Studying in University is a different beast from high school, especially as a Communication student. So, since most of us are tackling our first semester online, and even some of our first semesters at SFU, I thought it would be fun to compile a list of some studying tactics! 

These tips that I have compiled come from taking mostly open-book essay exams as a communication student, but also a fair chunk of memorization exams from my elective courses like geography, archaeology and international studies. 

These won’t work for everyone and ultimately we all have what works for us, but I tried my best to compile some of the tactics that have benefitted my GPA the most over my years at SFU! 

Make a Study To Do List 

Studying for exams can be really overwhelming, especially if you have other exams, assignments, or papers due around the same time. While blocking out times of the day to study is important, mapping out what exactly you are studying during that time is just as key. 

Whether it’s going through lecture slides or recordings again, or condensing your notes, or finishing key readings, make a check list of the tasks that you can realistically have finished by the time the exam comes around and then assign the tasks to the times you have available to study. This has helped me visual and conceptualize exactly how I’m going about studying for something and can actually put yourself at ease when diving into the course content. 

Also, checking things off of a to do list is such a great serotonin boost! 

Readings

I know you’ve heard this one before. Readings can be super boring, but *usually* profs assign them for a reason. The last thing you want to be doing during midterm or finals season is to be reading the readings assigned 3-4 weeks prior. But, if you’re like me and taking a full course load in addition to work and other activities, you might not find skimming readings that you then deem unnecessary to be a useful task. So, a good way to go about this is if your instructors aren’t super clear about what readings will and won’t be on tests, at minimum do the ones that they mention in the lecture or in the course material. 

While some profs will emphasize that ALL required readings will be on tests even if they don’t talk about them in class, sometimes it can be pretty obvious which ones they definitely will be asking about come exam time by looking at the lecture content. If you’re unsure, of course try to do all required ones. But if you’re short on time, focusing on the ones that they actually reference in the class material is the most beneficial. 

Quizlet

One of my favourite modes of studying right now, Quizlet is great for memorization. Not only does it save paper, but the ‘learn’ function is basically like a game that encourages you to keep going through terms until you can get them right at least a few times. You can also share Quizlet’s with friends if you have a study buddy, that way you can divide and conquer the material but both receive the benefits when it comes to memorization! 

Write it out by Hand

Now if you’re like me and really don’t like studying from a screen, writing of stuff out by hand can drive the information into your brain so much faster than typing. Although it’s not the most environmentally friendly form of studying, condensing notes and using both sides of the page should ultimately save you paper, time, and hand cramps but force your brain to soak up the information as you write. 

Use Those Highlighters

If your exam isn’t focused on the memorization of terms, is open book and you also don’t like writing things out by hand, then highlighting and writing on printed notes might be a good strategy. 

For open-book exams, note organization is the helpful thing you can do the prepare. But if you don’t want to do a lot of hand-writing, I’ve found that typing out my notes into a concise note-package and then going in with a highlighter and pen works almost just as efficiently. 

While this requires a printer and is also not the most eco-friendly option (use both sides of the paper when you can!), going in on typed notes with a physical highlighter is a great way to force yourself to read every word and get to know your notes a little better before turning to them during an exam. 

Be Mindful of Breaks 

If you can avoid cramming, avoid it. While it actually does work for some people, most of the time it is just super stressful. In an ideal world, you would always have enough time to study for everything, but since we can’t do that we have to accept that taking breaks is necessary and a good thing. 

Using a timer or a scheduling app to make sure when you study you aren’t going at it for 5 hours straight is only going to help the process and not hinder it. Also remember to hydrate and snack! A tired, hungry brain isn’t going to soak up the information the same way. 

Get Some Sleep 

One of the best pieces of advice I received throughout my degree so far was from my CMNS130 TA who told us that a good night’s sleep will do you better than a lot of last minute late night cramming. Once again, if cramming actually works for you, ignore me, but this advice immediately put me at ease heading into my first written exam at university. Of course this advice doesn’t apply to all circumstances, but if you feel like you’ve studied a decent amount the night before an exam, sleeping and showing up the next day with an awake brain can ultimately make a written or essay exam go a lot smoother. 

The second best piece of advice I received was recently from my CMNS353 Professor (Steven Malcic) who told us that stressing out a lot about every single thing in university is also not beneficial. Taking a moment to accept that you’re doing your best is a hard hurdle to cross, but a good one to do if you find yourself over-stressing when studying. 

Wrap Up

Let me summarize and add in a few other random pieces of advice I have relating to what kind of exam you have to tackle: 

For MEMORIZATION exams:

• For history based exams, a timeline helps visual it even if you don’t need to know the dates 

• Quizlet is awesome for definitions of subjects and puts together mock exam questions and learning games for you to practice 

• Finding weird connections between things when memorizing concepts 

  • Common letters 

  • Rhyming 

  • Other random connections between people/concepts/events that your brain generates from it’s one creativity 

  • Acronyms for lists of concepts  

For OPEN BOOK Exams - A communication specialization:

• Do the readings (ahead of time if possible!)

• Make a key words list with definitions of the concepts 

• Connect concepts to examples from the readings, lectures, and from real life examples if possible 

• Write out your notes by hand or print them out to highlight them

Feel free to reach out to me if you want to chat more about the trials and errors of studying online :)