A Giant Boatload of Final Exam Tips (Ep. 104)

Finals are coming up in a few weeks!

Ever since I started making videos back in August 2014, I’ve tried to put a much heavier focus on academic topics than I did in the past.

As a result, there are now a ton of videos, podcast episodes, and articles on College Info Geek that deal with exams and all the stuff that surrounds them.

My idea with this episode was to try to create what amounts to a giant overview of all those tips. Martin and I went into the recording session with the goal of covering pretty much everything in broad strokes, while also going into more detail on a few specific topics.

I think we did a pretty decent job, and we also ended up getting into a few topics that I yet covered in my videos – one of them being how to create good flash cards. 

Here’s an overall roadmap for the episode:

• A debate on the value of tests in general
• Catching up on homework when finals are drawing near
• Creating an useful study schedule (using a project management approach)
• Effective study and review methods
• Dealing with test anxiety
• Tips for improving the way you exams (tricks for remembering things, pre-test rituals, etc)

Here’s an overview of all the exam-related videos I’ve made (and a couple standalone articles too):

• How To Ace Your Final Exams
• Ace Your Next Exam: 10 Revision and Test-Taking Tips
• How to Create a Study Schedule for Your Final Exams
• Confidence Tracking: A Brain Hack for Improving Your Exam Grades
• Test Anxiety Cures: At Least 13 Tips on Reducing Exam Stress
• How to Stop Making Dumb Mistakes on Exams
• How to Prepare for Exams Like A Pro: The Exam Prep Cycle
• The Mutant Guide To Studying For Finals

If you’d like, you can also binge-watch them all with this playlist:

Things mentioned in this episode:

• Prisoner’s dilemma (video)
• Good, fast, cheap – pick two
• Study on writing down fears before the start of a test
• How to get better test scores through confidence tracking (interview with Justin Couchman)
• How to get to bed on time and stop losing sleep
• StayFocusd
• Anki
• StudyBlue
• Memrise
• Supermemo
• Spaced repetition
• Directed Attention Fatigue
• Inhibition Theory
• Koofers
• Cortex
• Strict Workflow

Want more cool stuff? You can find all sorts of great tools at my Resources page.

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