Last minute preparation for exam is useful or not?

I think that last minute preparation can actually do more harm than good because it can be a frantic process and where there is lots of information to learn across numerous sub topics of one subject, so looking through all of the information in a hurry can leave you confused. For me it is more difficult to categorize the information into the correct sub topic if I review too much information at the last minute. With separate sessions for each topic, this allows me to focus my mind and build strong mental associations between the facts to link them into a strong understanding of each topic. If I have done this already, a last minute review of the key word for each topic is useful to me to reinforce the distinction between the different sub topics of the subject matter before an exam.

I am not a last minute person. I'd like everything prepared before we do anything in this world. I have prepared for the exam since the beginning of the school year, it is not because that I am a diligent person. I am not. I am lazy, that is why I need to learn little by little so I can sleep properly everyday, especially the exam days. I always remembered the day when everyone in my classes were not sleeping at all during the exam weeks. They gathered together in one house and learn together about subjects that would be tested the next day. I was having the good night sleep while they did it. They envy me? Don't be. They have spent all the semester having fun when I study at home, reread my notes and opening the textbook, right?

I am always a last minute learner. In school and in college. Its not that we don't understand if we learn during our last minute. When I was doing my 10th grade, I will just enjoy a lot and will never study. You know I have never passed in Social Science. Hehe. I will fail regularly. But I started studying in the month of January. That is 3 months before our exam. In the 3 revision tests, I failed in the first too. I passed in the 2nd test with 57. I can very well remember that. That was the first time for me to pass in that subject and I improved more and got 92 in my final exam. I feel comfortable doing that. I don't like to be with the book always. Only when needed I will study. The same in college also. I will check out the syllabus only during study holidays and will give xerox after. Half of my study holidays will be over before getting my book. Hehe. Lol.

Hi, I am currently studying for four exams which I will be taking in October. I think that it's a bad idea to leave studying or preparation until the last minute. I think that you place far more pressure upon yourself when you do this. I finished my course in June of this year and I have been studying ever since on a daily basis. I have had five to six months of serious study in preparation for my exams. For me, constant revision everyday is vitally important. If the exams are so important to you, then I guess you would not waste any time, and would study seriously giving yourself so much study time, so that you can almost guarantee that you will pass your exams. I think that this is the best way forward. Treat these exams as though your life depended on them! Andrew

haha.i guess it differs from people to people.some people can only study under pressure like say the exam is next week and it will testing on a whole years work.if you ask this type of people to consistently study, they might not do as well.thus i guess it is really what you feel is suitable and just stick to it.personally i prefer to prepare before but due to poor time management, most of the time it is last min and i wont do exactly very well.haha

i don't like anything last minute, last minute changes, last minute preparation etc i hate being rushed and also last minute things can really ruin the whole plan if the last minute things happen because people don't plan it right in the beginning, i will not help them out or let it ruin my whole plan i feel that it's very unfair for them to slack around when other people take their plans seriously if the last minute happen beyond their control though i will do my best to accomodate them but i will only give what i can and not pushing myself exam wise if i don't take it seriously i will surely fail so if i can i wouldn't take any exam at all

yes i do agree with you that it's better to learn from the beginning. the most important is to listen to what was taught. i usually try to clear my doubts whenever they arises. my teachers and lecturers are all very helpful in this aspect. it's very important to understand what the subject is all about. then when exam comes, just a day's or two's revision will be enough. cheers ;p

yep.. we need to study early at least a week before exam... because we need to understand first, do exercise and memorize it..

Last minute preparation is not good, that's total time waste, In last minute we have lots of tension about out question papers that time we won't able to concentrate on preparation, finish the preparation minimum before .30 minutes from the exam starting time.

Well, I agree with you.. Last minute preparation for exam isn't that good because you might to forgot something to review in the lesson and most of all you might be able to learn anything from what you have read because of tension since the exam will be in a few minutes or less.. But oh well, I sometimes do this things.. I review or study my lessons 5 hours before the exam.. I am doing this because I am very very lazy in studying my lessons.. I have many things to do at night or before the date of the exam (don't ask what it is? because it is just some not important stuff)..What I am trying to say here is that I am just so very lazy to read my notes.. Since,5hours is a short time to review my 2 to 3 subjects so I just need to review some of the important points or the given pointers.. I just read some of the pages of my books and notes.. Then 1 hour before the exam I will go to school already and meet my friends/ classmates asking them if they study our lessons and if they are ready.. Then while they were reviewing I'm just listening to their conversations.. Luckily, I don't failed.. I still got high grades and still remain my scholarship until I graduated my college degree.. I know that it is really weird but I'm just so lucky.. Sometimes, my friends asking me how do I passed my exams and get high grades without studying my lessons and less preparations.. I just told them that "I don't know, I'm just too lucky"..

Last minute preparation is for those who have strong understanding of the subject or course....or genius...They need very little time to understand what they are learning... For those who has no idea what the hell they are trying to learn throughout the whole semester...like me...would face great difficulties....cramping all the required knowledge few days before exam will get your head explode.... trust me...i had this experience before and still doing it....._

I do, even if its neither good nor recommended. Its something i have always done since school. Anyways, even if i feel tired and like crap, I really learn a lot of stuff that last minute and tendo to not foret the stuff. But since some stuff cant be learnt like that just practice practice and keep practicing ^^ and dont procastinate xD

In order for an information to be stored in our long-term memory, we have to train our brain to remember over and over again, i.e. through repetition and associations. But we don't have to remember everything that is taught to us right ? So the trick here now is to pick which information is most important, and which ones to store in our long-term memory. If you think that the info is not so important, then last-minute preparation is okay. Some people work well under pressure, some people do not. So it really depends on which studying style works for you.

its still better to review your lessons ahead of time, because if your cram before your exam there are some possibilities that you might forget about you have learn or etc. in my case, the teacher keeps adding lessons even the exam is near.. so i just study the lessons ahead of time, and read the added discussions maybe before the exam starts.. last minute preparation are useful for refreshing your mind about the lessons, maybe by reading outlines or the summarized version of the lessons.. you could study ahead of time, and while doing it make some notes or outlines, the important details.. then read the outlines in the last minute..

Hi there mssaranya! It would be helpful if you browse your notes before you take your exam. However, it would be more helpful if you review earlier than you should. Preparing for an exam takes patience and strong willpower. With other things around you that you might find as distractions, preparing for an exam may not be that easy. Keeping a complete and neat notebook for your subjects would help a lot. Reading your lessons in advance can also be very helpful.

Hi mssaranya, I would never advice anyone to leave their preparations for the last minute, but I think that last minute preparations can be very useful, unless one takes it to the extreme. Blessings.

haha, it is called buring the night oil. sometimes it works, i mean you happen to read something related to the exam.

hi mssaranya i don't know about others but i myself stop studing before 1 -2 hours of examination. what i have to learn ,understand ,memorise that i done before hand. take care

The research is conclusive: the best learning comes from study, followed by sleep, followed by review. Even practicing a sport benefits from the study-sleep-review (make that practice-sleep-review). Both book learning and practical skills benefit, but most of us do not acknowledge the importance of sleep. Apparently, our brains use sleep time to reinforce memories and maybe even practice in the unconscious. Building in time for sleep in the learning schedule will make a difference for all test-takers but it does require planning ahead. Last-minute won't work.