4) Are you taking care of yourself mentally and physically?

Make sure you’re eating well, sleeping enough, and exercising enough. Once again, you might need to raise the bar a bit. Poor nutrition and exercise will will generally make you feel like crap physically, mentally, and emotionally too.

Feel better now?

Now if you feel mad or persecuted (”I have a disease dangit!”) don’t. I want to empower you not tear you down. By realizing you have control over your feelings and behavior, you’ll be better off, trust me!

That said, true test anxiety does exist. And if you passed my little quiz and still think you might have test anxiety, these two links might be helpful:

CampusBlues.com
About.com: How to Deal with Test Anxiety

Good luck!

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Today I’ll show you how you can use a cutting edge theory in Psychology called Flow to improve your study sessions.

What’s Flow?

The theory of Flow was developed by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. (His name is as painful to type as it is to pronounce, so we’ll call him Dr. C. for short.)

Throughout his career, Dr. C. has interviewed thousands of experts in different activities, from burly rock climbers to no-so-burly chess players, from tough sailors to limber dancers. What Dr. C discovered in his decades of research is really cool: All these different people used similar language to describe their experiences. Although they were all experts in different activities, the state of mind they were in when they were working was very much the same.

In The Zone

Have you ever been totally bored out of your mind? Well the flow state is the exact opposite of that. You’re completely and utterly engaged in what you’re doing at the moment. You’re so “in the zone,” that nothing could distract you from the task at hand. Sound familiar?

A description might go something like this:

“When I’m [playing video games, climbing, playing ball, etc] it’s like nothing else matters. I’m so focused on what I’m doing, all my other thoughts and worries just disappear. Time stands still, and I feel like I’m in complete control and everything is just flowing along. It’s a great feeling.”

It’s obvious now why Doc C. calls this state of mind “flow,” because that’s one word that many people use to describe their experience.

Dr. C describes it as a state where consciousness is highly organized. Think of it this way: Usually our minds are like a half finished puzzle. A lot of the pieces are in the right places, but a lot of them are scattered all over the place too. In the flow state, most of the puzzle pieces of our mind are in the right place. Everything is organized and in order.

Reading the quote I gave earlier, you might be able to think of some activity that brings about the flow state for you. Most of us have them (One of them for me is writing. I guess that’s good right?) It’s usually something we enjoy so much, that we do it for the sake of doing it.

And it gets even better. Dr. C. discovered that some people can enter the flow state more easily than others. Not only that, but we can learn how to enter the flow state whenever we want to. And some people have even learned how to stay in the state of flow all of the time!

Why is flow so important for learning?

The flow state is all about organization. Your consciousness is so highly organized in this state that super concentration is easy, and memorizing new information is a snap! Who wouldn’t want that when they’re studying for a big test?

Pretty cool right? So now let’s get to the good stuff: How we can apply this theory to studying, which for most people is about as fun as trimming Big Foot’s toenails.

What makes flow?

First of all, we have to know what makes flow…well, flow. This list, courtesy of PickTheBrain.com, has the features that are usually present in a flow producing activity:

1. You’re challenged by the task at hand. This seems to be the ‘prime directive’ to achieving Flow and can actually prevent you from being in a state of Flow. The difficulty of your task has to be “just right”. If the task is to easy, you’ll get bored and eventually stop. If the task is to difficult, you’ll get frustrated and eventually stop. Either way, you loose.
2. The ability to concentrate is key. If there are to many interruptions or it’s noisy, you won’t be able to concentrate on your task. No concentration, no Flow.
3. You have clear goals to achieve. Goals establish a mechanism to measure your progress and provide a sense of achievement. People in Flow achieve their goals.
4. You receive immediate feedback. Either your ball landed in the cup or it didn’t. You know immediately if your goal was reached or not.
5. Your worries and frustrations of everyday life recede into the background. This perhaps is one of the greatest benefit of Flow. You’re busy concentrating on your task and the rest of your world just “goes away” for a short while. Even though you’re challenged, you end up relaxed, satisfied and you achieved something meaningful (all this, and it’s legal too).
6. Your sense of self disappears (only for a while). When it re-appears, you’re refreshed with an even stronger sense of self.
7. You have a level of control over your actions while performing your task.
8. You loose track of time and feel great when you’re done with your task.

So with that list in mind, here are some tricks you can try to turn the typical snooze-fest study session into something that’s more fun and engaging.

5 tricks for making your study sessions floooow

1) Set aside time and place to study

If you don’t have time, make some. Don’t study in between customers at work, or during commercials for American Idol. Study in a quiet place free from distractions.

Decide how long you’re going to study for, and then stick to it. If you set aside an hour, study for a whole hour. The best thing you can do is set a time to finish at, e.g. “I will study until 6:30.”

Try to limit your breaks. How are you gonna stay focused when you’re getting up every five minutes? If you’re constantly taking breaks, you’ll never have a chance to get into the flow state.

2) Listen to music before you start studying.

There has been a lot of hype about classical music boosting brain power. Maybe it does, maybe not. But listening to classical music can help you get into a highly focused state before you hit the books. Of course you can listen to any kind of music you want, but classical music is great for 2 reasons: It is very highly structured, and doesn’t have vocals, which can be distracting.

