Tomorrow, we head into December, which typically means it’s a sprint to year end for those trying to complete exams by January 1.
In today’s post, we offer a few tips on how to approach the next few weeks.
Sprint to Year End: Focus on What’s Important
Over the years at Professional Exam Tutoring, we’ve seen many students that are crunched for time. Those that we see fail to get over the finish line are typically doing one thing: veering off track.
Studying the wrong things is time consuming, and often unproductive.
It’s very common to feel a need for completion. Sometimes what comes with that feeling is a need to get through every resource possible.
In our experience, for almost every exam – from the SIE Exam to the Series 7 Exam, to the Series 86 exam – there are many things you can do. But, they are not always effective.
As a basic approach for getting through material, we highly recommend you do not stop to take notes; do not stop to do practice questions for every chapter; and, don’t stop and rewind every video. Read through the textbook like you’re reading a if you’ve already read the textbook, and vice versa.
So what do you do?
How to Focus
What we have historically found keeps people focused is to keep the end in mind.
By that, we mean that you should focus on areas that are very high bang-for-your-buck.
For instance, if you are taking an exam that is weighted towards certain topics, try to master those topics first. For the Series 7, that might be the Options section.
However, there are certain sections that are less weighted, but still require your knowledge. To cover these sections, it is worth reading the textbook at least once over, or worth watching videos.
The approach to take is to watch videos like you’re watching Netflix, or read the textbook like you’re reading a bad novel. Don’t stop to take notes. And, don’t reread a certain section too many times.
You are much more likely to grasp concepts after doing practice questions related to those topics. You do need to have some basic understanding, which is why we still recommend that you read the textbook or review videos.
All of that said, some exams like the Series 86 Exam, don’t have a lot of resources. For an exam like this, we highly recommend you look for some help if you have a small study window. If you need help on the above, feel free to reach out! Good luck in the meantime!