Empty your brain for exams??

In the last post the advice was to empty your brain in preparation for exams. It is the working part of your brain you want to empty to leave it free to do what it does best; solve puzzles, find solutions, suggest pathways. At first you may think it's a stupid idea to empty your brain just when you need it the most. So what are we talking about here?

What comes after 3? 4. After 121? 122. After p? q. What does c a t spell? At some stage in our education we came to know this automatically, often after a lot of perseverance on your part and encouragement from teachers and parents. Still, if you are reading this, you can recognise a lot of words and without having to think, know what they mean. Some years ago you would puzzle over the answer to 5+6=? You probably know this with little thinking required. You can write sentences. It is easy to put a label on trees, dogs, the urban landscape and thousands of things you are familiar with. All this was hard at some stage but now uses little brain power. Solutions come quickly. 'Without thinking' we often say. This is what we mean when we say empty your brain. It's all there, catalogued for future use, hardwired in and ready for retrieval.

In your brain you have gradually built a huge store of information. So read the information you need well before the exam. Learn the formulae off by heart, just like you did years ago with alphabets and counting and spelling. Practise each type of problem until the stucture is familiar at least. It is the familiarity which is important. What are the correct steps for a math problem, order for an essay, style for a history report? Let yourself know these and you will be able to empty your brain ready for exams. Let your mind do its best. Don't clutter it by cramming information in at the last minute. If you do this, there are few connections that have been built between the bits of information needed, and you have to work extra hard on each problem solution to get the right pieces together.

What this means is reviewing, asking questions and consolidating your knowlege in smaller chunks, basically as you come across them in class. As soon as you can re-read the material, see if you can complete work without the use of notes or friends. If you can't do this ask questions and fill in the gaps. Let your mind do its best work at exam time. Start 'emptying your brain' from your very next class.

We'll gradually go through notetaking and study skills later. That will help with exam preparation too.

Good luck with your studies. Have a great day. If you want a hand, feel free to email.