Tips from Tutors: How to Prepare for Midterm and Final Exams
Tests and quizzes can be a challenge for many students, but midterm and final exams are a different beast altogether. Generally cumulative in nature, finals can make up a big portion of a student’s grade for a class and often require students to review everything they have learned throughout the course of the school year in order to prepare for questions involving any topic the teacher believes they should understand by the end of the class.
Below, we’ve compiled advice on how students may want to go about preparing for finals from our best tutors. We’ve broken down our advice into two categories: STEM and English & Humanities. Generally, STEM finals (which require a lot of math/memorization & problem solving) are slightly different from English and Humanities finals (which require a lot of writing). However, it should be noted that there’s a lot of cross-over so please do read through all of the advice, a lot of which is applicable to all subjects. We included a round-up of general finals advice at the end.
Planning ahead is key to successful finals prep.
STEM
Biology, from Bailey M.:
“Biology finals can be intimidating, especially given the large amount of vocabulary associated with the subject. To review for a final, I would suggest creating a master "cheat sheet" of all vocabulary terms by topic, then challenge yourself to explain major processes (photosynthesis, cellular respiration, evolution, whatever!) using those terms. Be creative when applying these vocabulary words, especially if they are hard for you to define or remember!"
Another suggestion is to use visual aids when reviewing biology - some of my favorites include drawing flowcharts of biological processes, illustrating and labeling scientific diagrams, and watching videos online that review a certain topic. The worst way to approach a biology final is to try and memorize the vocabulary words without context - it is much more important that you can explain how a term is used and operates in the real world rather than just memorizing the definition!”
General STEM, from Chris W.:
“When studying for a STEM class, put together a “cheat sheet”. Go over all the material from the unit(s) and consolidate the most important or most useful concepts, definitions, theorems, formulas, equations, etc. Try to fit this all into about a page (this helps to make sure you’re only choosing the most relevant items). You will find that the process of creating a cheat sheet is itself studying and serves as a general review. Creating this cheat sheet will help determine what topics you need to focus on for further study, as well as providing a study aide. In fact, if you are proactive, start this cheat sheet at the beginning of the semester and add to it every time you take a test. Then when the final comes around you have a pre-made study aide!”
Math, from Matt R.:
“I find Quizlet to be helpful for digital flashcards, there is an app that they can use on their phone which makes it convenient. For math, there is math-aids.com where they can generate their own practice sheets for whatever types of problems they might need to practice. It is a very comprehensive site (probably also pretty popular).”
Practicing with old quizzes and exams can be a good way to prep for final exams.
English & Humanities
Essay exams, from Thuy T.:
“1. Make a list of topics discussed in class previously.
2. Turn those topics into essay prompts.
3. Each day, pick a prompt from the list and do a bubble map outline as well as write a thesis based on the prompt.
4. Rinse and repeat until you’ve outlined every single topic on your list.”
Humanities finals, from Matthew M.:
“The most important thing, in my opinion, for any sort of humanities-related final, whether it’s English or History or Social Studies, is to review the main ideas from each unit you covered in class. It sounds general, but when it comes to these subjects, what we as teachers want to know is that you've grasped the themes of the course and the lessons that accompany those themes. After that, trust yourself. You've come this far in the course and you've done well. You won't fail a final because you didn't know a date or the name of an author. Focus on reviewing why you learned everything from the past semester and trust that the work you've put in all year won't magically abandon you now.”
English finals, from Clio G.:
“For students prepping for an English final, start by going back through all of your writing assignments. Look at your comments, and compile a list of areas you strive in and areas you could use some more work. Then, consider the books we've read and our discussions. Ask yourself, what big themes have we covered? Are there any throughlines across texts/units? Sometimes it can be helpful to do a quick free write or bullet list about each book, to jog your memory.”
General Finals Prep Advice
In general, prepping for finals may require more planning & strategy than studying for other exams. Here’s some advice for making the most of finals study time:
1) Employ spaced practice: this means spending less (more concentrated) time studying but over a longer period of time. Studies have shown this kind of approach to be very effective because the brain transfers information into long-term memory stores when repeated over extended periods of time.
2) Self-test: when studying, it’s important to self-test without using notes. This could also be done in small study groups with friends.
3) Ask the teacher: going to see the teacher and/or attending review sessions can be extremely helpful in understanding what to expect on a test. Knowing how to do well on any test requires both understanding the content and also understanding how the teacher prefers to test (what types of questions to expect, etc.). The more students learn how to think like the test-maker (i.e. the teacher), the better they will do.
Have questions or want help prepping for finals? Reach out to us at info@tutorcorps.com.