Science Study Tips

By: Julia Canick '17

Now that reading period is almost upon us, it’s time to start thinking about how to study for those tricky science exams. Here are some tips—though some may seem glaringly obvious, it’s important to make sure you leave no stone unturned! 

Go to Office Hours 
I can’t emphasize this one enough. Office hours are a little-utilized resource, where you get to pick your professors’ brains about anything that is unclear to you, or anything in the curriculum you’d like to discuss. It’s a great opportunity to get to know your classmates and get your last-minute questions answered.

Do Every Practice Problem
Do them. Every. Practice. Problem. Go through class lectures, section problems, problem sets, and extra reviews—more often than not, problems on science exams are derived directly from problems you’ve seen before! Go through them, and make sure you understand exactly how they work. 

Explain it to your Grandmother 
Albert Einstein once said, “you do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother.” Maybe you don’t have a grandmother in the near vicinity of your college campus, but the idea still stands: explain concepts to your friends who aren’t as well versed in the sciences. They’ll be able to point out when you make jumps in your logic, or don’t fully understand an idea—this will give you a great jumping-off point for future studying.