How to Study for Exams
Two study tips that will change how you prepare for finals forever. Master these two concepts and you're giving yourself a crazy advantage for every exam you'll ever write.
Two Things You Need to Deeply Understand
The Performance Gap
Why your exam score is always lower than practice
The Exam-Ready Test
How to know you're actually prepared
The Performance Gap — Why Practice Scores Don't Match Exam Scores
Your exam performance will always be worse than your practice performance.
This isn't pessimism — it's physics. On exam day, you're dealing with:
- ⏱ Time pressure — No leisurely "let me think about this"
- 😰 Stress — Your brain works differently under pressure
- 🚫 No safety net — Can't peek at notes or Google that formula
- 🎲 Unfamiliar variations — Problems you've never seen before
If you're scoring 80% in practice, expect closer to 65-70% on the exam. That's not failure — that's normal.
The implication? You need to practice at a higher level than where you want to perform.
🎓 Let's talk about Johnny
Johnny did all his homework problems. He understood the lectures when he was in class — everything made sense. He felt ready.
But when he sat down for his exam, his mind went completely blank. Problems that looked familiar suddenly felt impossible. He ran out of time. He walked out wondering what the hell happened.
What happened? Johnny confused familiarity with mastery. Understanding something when someone explains it is not the same as being able to reproduce it under pressure.
The Exam-Ready Test — How to Know When You're Prepared
How do you know when you've actually mastered a problem type? When you can pass all three checkboxes:
No Outside Help
You can solve it without looking at notes, formulas, examples, or hints. The knowledge is in your head.
In a Timely Manner
You can do it at exam pace — not "eventually" after 20 minutes of staring. Speed matters.
Perfect Answer
You get the correct answer — not "close enough" or "I knew what to do but made a sign error."
Most students fool themselves. They look at a problem, think "yeah, I know how to do that," peek at the solution to confirm, and move on. That's not learning — that's recognition.
Recognition ≠ Recall. On the exam, nobody's going to show you the solution and ask "does this look right?" You have to produce the answer from scratch.
The Honest Test
Close your notes. Set a timer. Do the problem start to finish. Check your answer. If you needed help, got stuck, or made errors — you're not exam-ready on that problem type yet.
📚 Let's talk about Susan
Susan was actually able to complete all her homework — even the hard problems. She worked through every assignment and eventually got the right answers. She thought she was ready.
But here's the thing: she had her notes open the whole time. And some of those problems took her 45 minutes to figure out. On the exam? She had 8 minutes per problem and no notes.
Susan could eventually solve problems with help. That's not the same as being exam-ready. The exam doesn't care what you can do eventually — it cares what you can do right now, from memory, under pressure.
The Bottom Line — Your Exam Study Strategy
Expect the drop
Your exam score will be lower than practice. That's not you failing — that's how exams work. Plan for it.
Test yourself honestly
No help. Timed. Perfect answer. If you can't hit all three in practice, you're not ready for the exam version.
Put them together: practice at a higher level than you need, and verify you've actually mastered each problem type.
That's it. That's the whole strategy.
Ready to put this into practice?
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