On May 1, the Advanced Placement exam season began and students started to study to prepare for their exams. Students also began studying for their last tests or their finals. In this stressful time period, knowing effective methods can help students properly prepare for their finals and help them succeed on those finals and exams.

When studying, students should try the retrieval practice which means deliberately pulling information from the brain on what they studied earlier. This process helps students test themselves on what they learned and provides students with the opportunity to make notes of what they missed or struggled with. Answering test questions, writing down answers or spilling out information from their heads exemplifies practicing the retrieval method. 

For students who love to study ahead of time or who prefer to allow time to prepare themselves, using the space-out method can effectively help students properly prepare for exams. Moreover, this method can also help lessen the stress on students concerning their tests or exams. By spacing out their study plans over a long period of time, students can build upon what they learned each day and test themselves over what they learned previously. This method can also provide students the opportunity to study what they struggle with.

“I would suggest breaking it up; personally I don’t like procrastinating because I don’t work well under pressure and I also think that since its an exam over a whole year, I  think it’s good to break it up so you can spend time each day studying over each material,” magnet junior Megan Tate said. 

For content-heavy classes such as  AP Psychology and AP Biology, the Feynman technique can help students study for these classes. When trying to understand a concept, breaking it down into simple terms or into one’s own words can help one understand it properly. When a student feels confused over a topic and cannot understand it, he or she should try to explain it in his or her own words to improve comprehension. Once done, the student should look over it, and evaluate whatever part he or she answered wrong. Students should study the materials and break them down further into simpler versions and continue to use them in their own words to help improve memorization. This process helps students understand complex concepts faster and help them apply these concepts on exams and tests.

For artistic students, students who enjoy writing or students who simply love colors, the process of color coding notes can help students study or learn. A recent study shows that colors improve one’s memory performance. Students can use materials such as highlighters, colorful pens or other colorful writing utensils to take notes and study. Highlighting important information can help the brain remember the highlighted sections. Also, breaking each section into various parts using corresponding colors of pens and highlighters can further help the brain remember or memorize information.

“I think color coding helps a lot of people, I’m personally a color person just cause I feel like when it’s bright and colorful, I’m more likely to memorize it. Well, I think it really helps when you color code your material, especially when you are really artistic,” Tate said.

 According to the University of Pennsylvania, sleep can help students learn, memorize, retain, recall and use their knowledge in coming up with creative and innovative solutions. If a student studies the nights before their tests or exams, then the student can study before he or she sleeps. They can spend at least 20 to 30 minutes in the comfort of their bed to study and head straight to sleep. 

Overall, one should find study methods that can effectively help one learn. Everybody learns differently, and finding a method that works for a person can help him or her properly prepare for tests. NC, good luck with finals!