Exam essays

Studying your lecture notes

Look over your lecture notes. Avoid passively reading lecture slides or notes. Instead, use active learning techniques. Reorganise information on a topic into flowcharts, mind maps or tables. Explain a diagram in sentences or convert a block of text into a diagram. Imagine you are the lecturer, how would you explain the concepts and terms to a student? Create flashcards and use them to test yourself.

See Exams: Preparing and Revising

Work out what is important

• Most lecturers provide learning outcomes for the course or indicate what they expect you to know for the exam. 

• During a lecture, the lecturer will often emphasise topics or examples that will be in the exam. If you notice this, write a reminder on your lecture notes to include that topic.

• For each lecture, make a list of the major concepts and include an appropriate example. Show initiative and find new examples not given in lectures.

• Learn a diagram that illustrates a concept and sketch it in the exam. Having a picture to write about can be a good way to start your essay.

• Imagine you are the lecturer. Given the material you’ve covered in class, what would you put in the exam?

Use flashcards for remembering definitions, concepts and examples. Write the
keyword on one side of the card and then the definition, explanation or details
on the other. Test yourself by turning these into questions. Try mobile apps
such as Quizlet and StudyBlue to study whilst waiting for lectures or the bus.

Mindmaps are a good way to summarise keywords and ideas on a single page. Put the main topic in the centre with subtopics branching out. Use pictures, shapes and colours to organise information and make the mindmap meaningful to you. When writing essays, use you could use this as a plan for what you're going to write.

Try organising information into tables. Use tables for self testing by covering different rows or columns.

Convert information into diagrams.

Written by Ben Blain and appeared in Craccum May 2014.

Kea Parrot. [Photograph]. Retrieved from Encyclopædia Britannica ImageQuest. http://quest.eb.com/#/search/107_295311/1/107_295311/cite