Preparing for Midterms Without Cramming

Cramming everything into one night leaves you with material you reviewed once. Spreading the same hours across two weeks gives you repeated retrieval, which held up better over time in Cepeda et al. (2006).

Days 14-10: map the exam

List every topic that could appear and rate your confidence from 1 to 5. Your 1s and 2s get the most time.

Days 10-5: build the material

Turn low-confidence topics into flashcards, worked examples, and one-page summaries. Creating the material is itself studying.

Days 5-2: practice under conditions

Do timed practice problems and past papers without notes. Score yourself honestly and log every miss.

Day 1: light review only

Skim summaries, review your error log, and sleep. New material learned the night before is the least rehearsed material you will bring in.

During the exam

Answer what you know first, mark what you skip, and keep an eye on the clock.

A two-week checklist

Topic list written out, every topic rated 1-5
Syllabus and past exams checked for question formats
Cards or summaries made for every topic rated 1 or 2
Two worked examples per problem type
One full timed practice run, no notes, day 5
Every missed question logged with the reason it was missed
Second timed run on the missed questions only, day 3
Materials, calculator, and ID packed the night before
A sleep time set, and no new topics after it

Where OwlWho fits

Use Ask Anything to generate practice questions on your weak topics and Snap & Solve to work through the ones you get wrong. Verify generated questions against your syllabus — they are practice, not a prediction of your exam.

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