How to study for final exams? - Ottawa, ON, Canada

Good question! Studying and learning material from a course and getting a good grade in the course and performing well on final exams are not necessarily the same thing.

It is a misconception that if you’re doing well on term work that you’re a sure win on the final. Not true. A final exam is a one-time event where all the material and body of knowledge from the entire term for a particular course is tested. This means, you need to be proficient with all the material at that moment. During a term test, assignment of paper, you are tested on the material, but you’re being evaluated on a specific topic or topics rather than on all the material in the course. This allows you the time to focus your studying on a particular subset of the course knowledge and develop a depth of knowledge in it. However, for the final exam, you need to be proficient at all the material and topics covered during the term, so a breadth of knowledge is required.

Difference between term tests and final exams

Term test

On a subset of topics covered throughout the term
Usually shorter in length, both questions and duration
The weight of the test towards the final mark is usually less
Marks and evaluation of the term test is usually returned to you so that you may learn from your mistakes
Follow up on the term test results is usually possible
Solutions are usually available.
It may be possible to get a sense of how the class did on the test e.g. class average. This can help you gauge where you stand in relations to others in the course.
There is a chance to make up a poor mark or material you did not understand on the term test during the final

Final Exams

Usually covers the entire course material
Focus is usually on latter topic that have not been tested but this is not always the case.
There is usually one main representative question per topic covered during the term
The weight of the final exam towards the final mark is usually greater, in particular at the university level
You don’t usually get your final exams back
You don’t usually get your final exam mark back. You can go and ask for the final exam mark and to look at your final exam but that would be outside class hours.
Follow up on the final exam is your responsibility
It may be harder to get a sense of how the class did and how you did in relation to others.
Solutions aren’t usually available. At the university level the final exam questions let alone solutions are usually not made available to students. This is so that professors can reuse the material for future courses.
There is no chance to make up material you didn’t understand going into the final exam. This is the final exam.

How to prepare for a term test vs finals.

There are many similarities when preparing for a term test and a final exam but there are also differences.

Study tips common for term test and final exams:

Go over your notes for the material being covered
Practice the examples that were done in class for the material being covered
Go over the exercises assigned for that material being covered
Make a list of the formulas and equations used for the material being covered and learn them. The best way to learn these formulas and equations if through use but if that still isn’t working for you, learn and memorize them.
Practice and review the material over and over until it because second nature to you and comes out of you. You want the use of formulas, equations to be in you, almost like you respond to a question with “math muscle memory”.

Study tips specific to final exams:

When studying for a final exam, in addition to doing everything stated above, we have the additional following tips

Get the solutions for all the text and assignments you did throughout the term and go over these. This will help you see where your mistakes were and what the correct answer should be and how to get there.
Ask for clarification and help with what you don’t understand or didn’t get correct. You can ask a friend, parent, your teacher or a tutor.
Ask your teacher for a review of the material that will be on the exam. Most teachers and professors usually do this anyway.
Ask your teacher or professor for some sample or representative questions that may be seen on the final exam.
Some courses cover a lot of material and each topic may have many interesting questions that can be tested. It may seem impossible that you teacher or professor can test them all during a final exam. An in many cases, they probably can’t. Ask your teacher if there are topics or types of questions you should focus your studies on.
Study “backwards”. What this means, is start with the most recent material you learnt and work back in time until the first material you learn is the last thing you review, and then work your way forward. The reason for this is the most recent material is probably freshest in your mind and will be easier and quicker to review. Material in a course usually builds on itself. That is, the first topic taught is needed for the next topic and so on. With this in mind, there a good chance that if you start studying with the most recent or last topic taught, you will be indirectly reviewing material for topics taught earlier in the term.
Ask if a formula sheet will be given. This makes a huge difference. If a formula sheet is given, then you don’t have spend as much time learning and committing formulas and equations to memory. This is more common in the more formula and equation heavy subject but usually in seen in the upper years of university or in statistics courses.
Ask if the exam is open book. This is rare in mathematics but it doesn’t hurt to ask. Open book exams are very different and not necessarily easier.
Don’t leave the studying until the last minute. Start reviewing as soon as you can and review in small manageable amounts. If you leave it for the day before the exam, you’re sure to run into problems and won’t have anyone to ask.

There are many more tips and suggestions that you’ll get everyone out there who has written a final exam. Below are a few tips and suggestions that don’t usually get much notice:

Additional tips for exam time:

Don’t cram or pull an “all nighter”. It really won’t help that much overall. It’ll just tire you out and make it more challenging to perform on exam day.
Rest. Get a good night’s rest the night before the exam. Get a good night’s rest each night during your exam period. The rest is good for your body and brain and both need to be in good shape for exam day.
Eat well. Maintaining your mental and physical health during exam time and always is important and will help you retain information you are studying. It’s easy to eat what is convenient and quick. In many cases this isn’t necessarily the healthiest food. Try and get in a good meal and the beginning and end of the day, at the least. And coffee is not a meal.
Move. It’s easy to sit in one place for hours on end during exam time studying one subject then the other. Both you body and brain need a break and chance to recharge. Get up and move every hour. Get some sun.
Don’t stress about the exam too much. It may be a final exam but it’s not the end of the world. The worst that can happen is you don’t get a passing mark. If you can walk away from an exam feeling like you’ve done everything you could possibly have done to do your best, then you haven’t failed regardless of the mark you get. A mark is just a number anyway.

When writing an exam there are strategies. Anyone who has taken any number of course and exams in their life will have a different strategy. How you approach an exam when sitting with the exam paper staring at you, is a very individual experience. Below is just a few suggestions:

Strategy for writing a final exam:

Write your name and other details requested on the exam immediately. Sounds silly but when the last 5 minutes of the exam comes along, you won’t have time and will forget.
Check to see what materials you are allowed to use or are provided. For example,
- Are calculators permitted?
- Is there a formula sheet provided?
- Is a “cheat sheet” allowed?
- Will scrap paper be provided or can you use your own?
Count the number of pages in your exam and make sure it matches with the number of pages you are supposed to have. It does happen that a sheet is missing. A missing exam sheet means missing exam questions which means missing marks. You don’t want to miss out any marks at this stage.
While it may seem like a waste of time, quickly read through each of the questions in the exams. When reading the questions make a mental checklist for yourself
- Marking scheme. E.g. some professors or teachers may do the -1 mark for every wrong mark. Be wary of this. Some professors or teacher may do, “Answer 4 out of 5 of the following questions.” Don’t make the mistake of doing all 5 questions. If you do, it’s most likely the first 4 questions will be marks and not the 5^th.
- How much each question is worth
- Whether you understand the questions
- If you think you can do the question easily or not
- If you know the relevant formulas and procedure for the question
Depending on how much time is given for the exam and how many questions there are, make a mental budget of the amount of time per question you will spend factoring in some time to look over you exam at the end. For example, if you have a 3 hour exam and 6 questions, set aside 25 minutes per question with 30 minutes left for all the preliminary reading over of the exam and reviewing of your answers at the end.
Start your exam with the question you feel most confident with and go from there.
At the end of each question, do a quick review of your solution. If you get stuck on a particular question, go over it and see where you may have gotten stuck. If you can’t figure it out, do as much as you can, as best as you can, and go on to the next question. Don’t waste any more time on a question that you have budgeted for.

The goal on final exams is to gather as many marks as possible in the time that is given. The only way to gather marks is to attempt as many questions as possible and efficiently as possible.

Good luck!