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how to cram for content based subjects (mostly humanities) — a thread
note that this thread is made with the assumption that you have 1 day before your exam to study (a full day, preferably) and not only a few hours.
general things!
⁃wake up early the day you’re planning on cramming. if you have school, wake up at 3 or more hours before school starts, and get out some caffeine (eat something with it too). for me, this is usually 4am — yes, this is super fucking hard, but the goal is that—
⁃wake up early the day you’re planning on cramming. if you have school, wake up at 3 or more hours before school starts, and get out some caffeine (eat something with it too). for me, this is usually 4am — yes, this is super fucking hard, but the goal is that—
—by the end of the day, you are so tired you sleep the full night before your exam.
⁃sleep is so, so important — i don’t care how much you have to study, you have to sleep. sleep consolidates memory, you are so screwed without it, trust me.
⁃sleep is so, so important — i don’t care how much you have to study, you have to sleep. sleep consolidates memory, you are so screwed without it, trust me.
⁃be prepared to study every free hour, but account for about 1 hour of procrastination once the stress really starts kicking in (don’t let it become more than one hour, just make sure you give yourself that break)
⁃the night before your exam, sleep early — try to get 8 hours so you don’t fall asleep in the exam.
- if you’re cramming the night before, making notes is pretty much useless. take out your syllabus points, and look at the notes you’ve taken in class. based on the questions your teacher has asked you in class and your syllabus points, type up a list of practice questions—
(aim for at least 15) based on what you think your teachers will ask. this will help put into context what is the most important to review, and helps you consider what is likely to be tested. make sure to use words like ‘to what extent, analyse, identify, explain’ and so on.
⁃if you have a bit more time, try to write questions to cover all your bases of knowledge — you never know what will be tested, so write questions specifically testing every piece of content you have to study, rather than just what you think is likely to be tested.
— now, put those questions aside and jog your memory with a youtube video 10-20 minutes long on the topic, to help you regain a basic outline/summary of the topic. i find that even when the video doesn’t cover everything, i tend to trigger memories after watching videos on the—
topic, and can recall a lot more. we often tend to fill in the gaps of information in the video with our own knowledge we learn in class, which is super useful when cramming!
— now after watching a video summary, grab a blank sheet of paper and start writing a mind map — purely from memory, based on what you remember on the topic. often more content based subjects will require extended responses, and drawing up a mind map from memory will help create—
and consolidate links between themes, ideas and topics. do not look at any resources you have.
— once you think you’ve written down everything you can, go back to the video and your class notes, and continue adding to the mind map — you might need another sheet of paper, but add more subheadings, points, links, keep building until you’ve exhausted all your resources.
— at this point, you should (hopefully) have a solid basic idea of the subject. this is when we return to the practice exam you typed up earlier. give yourself an allocated amount of time to do the questions, and attempt them. this will test how well you retained that knowledge!
— once you’ve answered those questions, go through and review them alongside the mind map and your class notes, making sure you include more details in your responses as you review.
— and that’s how you cram for content based subjects! good luck everyone!
— also please note you should be taking breaks in between — if it’s a weekend, study for two hours and take a 30min break, if it’s a school day, start as soon as you get home and give yourself a break in between after showering and having dinner!
