assignment 1 study plan

The Learning Strategies Center

Meet the Staff
–Supplemental Course Schedule
AY Course Offerings
Anytime Online Modules
Winter Session Workshop Courses
–About Tutoring
–Office Hours and Tutoring Schedule
–LSC Tutoring Opportunities
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–Campus Resources and Support
–Student Guide for Studying Together
–Find Study Partners
–Productivity Power Hour
–Effective Study Strategies
–Concept Mapping
–Guidelines for Creating a Study Schedule
–Five-Day Study Plan
–What To Do With Practice Exams
–Consider Exam Logistics
–Online Exam Checklist
–Open-Book Exams
–How to Tackle Exam Questions
–What To Do When You Get Your Graded Test (or Essay) Back
–The Cornell Note Taking System
–Learning from Digital Materials
–3 P’s for Effective Reading
–Textbook Reading Systems
–Online Learning Checklist
–Things to Keep in Mind as you Participate in Online Classes
–Learning from Online Lectures and Discussions
–Online Group Work
–Learning Online Resource Videos
–Start Strong!
–Effectively Engage with Classes
–Tips for Talking with Your Professors
–Plans if you Need to Miss Class
–Managing Time
–Managing Stress
–The Perils of Multitasking
–Break the Cycle of Procrastination!
–Finish Strong
–Neurodiversity at Cornell
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–Pre-Collegiate Summer Scholars Program
–Study Skills Workshops
–Private Consultations
–Resources for Advisors and Faculty
–Presentation Support (aka Practice Your Talk on a Dog)
–About LSC
–Meet The Team
–Contact Us

Five-Day Study Plan

Don’t cram, use a five-day study plan.

Figure out what you need to know in (“prepare”).
Make sure you know it (“review”).
Start in advance & switch things up.

1. Preparing study material for an exam is an active process. This is where you identify, organize, and consolidate your material. You want to end up with a study guide, flash cards, quizlets, concept maps, practice test questions that you made up, etc. (Don’t just passively re-write your notes or re-read a chapter–instead make something new.) Staring this five days before your exam helps solidify the material, plus it gives you time to identify what you still don’t understand so you can get your questions answered.

2. Reviewing the material you prepared should also be active-this is where you figure out how much you actually know and what you still need to work on. Try “blank page testing,” quizzing yourself or a friend, and/or taking practice exams.

Some Examples of Preparation and Review Strategies

3. Switch up preparation and review People learn faster and perform better if they work in brief blocks of time spread out over longer periods of time, rather than in a few lengthy “cram” sessions. For example:

You will perform better on an exam if you spend one hour studying each day for 20 days than if you spend 10 hours studying each day for two days before the test.
It is easier to learn to shoot a 3-pointer better if you practice a little bit each day for a month rather than have one marathon session in an afternoon.
You will learn the tuba best if you practice a little each day (though your roommate may disagree about anything regarding you learning the tuba–fair enough).

Put that principle to work by mixing up preparation and review. Don’t do all of your preparation, then stop that and do all of your review. Mix them up to learn best! (Use this principle to your advantage when you need to prepare for multiple exams/projects simultaneously–it can be a great silver lining in those stressful times to know that going back and forth to work on multiple subjects helps you learn each one better.)How to Make a Five-Day Study Plan

Break the material on the exam into chunks or groups of material. (By chapter? Topic? Lecture? You decide what makes sense depending on your class.) For the example below, we will use 4 chunks or groups of material (A, B, C, and D). For example, Chunk A might be chapters 1-2, Chunk B is chapter 3, Chunk C is chapters 4-5, and Chunk D is chapter 6.
Plan to spend about 2 hours studying on each of the five days.
Work with the material in 2 ways: preparation and review.
Decide what preparation and review strategies will work best for you, and include those on your five-day study plan chart. Click here for a downloadable word document of a Five-Day Study Plan .

Sample Five-Day Study Plan ChartClick here for a downloadable word document of A Five-Day Study Plan .You will have to get creative with your plan for those times when you have two or three prelims or other big assignments in the same week. During the five days you are studying for your exam be kind to your future self and don’t neglect your other courses! Would you like to learn more?