Exams
A study plan for the last two weeks.
Fourteen days are plenty if you split them well: new material, review, a practice exam and a quiet day before.
- Split the material into chapters and learn a piece every day instead of cramming it all into the last few days.
- Quiz yourself after every chapter and bring older material back at growing intervals.
- Schedule a practice exam with time left to fix your gaps, and keep the day before the exam calm.
Two weeks before an exam, time often feels too short and too long at once. A plan takes care of both: you know what's on each day, and you can see that it adds up. Here is a fourteen-day schedule and the reasons it works.
The two rules that matter most
Learning research agrees on two things. Spacing beats cramming: people who review the same material over several days remember it longer, as a large review of many studies by Nicholas Cepeda and colleagues (2006) shows. Testing beats rereading: Henry Roediger and Jeffrey Karpicke (2006) found that students remembered more a week later when they had tested themselves on a text instead of reading it again.
In 2013, John Dunlosky and colleagues compared ten popular study techniques. Only two earned the top rating: practice testing and spaced practice. Highlighting and rereading came out near the bottom. A good study plan builds those two winners in from day one.
A good plan doesn't just tell you what to learn. It tells you when to review it.
Day 1: gather and split the material
On day one, collect everything the exam covers: lecture notes, slides, readings, old problem sets. Split it into chapters you can each finish in one session. Then decide how much time you really have per day, not how much you'd like to have.
Now count backward from exam day. The last few days belong to the practice exam, fixing gaps and review, so new material has to be done before then. If your chapters don't fit into the days that are left for it, add time per day or pick your priorities.
The fourteen-day plan
Here's what the two weeks can look like. If you take weekends off or your exam falls on another day, the days shift. The order stays the same.
| Days | Focus | What you do |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Overview | Gather material, make chapters, set your time |
| 2 to 8 | New material | Learn a chapter, quiz yourself, review older ones |
| 9 | Practice exam | Take it under real conditions |
| 10 and 11 | Close the gaps | Only what the practice exam showed |
| 12 | Dress rehearsal | A second practice exam, then review it |
| 13 | Easy review | Quiz yourself, nothing new, early night |
In this plan, a little over half the days go to new material and the rest to quizzing, fixing and reviewing. At first that feels like too little studying. In fact it's exactly the part that keeps the material in your head until exam day.
Days 2 to 8: learn, then quiz yourself right away
Start each session with a short review: quiz yourself on the chapters from the last few days without looking anything up first. Then move on to the new chapter. At the end, close everything and write down what you remember.
Whatever you didn't know goes first next time. That way your time goes where it helps most, not to what you already know. By the end of day 8, every chapter should have been quizzed at least twice.
Quizzing yourself can take many forms: flashcards, practice problems, a blank page where you write down everything you know about a chapter, or explaining it out loud to someone. The only thing that matters is the order. Answer from memory first, then check.
Days 9 to 12: practice exam and gaps
Take the first practice exam as if it were the real one: timed, no notes, in one sitting. Then grade it and write down which topics cost you points. The next two days belong to exactly those topics.
Day 12 is the dress rehearsal. It shows whether the gaps are closed now and gives you a feel for the timing. Don't schedule the first practice exam too late, or there's no time left to learn from it.
Day 13: the quiet day
The day before the exam, don't start anything new. Quiz yourself lightly on everything, pack your things and go to bed early. Sleep helps the brain consolidate what you learned, as Susanne Diekelmann and Jan Born (2010) summarize in their review.
On the morning of the exam, a quick look at the questions you found hardest is enough. Starting anything new now only makes you nervous. You stuck to your plan, and that's what pays off today.
Your checklist for today
- Write down your exam date and the material
- Split the material into one-session chapters
- Set your time per day and count backward
- Put the first practice exam on your calendar
- Start with the first chapter tomorrow
Common questions
The bottom line
Two weeks are enough for a solid plan: split the material first, then learn something new and quiz yourself on older chapters every day, and finish with a practice exam, fixing gaps and a calm day before. Write your plan down today, so tomorrow all you have to do is start.
