Self-testing techniques for exam preparation

The Night Before the Exam: A Story We All Know Too Well

I’ll never forget my college roommate, Sam. The night before our big biology midterm, our dorm room looked like a war zone. Textbooks were splayed open, highlighted notes covered every surface, and Sam was muttering terms under his breath like a frantic chant. “Mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell… Krebs cycle… oxidative phosphorylation…” He’d been “studying” for eight hours straight. The next day, he walked into the exam looking exhausted but confident. He walked out two hours later looking utterly defeated.

“I knew all of it last night,” he groaned later. “But when I saw the questions, my mind just went blank.”

Sound familiar? Most of us have been there. We equate studying with hours of re-reading, highlighting, and passive review. We mistake familiarity for mastery. But what if I told you there’s a far more effective, albeit counterintuitive, way to prepare? It doesn’t involve more hours. It involves a different kind of work: the work of self-testing.

Why Rereading Your Notes is Like Looking at a Map Without Taking the Journey

We’ve been conditioned to believe that the path to academic success is paved with passive review. Read the chapter. Review the notes. Repeat. It feels productive. It feels safe. But cognitive science tells us it’s largely an illusion.

Think of it this way: staring at a map of Paris is not the same as navigating its streets. You might recognize the Arrondissements, but could you find the nearest boulangerie if you were dropped in the middle of the 5th arrondissement with a craving for a croissant? Probably not. Passive review is like looking at the map. It makes the information feel familiar because you’ve seen it before. But active recall—the act of actively retrieving that information from your brain—is the equivalent of actually walking the streets. It’s the process that builds strong, accessible neural pathways.

This is the fundamental shift in mindset that transforms test preparation. Instead of trying to put information into your brain for the hundredth time, the goal is to practice pulling it out. This is where powerful quiz techniques come into play.

So, How Do You Actually Do It? Moving From Theory to Practice

Okay, so self-testing is great. But what does it look like beyond just "quizzing yourself"? It’s about building a system. Here are two powerhouse strategies to weave into your routine.

First, embrace the art of self-generated questions. As you read a chapter or review a concept, don’t just highlight. Pause and ask yourself: “What would a good exam question on this be?” Then, write it down. Better yet, use a tool like QuizSmart to quickly turn your notes into a custom quiz. The act of formulating the question forces you to engage with the material on a deeper level, identifying what’s truly important. Later, when you answer it, you’re practicing retrieval.

Second, leverage the magic of spaced repetition. Cramming, as Sam learned, is a short-term fix. Our brains are designed to forget what we don’t use. Spaced repetition is the antidote. It’s the practice of reviewing information at increasing intervals—just as you’re about to forget it. This method tells your brain, “Hey, this is important! Keep it handy!” It’s the difference between a single, frantic walk through Paris and taking that walk once a week for a month. Soon, you’re not just remembering the path; you own it.

Real-World Wins: From Panicked Students to Confident Learners

I saw this transformation firsthand when I started tutoring high school students in history. One student, Maya, was struggling. She’d create beautiful, color-coded notes but consistently scored poorly on exams. We changed her approach entirely.

Instead of re-copying her notes the week before the test, we started three weeks out. Her only homework was to use her notes to create a stack of flashcards on a platform that utilized spaced repetition. For 15-20 minutes each day, she’d test herself. Some days she’d see cards on the causes of World War I, other days on the Treaty of Versailles. The intervals grew longer as she demonstrated mastery.

The week of the exam, she wasn’t cramming. She was doing light review. She walked into that test not with the frantic anxiety of someone trying to hold onto a thousand facts, but with the calm confidence of someone who knew she could access them. Her grade jumped a full letter. The material didn’t change. Her strategy did.

This isn’t just for students. Educators, you can model this. Instead of a traditional review session, try a “question creation” workshop. Have students, in small groups, write what they think will be the toughest exam questions. Then, have them swap and answer each other’s. You’ll immediately see the gaps in their understanding—and so will they. It turns review into an active, collaborative process of retrieval.

Your Brain is a Muscle—Time to Start Training It

The journey from passive re-reader to active self-tester isn’t always comfortable. It’s harder. Struggling to recall an answer feels frustrating compared to the ease of gliding your highlighter over a page. But that struggle is where the real learning happens. It’s the cognitive equivalent of the burn you feel in your muscles at the gym—it’s a sign of growth.

So the next time you sit down to study, ask yourself one question: Am I looking at the map, or am I taking the journey?

Close the book. Put away the notes. Grab a blank sheet of paper or open a new quiz app and start retrieving. Challenge yourself. Embrace the difficulty. Your future self, walking confidently out of that exam room, will thank you for it.

What’s one concept you’re learning right now? Try it. Right now. Can you explain it without looking? Give it a shot. That’s where the magic begins.