The key here is to actually listen to the music, not have it on in the background. If it’s just background noise, it’s a distraction. When it’s time to study, turn the music down or even better, off.

3) Turn it into a game by setting goals and creating fun challenges.

Dr. C says that the purpose behind most games we play is to get us into the flow state. So try to make your study sessions fun! Creating goals and challenges will help you get focused while keeping a light-hearted approach.

You want to create a challenge for yourself that’s hard, but not too difficult. How long do you think it would take you to study a chapter? Well chop 15-30 minutes off that, and then see if you can still answer the questions at the end of the chapter.

If you are using flash cards, set a goal of how many you’re going to get right the first time through. Then try to beat your score the second time through (and third time and so on.)

4) Be observant. Notice novelty.

Might sound corny, but you want to be totally immersed in your studying “experience.” You want your whole mind engaged in what you’re doing.

One way you can do this is to make a habit of noticing everything. Feel free to let your mind wander just a little bit while you’re studying. Not a lot. You’re studying, not planning your weekend or deciding what you’re going to eat for dinner. But let your mind go where it wants to within the realm of the subject you’re studying.

Be curious. When you read over unfamiliar words, what images come to mind?

Example: You’re reading about different structures of the brain in your textbook, when you come across the word “hippocampus.” What pops in your mind when you read that word? Maybe it’s an image of a big gray hippo. Maybe you picture a college campus with winding sidewalks and manicured grass. Or maybe you picture a giant hippo rampaging through a college campus!

When you really start to notice things, you’ll discover that you brain makes all kinds of weird connections! Noticing these strange connections will not only help you stay in that flow state, but it will also strengthen your memory.

5) Measure your success with self testing

Another feature of flow producing activities is that they usually provide “direct and immediate feedback.” Translation: they have built in ways of letting you know if you’re doing a good job or not. Like your score in a game.

Try out continuous self testing, which I wrote about a while back.

Alternatively, try writing down sample questions while you’re studying. Pretend like you’re writing a test, and come up with a few questions as you go along. When you have 3-5 questions written down, take a break and see if you can answer them. You might be surprised to find that you’ve already forgotten the answers! That has the added benefit of showing you how little you might actually be paying attention to what you’re doing.

These are just a few examples of what you can do. Everyone is different, and you’d do best by coming up with your own methods of staying “in the flow.” If you do come up with your own, post a comment below and share your great ideas with us!

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I am a procrastinator of epic proportions. I literally put things off ’til the last minute. When I go out with my buddies, they usually tell me to be there 15 minutes earlier than everyone else; and even then I’m usually late.

I’m such a procrastinator, I have it down to a science. On an Anthropology exam last semester, I studied a total of three and a half hours for a test that covered 5 chapters. And having ADD, I wasn’t the greatest at paying attention in class either. I showed up to class most days half awake, taking notes every once in a while, so I barely knew any of the stuff. I should mention all 3.5 hours of studying were onthe day of the test.

I should also mention that I got a 103% on this test, while the class average was a C. The girl next to me failed it.

Yep, that’s how I roll.

Cram smartly

Cramming isn’t such a bad thing; if you do it right. Of course the best option is the traditional one: study frequently, read the chapters of your textbook every week like you’re supposed to, and take copious amounts of notes. But comon, we’re in college right? Who has time for studying that often when there’s beer pong to be played?

This post contains a guide on how to ace your exams with just a few hours of study time. Assuming you’re a halfway decent student, you can use the tips I list below to help you out when you’re in a jam with limited time to study. Note: Cramming does require some ass-busting! I don’t cheat. Anyhow, my methods will get you a better grade than any cheat method could.

Damage Control

When you’re short on time, you can’t afford to read every word of every chapter in your textbook. You had weeks to thoroughly memorize all the material and you didn’t do it. Don’t waste time trying to do this now.

You’re in damage control mode. You must learn how to pick out the important bits of information and remember them the first time, because there won’t be a second time.

Be focused, organized, and efficient.

Sit down with your book, notes, etc, and tell yourself you’re going to study for X amount of hours. Turn off the TV, turn off the music, and close your door. No distractions.

A little bit of coffee helps me to stay clear minded during my cram sessions, but don’t blast yourself into oblivion on caffeine or other stimulants. This is college, not Requiem for a Dream.

Study using a top-down, non-linear approach.

As opposed to a bottom-up approach, top-down means you want to start with the most general concepts first and then work your way down to the more specific stuff. Then you can go back through again, if you have time, and cover the rest.

When you have a solid grasp of the general concepts, it makes it easier to figure out answers without explicitly memorizing the info, and you’re better able to bluff on the questions you don’t know.

Learn the art of BS

Testing is a lot like poker. You have to bluff your way to an A. The truth is, when you’re being tested, you just have to appear to know the material. This is why the top-down approach will get you a better grade, especially on short answer and essay exams. Specific facts or statistics may appear once or twice on your exam, but general over-arching key points could be applicable to many questions.

Plus, most instructors want you to do well on their exams. No instructor wants to have to explain why half their students fail their class every semester. If you at least appear to know what you’re talking about, you’re giving your instructor a reason to give you points.

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