1. Get enough sleep the night before your exam (6 to 7 hours for women, 7 to 7 for men).
 
You need at least 6 hours of deep sleep for transfer from short-term to long-term memory.  Staying up late the night before a test will slow down your responses of your neural transmitters the next day and for the next THREE days, even if you get a good night’s sleep the night after your test.
 
 
2. Raise your endorphins to prevent anxiety which stimulates adrenaline production  causing the release of cortisols, which prevent  recall during tests. Do one of the following to raise your endorphins before your exam:
 
Read a joke before an exam.
Have a Hershey’s kiss.
Take a short walk down the mall.
 
 
3. If you start to feel anxious before or during the test, pause for a minute, take three deep breaths to get oxygen to your brain (it needs oxygen in order to have fast firing of your neurons ) and to break the cycle of panic which can send out the adrenaline and cortisols that block memory and recall.

 
4. "Get physical" .  A study has  shown that students who did calisthenics while studying French learned it better than students who used traditional methods to study French. 
 
Repeat vocabulary and formulas out loud to yourself.
Draw "pictures" of scientific, economic, political, historical processes.
Write notes of difficult points over.
 
 
5. Practice.  You need repeated "hits" on subject matter to recall it, but not all of them have to be "in-depth" hard hits.  In other words, it’s not only more effective to do a 30-minute   review daily of material  for two weeks than to study for 7 hours on the night before a test, it is also easier and less stressful.  And this will allow you to go 

to bed at a decent time the night before an exam.
 
Take your lecture notes, fold the paper over, and ask yourself the question out loud , recite back the answer out loud without looking, and check your answer.  If you’re right, go on to the next question.  If not, repeat the question, recite the answer, and check it until you’re right. Use the same technique with your reading notes:  read the question aloud, recite the answer aloud without looking, and check your answer.
 
 
6. Form a study group with 3 or 4 students and meet regularly to quiz each other using your lecture and reading notes and other study aids such as visuals and vocabulary flash cards. 

 
7. Take a one-a-day vitamin, which includes B, B6, C, and folic acid, all very important in memory development and retention.

 
8. Have a breakfast that includes protein (eggs, toast, oatmeal, or meat) and some carbohydrates, especially blueberries, which have been shown to improve verbal memory by 35%.  Your brain needs amino acids that come from protein to properly function, and you need some sugars in order for the neurotransmitters to fire rapidly.

 
9. Avoid excessive amounts of coffee as the caffeine has been shown to kill brain cells, and once killed, they are gone forever, and caffeine can raise your anxiety levels, something you do not want to do before an exam, if you want to easily recall information.

 

 

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1. Use key words  (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs) to find the general location for the answers to study review questions before you read the chapter in order to find out what’s important in the chapter.

2. "Read" the illustrations to find out what they mean and what the main ideas of the chapter are. Highlight the visuals and the section of the chapter that they refer to.

3. Make up vocabulary cards for new technical words, using layout, color, and visuals to help you memorize the words.

4. Take lecture notes using the following method.

• Fold a sheet of folder paper 1/3 or 2/3.

 
• Take notes in class only on the right side of the paper.

 
• Abbreviate, use symbols, leave space for ideas you miss, use ? for unclear points, but get down as much as you can.

 
• After class, make WH questions for chunks of info and highlight key ideas.

 
• Ask students or teachers about missing ideas or questions.

 
• Use your notes to quiz yourself.

5. Use headings in your chapter to make WH questions for your textbook.

 
• Fold a sheet of folder paper  1/3 on the left   and 2/3 on the right.

 
• Write your questions on the left  side.

 
• Then read the section to find the answers to the questions.

 
• Summarize the answers on the other side of the paper.

 
• Highlight key words in the answers.

 
• Make up your own visuals, tables, and flowcharts to study for tests.

• Form a study group with 3 or 4 students and meet regularly to quiz each other using the study materials. 

 

 

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In certain cases  reading notes using the question-answer method may not be the most efficient way  to cover the information in a chapter of your textbook.  In those cases you should use other methods; one of these methods is making a chart.
 

Some chapters in a textbook might discuss several types of the same thing In technical fields, for example,  a chapter might discuss several types of compressors, several kinds of roofs, several varieties of engines.   In professional fields,  a chapter might discuss several types of substance abuse treatment program, several varieties of child abuse, several types of felonies.   In liberal arts classes, a chapter might discuss the geography of several different countries, several different varieties of  government, several different ethnic groups.  If your chapter  is like that, then a better way to cover the material is with a study chart, which will take up less room and make it easy for you to make comparisons and contrasts between the different subjects.  The other reason is that this study aide can help you in preparing for multiple-choice tests.
 

A study chart is a chart that consists of WH-questions about common characteristics shared by the different types and columns that list the different types.
To fill in the blanks you would read in the chapter to find the answers. As you read the chapter, you might think of more questions you would want to answer. 

If you cannot fill all the blanks with answers from the textbook, then this provides you an opportunity to learn more.
 

If you do not find all of the answers to your questions in your textbook,  you can still find all of the answers to your questions.

1. You can do research in other books in the library.

2. You can look in your lecture notes to see if your question is answered.

3. You can show your teacher your chart and ask him/her what the answer would be, find out the answer and impress him/her with your organization and diligence.

The Main Islands of Hawaii 
Oahu  Maui   Kauai  Hawaii 
What is the population? 
What is the main city? 
What is the average salary?
How much growth in tourism has there been in the last year?
What is  the island flower?
What are the colors of the island?
What are the main tourist attractions?
What are the most famous beaches? 
How many visitors come each year to this island? 
How much do visitors contribute to the economy?