Classes are still going and we are learning new things but at the same time we have to start studying for exams. I hateee doing this. And I need some tips for studying for exams in general. How do I go about studying for all my courses? Any tips would really be appreciated.

Wait until the exams are close; like two or three days away. People that start like a month ahead of time are doing it wrong. You'll end up wasting a lot of time restudying the same things over and over again since it's hard to retain information while learning new things in class at the same time.

Originally Posted by Ownaginatios

Wait until the exams are close; like two or three days away. People that start like a month ahead of time are doing it wrong. You'll end up wasting a lot of time restudying the same things over and over again since it's hard to retain information while learning new things in class at the same time.

This isn't necessarily true. Every person has different study habits that work for them. Some people need to study far in advance, some people need to study close to the exam date.

If you want to start now, start going through the things you learned earlier in the term. Study in whatever way works for you: write things out, say them outloud, create tests for yourself, listen to professor podcasts, re-read powerpoint slides, etc. If you're in Math, do practice examples from the textbook. If you're in History, answers the questions that are usually at the end of each chapter. Make up essay questions that you think might be on the exam and try to answer them without using your books.

The bulk of your studying will probably be in the next couple weeks, but it doesn't hurt to start early. The more you go over the information, the more likely you are to retain it.

I've seen quite a few people in my day try to use techniques of 'study groups', 'highlighting' or 'studying ahead', and I've yet to see any of them actually get much out of it. I find a lot of people spend all their time preparing and 'organizing' for the act of studying, rather than actually studying.

Originally Posted by Ownaginatios

I've seen quite a few people in my day try to use techniques of 'study groups', 'highlighting' or 'studying ahead', and I've yet to see any of them actually get much out of it. I find a lot of people spend all their time preparing and 'organizing' for the act of studying, rather than actually studying.

This. I'll be preparing study notes to actually use to study when classes are over.

Originally Posted by Ownaginatios

I've seen quite a few people in my day try to use techniques of 'study groups', 'highlighting' or 'studying ahead', and I've yet to see any of them actually get much out of it. I find a lot of people spend all their time preparing and 'organizing' for the act of studying, rather than actually studying.

Everyone studies differently. Those people may not have benefited from it, but others might have. Just because someone starts studying early, that doesn't mean they are only highlighting/wasting time. I always start studying before classes are over, otherwise I feel too rushed. (especially when there are a lot of exams in the first few days, that can be super stressful)

Since last week (as we near the exams) I've been doing this by dividing each day into two sections:
1) Doing something that is due soon e.g. quizzes, assignments - I do this first
2) Taking at least a couple of hours each night reviewing concepts from topics I learned way back at the start of the year - I find this useful... people generally tend to forget what they learned in Sept and cramming it all 3 days before the exam is a terrible idea... I think those days should be left for doing past tests, etc.

As your labs and assignments and midterms are over (or should be very, very soon) you should have that extra time for studying for exams.

Right now is like the first days of class - no labs, no assignments, no midterms, no tutorials to worry about. Just go to class, then instead of doing "homework" that you would normally be doing, study for exams...

One small point that hasn't been made - double check the syllabus or ask in class or tutorial if the exam is cumulative or just since the mid-term in classes where there was one. I made that mistake once and wasted a lot of time.

And best of luck!

*edited for grammatical issues

Not really sure what everyone else is saying, glimpsed off of what some of the first posts were. Look back on your assignments and midterms, those'll be the best indicators on what your professors will test you on. For the stuff they didn't test you on or set assigments on, try the latest lectures and see if there were any major concepts you needed to really get. I doubt that professors would pull that, trying to test you on last minute stuff, but you never know.