Exams
How to study for exams: a four-week plan with flashcards
The best exam preparation isn't more hours. It's starting earlier, testing yourself, and letting time do some of the work. Here's a plan you can follow from four weeks out to the morning of the exam.
Before you start: know what's examined
Collect the syllabus, the lecture slides and, above all, past exams. Past papers show which topics come up, how questions are worded, and how much detail is expected. Rank the topics: what's always asked, what's sometimes asked, what's rarely asked. Spend your time in that order.
Four weeks out: build your deck
Turn each lecture into flashcards, one idea per card, in your course's words (see how to make flashcards). Doing a lecture or two a day keeps it manageable. Start reviewing straight away: a card made today and reviewed tomorrow sticks much better than one first seen next week.
If writing cards takes longer than studying them, let an AI flashcard generator make them from your slides, and spend the time on reviewing. To check the pace is sustainable, see how many flashcards a day.
Three to two weeks out: review daily, add practice questions
- Do your due reviews every day before adding new cards.
- Answer one past exam section a day, closed-book, then mark it honestly.
- Every question you get wrong becomes a new card.
- Mix topics in a session instead of doing one topic at a time; it's harder, and it prepares you for an exam that mixes them too.
The last week: consolidate, don't cram new material
Stop adding large amounts of new material. Keep reviewing daily, focus on the cards you keep missing, and do at least one full past paper under timed conditions. If there's a topic you haven't touched, learn its core ideas only: a little of everything beats a lot of one thing.
This is where spaced repetition versus cramming matters: material you've spaced over weeks needs only a light review now.
The night before and the morning of
A short review of your weakest cards, then sleep. Sleep is when the day's learning is consolidated, and an all-nighter costs more than it gains. In the morning, a ten-minute run through key facts is plenty. Eat, arrive early, and read every question twice.
If you only have a week
Prioritise ruthlessly: the topics past exams ask most. Make cards for those only, review them several times a day, and practise questions. Spacing still beats one long session, even over a few days.
Let the app plan it
FlashCardz plans reviews around each course's exam date, so the course with the nearest exam comes first and your cards are timed to be fresh on the day. See how it works. For subject-specific plans, read how to study in medical school and how to study law.
Questions
How many hours a day should I study for exams?
Consistency matters more than hours. Daily review sessions of 30 to 90 minutes over several weeks beat long sessions in the last few days.
Is it better to study one subject at a time?
Mixing subjects and topics within a session (interleaving) feels harder but usually leads to better results in exams that mix them.
Should I pull an all-nighter before an exam?
No. Sleep consolidates what you've learned, and missing it hurts recall and concentration the next day.
Sources
- Dunlosky, J., Rawson, K. A., Marsh, E. J., Nathan, M. J., & Willingham, D. T. (2013). Improving students' learning with effective learning techniques. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 14(1), 4–58. doi.org/10.1177/1529100612453266
- Brunmair, M., & Richter, T. (2019). Similarity matters: A meta-analysis of interleaved learning and its moderators. Psychological Bulletin, 145(11), 1029–1052. doi.org/10.1037/bul0000209
- Diekelmann, S., & Born, J. (2010). The memory function of sleep. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 11(2), 114–126. doi.org/10.1038/nrn2762
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