Prepare for exams – A creative method approach to study

The study method described in this article has beennot so much as to write a book. As an idea my study
the one I used throughout high school through to postnotes ranged in length from 2 pages through to about
graduate studies and all in between. I find it works for7 pages.
me, though my recommendation for you is theAn example might be the words “Pythagoras
following;theorem” and then under it the formula with a
Write down somewhere where you stand today.labeled triangle next to it. Don’t put worked
Try a new approach, whatever that is,examples in this text, this is bare bones information
Check the results, did you improve or not,here.
Adjust accordingly.I found that for these it worked better for me when I
Take from this what is useful, discard the rest.used plain paper (no rulings or lines). The writing needs
What is the Creative Process?to be clear and neat but don’t stress if it looks a
The creative process is one which has been studiedlittle messy.
and researched over the years. The diagramStep 3
describes the process steps as defined by variousAt about 3 weeks out from the exam, read through
people over time. Effectively there is a period of workthese notes.
required, followed by a period of absolutely no work,Step 4
followed by the final work.About 2 weeks out go over the notes with a high
The interesting thing to note here is that the creativelighter in hand. Highlight the points that are really
process does not respond to will power or brute force,standing out to you as important. Again if you are
you see the creative process, that moment ofhighlighting everything it’s to much.
inspiration and illumination comes out a time whereWhat you are doing here is giving your brain key focus
there is no thought on the actual subject. Thepoints to attach information to. So from our example
pre-work and the post work, these are the work ofbefore you might highlight just the triangle. The reason
the conscious mind but the processing and creatingis that on the exam paper you will probably be shown,
work takes place in the quite time.or have to draw a triangle, and at that time your mind
Studies estimate that only about 10% of our thinking iswill make the connection to your highlighted triangle in
conscious, which leaves 90% for so much more to do.the study notes. From there the information around it
It is well known that the human mind is capable ofwill flow.
some incredible things, and we often think of the greatStep 5
names of history as being some geniuses, and whileOne week out read over the notes once only each
that may be true in some instances, most were fairlynight. Turn to each page and do the following, look at
ordinary people who looked at things a little differently.each page without focusing on any particular word or
Often times using the creative “Incubationtopic, just stare for a moment. Now read each of the
period” for their work.highlighted lines. Staring at the page allows the
As an example Einstein was reported to operate on asubconscious mind to imprint the information, then
very different sleeping pattern when he was hard atreading the highlighted text allows the conscious mind
work, working for a few short hours and then sleepingto go to work also.
for a few hours. In this way he allowed himself theStep 6
opportunity to work hard, “incubate” and thenThe night before, do not pick up, look at or even think
work hard again.about the study notes. Just get an early night sleep.
The methodSome Closing thoughts
This method works on the concept of considering theIt is critical that during the last week prior to the exam
subconscious pretty much as computer, where thethat you avoid stress as much as possible, and in
conscious mind provides the input. Good data in, goodparticular stress near when you will be going to sleep.
data out, garbage in, garbage out. So lets get to it.Stress before bed will result in poor sleep quality
Step 1leading to poorer performance the following day, and
Take notes, throughout the lecture/class period andso the spiral goes. If you want to practice the skills of
write these down in your own handwriting. Feel free tothe subject, worked questions etc, do this during the
be as messy as you want on the page but make sureday, use the end of the day to reflect on your study
that you can understand the writing. I found that bynotes.
hand writing the notes originally that this helped toIn this last week if there are other things that pop into
imprint my mind. When I came to reread the notes Iyour mind and you think that you should record it on
could se that it was my work, not someone else’s,the study notes, just write it then and there, horizontal
or from a book.or vertical on the page doesn’t matter, just do it.
Subconsciously this is quite important because what itIf you are preparing for two or more exams at the
says to the subconscious mind is “That’s mysame time, give each of your study notes a title page.
handwriting, so I have done this work, therefore I mustWrite the topic, decorate it if you want but not to
know this work already”. Don’t worry to much ifmuch. Keeping the title page clean and simple will help
in the past you haven’t been able to remember theyour mind to compartmentalize the subjects, the title
information, this method works at a very different levelMaths and a picture of a triangle and circle will be
to the “will power” study method.enough to distinguish it from English with a picture of a
Step 2book and an Author that you like, for example.
About 4 weeks out from the exam create a set ofI hope that you try this method and find it useful, but
study notes, again hand written. The study notesmost importantly, use what works, throw out what
should include all of the high level topics and enoughdoesn’t.
detail and information about the topic to get the gist but