Final exams are a culminating step for many college classes. They contribute to a great deal of stress that students have to face every term. Unfortunately, final exams don’t seem to be going away any time soon, and a good grade on the final can mean a great deal to your GPA.

In this episode of The Study Space Podcast, we discuss how to study for final exams. We talk about our experiences with final exams and what strategies we employ during our study sessions to ensure our success while staving off as much stress as possible.

Things mentioned in this episode:

• You are never too young nor too old to learn something
• In college, you should learn how you learn, and how to learn better
• Start early to give yourself time in the future
• Changing a problem—even slightly—can change the solution drastically
• Critical thinking involves thinking of creative, new solutions to problems
• Taking good notes makes studying them more of a pleasure
• Julian spent less and less time studying for final exams as he approached graduation
• Learning how you learn allows you to better estimate how much time and effort needed to study
• The amount of time and effort spent for high school exams is not a good estimate for college exams
• Only ask for help after putting in your best effort to solve a problem
• When asking for help, say what you’ve already tried
• Looking at past papers gives you insight to the format of exams and helps focus study efforts
• If a professor has no past papers, pay attention to what they say will be on an exam
• Problems or questions that a professor personally creates is indicative of what will be on the exam
• Study topics that you’re struggling with, not the ones that are easy
• Have a study plan
• Form a study group
• Go to the textbook for more detailed explanations that slides and notes don’t have
• Sleep, and sleep well
• Create a cheatsheet even if they aren’t allowed for the exam
• Think about your reasons for taking a class. What is your “why?”

Your hosts: David Chuong and Julian Vu

Music: “Please Listen Carefully” by Jahzzar is licensed under a Creative Commons License.