Step 1: Make An Overall Study Plan for each subject. Decide how to divide your study energies and time based on what grade you desire and why you are taking a particular course. Use the following principles in making your plan:

• Plan to spend more time for subjects you like and for subjects important for your major field of study.
• Plan a regular review time every day or at least every other day for all subjects you are attempting to ensure a consistent and systematic review.
• Check you weekly time schedule to ensure that the amount of time allocated for each subject reflects that particular subject's priority in your overall plan.

Step 2: Attend Every Class and actively participate.

Step 3: Use Good Review Techniques as outlined by the following principles:

• Start preparing early. Beginning with the first day of class, start preparing for the exams.
• Organize and consolidate lecture notes and reading materials as soon as possible after class or after reading an assignment. As you review, condense the information down into smaller learning components, so that you will have less to review immediately before the test.
• Be selective. Do not try to learn everything. Attempt to learn only that material that is emphasized or that which you believe to be important. Once a fact is learned, do not keep studying it. A brief review before the exam will be sufficient for recalling material that is easily or quickly learned.
• Follow the steps outlined for effective note taking and effective reading to ensure that you are using your study time on this material efficiently.
• Use relaxation training during your review periods to ensure that information is being retained and anxiety is being minimized.
• AVOID CRAMMING!

Step 4: Try to Predict Exam Questions by using the following principles:

• Be alert to the emphasis the instructor places on certain topics.
• Ask your instructor what information you will be responsible for on the exam.
• Also, find our what form(s) the test questions will take; what proportion of the items will come from each possible source (e.g. all from lecture, half from text, etc.).
• Talk to someone who has taken the course from the same instructor to get an idea of the possible test content.

Step 5: Make A Brief Review List containing key terms, enumerations (lists of items) points emphasized in class, questions from past quizzes or reviews and the hard-to-remember ideas list in the bottom margin of your classroom notes and or your textbook assignment.

Step 6: Take Practice Quizzes which you made in your reading or lecture notes or which may be found at the end of chapters and study those items which you miss most often. For essay exams formulate informal outlines which might tie different facts together.

Step 7: Put Hard-To-Remember terms, ideas, or lists onto notecards and carry them around with you so that you may review them when you have a few free minutes.