#1 Practice Daily

Learning is a process, not an event. Rome was not built in one day, and you will not learn all you need to know for a test in one day. You need to prepare by reviewing every day, and practice distributed learning. How do you do that? First, you should work on the material every day, even if it is for few minutes. Reactivating regularly the knowledge by recalling them (without directly checking the answer) is how you keep your memories over time. Second, read the section below on mindset, study guides, and flashcards.

#2 Don’t Skip Something You Don’t Understand

You hate neuroscience, and want to skip that chapter? Therefore, it will be complicated to understand mental illnesses when most of them are directly related to a dysfunction in the brain.

Unlike what you may think, many topics in psychology rely on each other. You cannot afford to skip anything or not learn one topic. One idea is to create a page at the beginning of your notebook and keep a list of concepts or theories you struggle with. That way, you have a place to start when you’re studying for a test. These are the topics you need to relearn.

#3 Use The Study Guides

A good way to be prepared for the exams and know what you should review is to carefully study the study guides, that you can find for each chapter at the end of the module of each week. When you sit down to take a test, you have to be able to pull the information out of your head. To prepare for the test, you need to practice pulling information out of your head without assistance or hints. Several ways allow you to train to do so, and study guides are a good strategy.

To use it efficiently, I advise students to not just write one or two sentences for a given question but to gather the maximum amount of information; you can write a whole paragraph, even two for a question. Force your brain to reactivate the knowledge by doing it; do not be satisfied with just recalling some of the facts you vaguely remember.

Using this method will allow you to be a proactive learner; making you manipulate the concepts but also pull the information out of your head. We created the study guides in a forum form, so every student can participate by answering as many questions as they want. This way, you can check what others answered for a given question, helping you to complete yours and see what you missed. If each student does it seriously, it will be beneficial for everyone!

#4 Use Flashcards

Flashcards are also a good way to practice pulling the information out of your head. You can either find flashcards on Revel (here is an introductory video made by my TA to show you where to find them on Revel) or create your own.

On each flashcard, write one concept or theory/model we have seen in class, and on the back the definition, or the characteristics of the model, with whom developed them. If it can help, write down also the main difference with other models related to the same concepts.

To study using your flashcards, look at the first card. Then in your head think of all the information you can gather concerning this concept/theory. You are practicing pulling out of your head what you know about important concepts or theories in psychology, which is exactly what you need to do on a test. This is being an active learner. Once you feel like you have recalled all that you know, you can turn the card over and check your work.

Don’t let yourself cheat and look at the back of the card if you struggle a little. Let your brain work. If your brain has to struggle to come up with the answer, that’s good. That means you are learning. Only turn the card over for help if you absolutely cannot come up with the answer.

As you go through your flashcards, place the ones you answered right away in one pile, and the ones you struggled on, even if you got them right, in another pile. The ones you struggle with, you need to practice regularly. The ones you answer easily you can set aside, they should be shuffled into the pile you’re working on every once in a while, like maybe once a week. The goal is to be able to answer every card right away, without hesitation.

It is helpful to go through your flashcards for 10-15 minutes every day (it is not that long, come on!). If you find you’re struggling with a lot of the questions, you should increase the frequency of your studying. Maybe study for 20 minutes in the morning and 20 minutes in the evening. The time between studies is important. It gives your brain time to process (and consolidate) that information and put it into your long-term memory.

If you do this, you will find that you don’t even need to “study” the night before your exams because you already know all the material!

#5 Things NOT To Do

Think that you will fail: "Whether you think you will succeed or not, you are right" (Henry Ford). Please, do not stress out too much when you hear the word "exam". A bit of stress can be good because it will increase your performance, but having chronic anxiety for tests will not bring anything good to you. If you are in this situation, here is a complete guide to overcoming test anxiety.

Reread your Textbook: This will give you the illusion of fluency (because of familiarity), and you will fool yourself into thinking you understand the material, but you don’t. In addition, you may have realized that most of the time when reading, you are a passive learner and you quickly mind wander, making the activity totally useless.

Useful resources

MAKE IT STICK: The Science of Successful Learning - A Summary

The Complete Guide to Overcoming Test Anxiety

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