Flawless Finals Pt. 2: STEM Study Tips

Below are some STEM study tips to help you plan and study for your upcoming final exams. This is part 2 of a multi-part series published by the Board of SASS throughout the month of May!

• Plan ahead (preferably at least a couple weeks ahead). You can often divide the course material up into units/chapters/weeks to better organize your day-to-day studying.

• Work through practice problems from the textbook! This is an extra resource that you already have, and the questions will often be closely related to the course content.

• Review past homework problems.

• Focus on the more challenging ones (you most likely won’t have time to do all past problems).

• Or you can randomly choose a couple per homework set.

• If there is a practice final exam, you can use that to figure out which areas you’re weakest in and you can then strategically spend more time reviewing those areas

• Take the practice final exam timed so that you get a feeling for how to pace yourself.

• Oftentimes, the exam is based around applying formulas, so make sure to spend time reviewing formulas and how to apply them. It may be helpful to write down a cheat sheet of formulas to help you remember them and to help you in your practice.

• If possible, attend the review sessions hosted by instructors/TAs. They often include fun activities like Jeopardy-style questions, and it’s also a great opportunity to ask questions without feeling the individual pressure of a WTC appointment. (It also shows your teacher that you’re engaged.)

• If you have a question, ask it in class. If you have a question, it’s likely others have the same question. 

• Go to your teachers’ office hours or make an appointment if there are any topics that you are a bit weak on. 

• It’s also a good idea to review conceptual questions. Teachers often like to ask conceptual questions on finals to make sure that you have a solid understanding of the topics that you were taught. 

• To test your conceptual understanding of concepts, we recommend trying to teach others the concept. Often if you can teach someone else the concept, it means you know it well yourself.