How to Cram for a Final Exam...The Night Before the Test

Totally unprepared for that final exam in the morning? Starting to panic because you haven't even cracked the book? Here are a few strategies to (hopefully) get you a passing grade.

1. Open the book.

Face it: you can't read all 300 pages of the textbook in one night. Even if you could, you're not going to remember enough of what you read for the final exam. Instead, you need a strategy to get as much information out of the book as possible, as quickly as possible.

Certain parts of your textbook will be more useful than others in helping you pass the final exam. Key words, usually in bold or italics, are words you need to have for the test. Go through the chapters and keep a list of anything that looks like a vocabulary word or a key concept. If the definitions of the words are in the margins, lucky you. Otherwise, look up the key words in the glossary at the end of the textbook. Make some flashcards, keep a color-coded list, or do whatever you need to do to commit those words to memory for the next twelve hours.

After scanning the text for key words likely to appear on your final exam, you need to actually do some reading. The next step is figuring out what you need to read and what you don't. The introductions and conclusions to textbook chapters usually have pretty good summaries of all the important concepts covered in the chapter. Good textbooks have section and/or chapter summaries that bullet point all the important stuff. Read these, and commit to memory. If you're having trouble with a key concept in the introduction, summary, or conclusion, skim the chapter for illustrative examples.

If your textbook has questions at the end of every chapter to test your comprehension, make sure you go over the questions and know the answers. Lazy professors often take final exam questions straight from the textbook.

2. Uh...notes?

Did you take notes in class? If you did, study them and move on to the next section. If you're cramming and panicking the night before your final exam, though, I suspect you may have missed some classes or didn't actually write stuff down.

Here's what to do if you don't have notes: send an email to all the smart (read: prepared) classmates you can think of, politely requesting use of their notes. Offer to go to their homes, meet them in the library, or buy them a six-pack for their trouble. If you can get photocopies, cool. Otherwise, you might end up waking up super-early for a quick glance in the hallway. Do whatever it takes, because notes are often as important as the book.

If you can't get notes from a classmate, or if you're exceptionally bold, email your professor. Explain politely that you are having a hard time focusing your studies for the final exam, and ask if you can borrow her lecture notes or get some pointers on what textbook chapters are most important for the test.

3. Play teacher.

I don't mean that you should get a corduroy suit jacket with elbow patches and a box of colored chalk. Instead, play teacher by coming up with questions you might ask if you were giving the final. Unprepared as you may be, you've probably got some idea of the main themes of the class. Ask yourself some essay questions, and then look up the answers. If you've got time (or can function on very little sleep), make outlines for sample essays you might write to answer potential final exam questions.

Also, try to get inside your professor's head. Is your professor the type of person to give a multiple choice final, or an essay test? Will your professor focus more on vocabulary questions, or on understanding bigger themes? If you can figure out the answers to these questions, you can focus your study time to better meet the expectations of the final exam you're going to take.

4. Get some sleep.

I know you're pressed for time and sleep doesn't seem as important as studying, but you need to make enough time for a complete REM cycle. Otherwise, you'll be too loopy to function and you're head will feel muddy and overwhelmed with information. A complete REM cycle (for most people) takes about three hours. If you time your sleep to coincide with your REM cycle (in a three or six hour chunk, for example), it'll also be much easier to wake up to an alarm.

5. Learn your lesson.

Cramming for your final exam the night before sucks. There's a chance you'll pass it using these techniques, but don't count on getting lucky every time. And if you go to class, take some notes, and read the book next time, you might actually learn more than just what's on the test.