Let's face it: most of us go to college for drinking, smoking pot and, wonderful memories of carefree, unadulterated and uncensored fun. We would rather pass exams than develop a carefully laid out model of knowledge. The focus remains on developing a tiny database of information acquired during lectures and tutorials instead of a mechanism which uses the plethora of knowledge acquired and several varied influences from one's daily life. This write-up focuses on the original objective and a little more. I shall give you the blueprint for preparing strategically for an exam you have little time to prepare for.

I just nailed a 3rd year uni subject called Advanced Marketing Research. I had little time to prepare for it and was not only alien to the topic, I had no idea what needed to be studied. Let me tell you something about this Exam, it had 15 answers, all of which were filled with statistics-rich information and various number values that needed to be learnt off by heart. There were several application-based maths problems that are generally employed in market research softwares. Now, each one of these fifteen questions had two page answers each; all of them which were extremely complex to understand and very hard to remember.

Now, I've never pulled an all-nighter, let alone two of them in a row. Nor have I been able to understand what makes a successful student at high-school or at College. This time, I decided to do an experiment by getting a study partner and going in for the kill. 

The first step was to organize what tools I had. The next step was to work-out my time-schedule. Now, I know it sounds painful - but I treated it as a little project. And sometimes in life, you have to be clever with yourself.

The idea behind gaining a study partner was (obviously) to keep myself motivated and have someone to talk to while stressed or if things seemed without direction.


------------------------------------------------------------------

 You will need:


-------------------------------------------------------------------
Instructions

Organize the amount of hours that you have left till doomsday. This shall trigger off an automatic countdown, as an effect. Now, ask yourself: Do you want to prepare for the whole syllabi or would you rather focus on some key areas more than others. I personally believe in a probability approach to life; In this case, the larger the amount of information you revise, the more likely are you going to remember a bigger chunk of the syllabus. Its an obvious concept, but it also helps you to rationalize your reactions better. Studying more than the minimal amount helps you to create a small amount of backup information, which can be fairly useful . After planning this part out, scrutinise the exam papers and look for patterns on questions that are most likely to come. This is a critically helpful and popular exercise. 

Time is a resource - put down the amount of hours that are needed to focus upon each area. Some compromise is needed so work around stuff accordingly. Make sure to put in break-times. Divide the work to be done individually and/or together. In team situations, one must keep bloated egos aside and work with one's strengths. Make notes or study the topic(s) you feel you're going to be great at. 

Lastly, drink plenty of fluids and eat less. The less you eat, the less likely are your nap-ideas going to occur. Relax! You are going to be fine. Just trust me when I tell you that you're in good hands. Also, just to be sure - glug down the Red Bull for better cognitive strength.

NOW GO NAIL THAT EXAM AND MAKE ME PROUD!