Preparing for your grad school exams can be an intimidating task. There are so many different facets that you must keep in mind that it can seem nearly impossible to stay on top of everything.
Though many grad school exams are different from one another, there are many tips that you can apply to a variety of situations. The number of tips you can find online is also incredibly large, sometimes to a fault. It can be difficult to know exactly where to start when there are so many options—to help ease this decision-making process, we've gone through and done the research for you and have narrowed it down to a list of 3 Ways to Prepare for Grad School Exams.
In order to help you stay focused and find success in your grad school exams this exam season, here's our list:
1. Make Sure to Know Your Exam
Though many grad school exams look for similar things, it would be incredibly misleading to say that you can apply certain principles to all of them. This is why we recommend that you become familiar with the specific test that you're taking to ensure that you're aware of all of the requirements you must fill. For example, if you're taking the MCAT, finding out methods specific to the MCAT can be helpful or seeking out MCAT prep online can be good ways to increase your overall awareness.
This is an incredibly important part of preparing for your grad school exams because—while some may have crossover content—each exam will likely have a very different way of testing you. Sometimes the format of the test can be just as important as the material itself, which is why you must be familiar with both in advance.
2. Organize Your Study Space and Methods
It may seem like a very arbitrary thing, but the space in which you study can have an incredible effect on how your studying actually goes. This is because the way in which you organize a physical space can largely reflect a personal state of being. Because of this, we recommend that you try and focus your energies into organizing your desk area. If your study area is clean and without much stress, then it will be easier for you to make your overall perception of the situation not stressful, allowing you to retain information easier.
Sometimes the way in which you study can even be affected by your living space, regardless of if you're studying in it or not. Many people have found that if their overall apartment is dirty, for instance, it inhibits their ability to truly concentrate and retain information. Because of this, we recommend making sure that your entire living situation is pristine, so you can make sure that there are no outside stressors that could influence your studying process.
Aside from cleaning up your physical space, there are also many ways that you can control the way in which you study to make it productive. Being able to organize your notes by turning them into flash cards can be a great way for you to make sure that you're studying in an effective way. Websites can make this even easier than before, letting those who want to stay consistently focused make digital flashcards that can then be shuffled and used in a variety of methods and fun games to make studying all the more engaging!
3. Maintain a Healthy Diet Leading Up to the Exam
This may seem like a seemingly arbitrary part of exam preparation, but it's not only true but can be the difference between success and failure. In the week leading up to the exam, be sure to load up on protein and nutrients. This doesn't mean that you have to eat meat in order to get these proteins, though—eating nuts and eggs can be a great way to get the nutrients you need. Add in some raw fruits and oats and you've got yourself a great study prep diet.
The reason why this works so well is that the brain is able to retain information better when it has proper nutrients. Having a healthy diet is essential for your muscles and overall memory development, making it essential that you balance your studying habits with a healthy diet. In fact, if you study really effectively but don't keep a regular healthy diet, you could suddenly forget all the information you need on the day of the exam.
Because everyone's bodies are different, we recommend that you look into the different types of health foods that you can be eating to increase your overall health before taking an exam—even foods made to build up your bones can be of incredible help to your brain!