How to Make Your Own Study Guide
This is a post on how to make your own study guide if your teacher hasn’t given you one. I will break this up into subjects for when the study guide will differ.
1. Gather all of your class notes from the sections that you will be quizzed/tested on.
2. Get a blank sheet of paper and write down all of the problems (WITHOUT the answers) and the type of problem it is and the section it belongs to. So On the First line write “Math Exam 2: Sections 3.2-4.5. Then below that on the second line, write down 7/8 - 4/9 and out beside it write section 3.2: adding and subtracting fractions with unlike denominators.
3. Work these problems and then check your answers against the answers you wrote down when they were worked in class. Try to see what mistake you made or what part of the problem you got stuck on. Realizing the mistake will remind you to not make it in the future. Work the problems until you can get the right answers on the first try. Sometimes I work my study guides three times all the way through if that’s what it takes.
1. Gather all of your class notes from the sections that will be covered on the test. From these notes (or if your teacher already gives this to you), write down the major topics of each section. For example: Section 3.5: history of the periodic table, periodic law, periodic trends
2. On a blank sheet of paper, write the heading as “Science Exam 3: Chapters 3-5. Start by writing the chapter in the margins, and then listing the major topics that you found in step one on the line beside it.
3. Go through your notes, writing down definitions, examples, and important things to remember Ex. Periodic law: properties of elements are predictable based on their groups. Mendeleev and Meyer first grouped elements according to properties of the elements. It is crucial that you’re putting everything in your own words while still transmitting the meaning from the notes. Putting things in your own words makes it easier for you to recall the information during a test.
4. Have a section of your study guide labeled miscellaneous. In this section put things that didn’t fit in other sections or put reminders for what you have struggles with in that chapter. You can even put things in this section that you use to help you remember things from the chapter. Also put reminders to work math problems out. Ex. When finding the electron configuration of ions, electrons are removed from the previous s sublevel and then from the d sublevel as needed. Practice nomenclature, review names of polyatomic ions, practice calculating formula mass and percent composition. For the stoichiometry and other math-related parts of science, see above.
1. Gather class notes from the sections that will be covered on the test.
2. Make a timeline of the time covered in the sections. Ex. Civil War Era Through Reconstruction. Only include dates and a teeny summary of what happened. Ex. 1860-Lincoln elected President
3. As you’re making your timeline, on a separate sheet of paper, write the date, what happened, who was involved, and cause and effects if your class focuses on that. Ex. 1860-Abraham Lincoln was elected president, beating out John C. Breckinridge, Stephen A. Douglas, and John Bell. Lincoln’s election can be listed as one of the preliminary causes for the outbreak of the Civil War, seeing as Lincoln supported the freedom of the slaves and later wrote the Emancipation Proclamation
4. Study your timeline and big summaries at first, but as you get closer to test day, start limiting yourself to your timeline and try to lower the number of times you have to look at your summary. Eventually you should be able to look at your timeline with the date and teeny summary and describe what you have listed in your big summary from memory. If you can do this, you’ve learned your material.
I’m going to forewarn everyone, I tested out of all of my college English classes so I’m unsure of what the classes focus on for their tests, so I’m going to describe what I did when studying for my AP English in class tests in high school (not the actual AP Exam).
1. Gather class notes for the sections that will be covered on the test.
2. For any definitions, make a Quizlet and review until you know the definitions. On the cards, also provide yourself with an example from either a book that has been read in class or it can be one you found on Google as long as you understand it. If you’re unsure, ask your teacher for an example, but not a day before the test. It’s too late then and they teacher may even refuse.
3. If your test will be over a book, poem, play, etc. make sure you’ve done the reading, or in the least, looked at the Sparknotes over it. Write down the major characters, their roles in the reading, their personality, and their relations to other characters. Take note of the setting (this includes date AND location) of the reading. Ex. Othello-Venice and Cyprus, late 1500s. Othello-main character, tragic hero, tragic flaw is jealousy, easily manipulated by Iago to turn against his wife Desdemona, review the five sins of the moor.
I hope this helps anyone who is transitioning from high school and the world of teacher given study guides to college,the land of pain where study guides are few and very very far between! Send me an ask or a message if I’ve forgotten something, if you have tips you think I should add, or if you want me to make a study guide post for a subject not listed here.
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