How to Prepare for Any Exam: Proven Study Tips

Most students prepare for exams the same way: reread notes, highlight the textbook and hope it sticks. It feels productive, especially when you lack time. It feels like 'the more I read, the better' but well-know research, led by psychologist John Dunlosky, says it's one of the least effective ways to study.

We've gathered some 'go-to' techniques for you that apply to any exam: a university final, a language test, a professional certification or a job assessment. Each one is backed by research and fully explained in YouTube videos used during article preparation.

1. Start early and space out your study sessions

Cramming the night before works for tomorrow, but you forget most of it within days. It's called a 'short-term' memory and it only helps for passing an exam, not for really knowing the subject. The fix is spaced repetition: review the material several times, with longer gaps between each review.

The idea goes back to Hermann Ebbinghaus and his forgetting curve: we forget new information fast at first, then more slowly, and every well-timed review flattens the curve. The video 'Spaced repetition for long term memory – Anki and memory techniques' by Anastasia Woolmer walks through why spaced repetition is needed for long-term learning and how to keep up with it using Anki.

How to do it:

• Count back from the exam date. Plan at least 3–4 review rounds per topic.

• Use growing gaps. For example: day 1, day 3, day 7, day 14.

• Use flashcard apps such as Anki or Quizlet, which schedule reviews for you automatically.

• No app? Use the Leitner system: paper flashcards in boxes. Cards you get right move to a box you review less often; cards you get wrong go back to the first box.

2. Test yourself instead of rereading

This is the single most important tip. Active recall means pulling information out of your memory instead of putting it in again. Closing the book and asking "what do I remember?" beats reading the same page five times.

The evidence is strong and decades old: the study by Roediger and Karpicke shows that students who practised recalling a text remembered much more of it a week later than students who simply reread it, even though rereading felt more effective at the time.

The short video 'Give Me 3 Minutes – You Will Never Study Without Active Recall Again' by Growth In Silence explains why rereading is a trap and shows a 5-minute recall routine you can do before every study session.

How to do it:

• Turn notes into questions. After each lecture or chapter, write questions instead of summaries. Later, answer them without looking.

• Do past papers and practice tests under real exam conditions: timed, no notes.

• Use the blank page method: write down everything you remember about a topic, then check what you missed.

• Use flashcards for facts, definitions, formulas and vocabulary.

3. Understand first, memorise second

Flashcards and practice tests help you keep what you've learned, but they can't fix material you never understood in the first place.

That's the argument of Dr Justin Sung, a medical doctor and learning coach, in 'The Problem with Active Recall and Spaced Repetition'. He separates two stages: encoding (how well you take in and connect new information) and retrieval (getting it back out). Active recall and spaced repetition work on retrieval. If encoding is weak, you end up fighting the forgetting curve with endless repetition. If you understand material deeply from the start, you forget it more slowly.

How to do it:

• Ask "why?" and "how does this connect?" for every new idea, instead of just "what?"

• Link new topics to what you already know. Comparisons and examples make ideas stick.

• Draw it. Mind maps and diagrams showing how concepts relate force you to think about structure.

• Teach it. Explain the topic in simple words, as if to a friend outside your field. Where you get stuck is what you don't understand yet.
  

*A comment from the article author: it always helped when I read some piece of complicated stuff to stop right there and ask myself: 'If I were to explain this to a child, how would I do it?'. Then, it was time to use the simplest words and examples I knew to illustrate the main ideas. We, as people, don't even notice how many 'ready-made' patterns we use in speech without deeply understanding them, so this trick does wonders when you need to truly understand what you're going to talk about.

4. Protect your focus and sleep

How you study matters as much as what you study. A tired, distracted brain learns slowly, no matter which technique you use. It's essential to organise the process wisely:

• Study in focused blocks: for example 25–50 minutes, then a short break.

• Put your phone in another room

• Mix topics within a session instead of doing one subject all day. It's harder, but it prepares you for an exam where questions come in random order.
  

Don't forget about your physical state. It might sound obvious but many people underestimate the impact it actually has your mind. So,

• Sleep enough hours. An all-nighter trades tomorrow's recall for a few extra hours of tired reading.

• Move every day. A short walk helps you reset between sessions.

• Eat and drink normally. Exam week is not the time for a new diet or five coffees a day.

Videos we used

• 'Spaced repetition for long term memory – Anki and memory techniques' by Anastasia Woolmer. Summary.

• 'Give Me 3 Minutes – You Will Never Study Without Active Recall Again' by Growth In Silence. Summary.

• 'The Problem with Active Recall and Spaced Repetition' by Justin Sung. Summary.
  

Tip: Use Clarify AI: YouTube Summaries as an AI assistant while watching: make bookmarks, ask follow-up questions, summarise comments and many more.

Conclusion

The perfect receipe to prepare for any exam is: start early, understand before you memorise, test yourself instead of rereading, and look after your physical condition. Pick at least one technique from this post and see how it changes your next study session!