How To Prepare For Finals Exams: For Computer Science Students

I remember how stressful finals were for me as a Computer Science undergrad student in college. Class assignments, exams, and projects are plentiful during this time. Now on the fall semester with Christmas break just around the corner, I remember that I used to be very stressed out and sometimes anxious when taking these final exams.

Because these final exams are worth a big part of your overall grade to pass a course. Especially the courses for required by your Computer Science program like Introduction to Programming, Data Structures and Analysis of Algorithms. So, today I am going to share tips and a strategy you could use to ace your final exams, reduce test anxiety to get the grades you want.

Thus, let’s get started.

Organize yourself and start preparing early

I know you may have heard this tip before, but organizing your schedule and class materials is crucial for being successful when finals come along. Finals season can be pretty stressful; there is a lot at stake here, your grade and your chances of passing the course or not. So, there is no time to waste and mistakes to be made due to lack of organization. Use a planner (if you haven’t already) and write down all the projects, assignments and exams that you are required to complete as part of your course. This way, you are most likely not going to forget to hand in these assignments and help you pass the course.

Also, be sure to start preparing for finals as soon as you can, don’t leave it for the last minute. Final exams are typically a review of your whole semester (depends on the course and college), so there might be a lot of material that you are going to be tested on. Thus, start studying early and reviewing the concepts that are going to be examined in the final.

Focus on understanding the theory and applying it

When it comes to Computer Science courses, such as Introduction to Programming and Data Structures, you are going to have to learn a lot of theory behind the concepts you discuss in class. Let’s use Data Structures as an example. On this course, you are going to learn (if you haven’t already), concepts like Linked Lists and Stacks. When you tackle these concepts, you are first are going to learn, what is a Linked List and how to implement it using a programming language. So, my advice is to focus on comprehending what is a Linked List on a theoretical level, then, dedicate time to code the Linked List yourself and solve programming problems that require the use of a Linked List.

“Practice applying the theory”

In other words, balance the time you invest in studying the concept and applying it to solve problems. After all, at least in my experience, the final exam is going to consist of questions that are going to require you to apply the concept to solve a particular problem.

Practice tests are your best friend

Through the years as an undergrad, I learned to appreciate the value of practice tests. I believe practice tests were the key to passing my Computer Science courses, and other courses as well, such as Calculus. So, if you can get your hands on practice tests for the courses you are taking, by all means, go ahead and start doing them. These practice tests can be available in your campus library, or even some textbooks have exercises at the end of each chapter which you can use to practice.

On the other hand, if there aren’t any practice tests available, don’t worry, I have the solution for you. Gather all the exercises discussed in class; these could be on power point lectures or given by your professor. Transfer these exercises into a Word document (or your text editor of choice) and format them like actual tests. Put lines for your name, date and the course section, make it look like a real test as much as you can. In my experience, this helped me mimic the environment for test day, thus, reducing my anxiety and increasing the quality of my performance on the actual final exam. Hence, I would receive a better grade compared when I didn’t do any practice tests.

“Mimic the test environment “

I know it may seem a lot of work building your own practice test, but trust me, it is worth it. You are going to forget about all the work you put in when you receive the grade you wanted and pass the course successfully.

As a side note, I know I titled the article for Computer Science students, but this strategy can be used for other majors and courses, not just Computer Science or computer programming related courses.

Conclusion

Final exams can determine your future in your Computer Science program, thus, efficiently preparing for them can dictate your chances of passing the course. Focus on understanding the theory behind the concepts and applying them. Use practice tests as tools for your advantage.

If you have any tips you use to ace your finals, feel free the share them on the comments section; I would like to know. Also, share this article with a friend who needs help preparing for finals. This way, we can help other students who need help passing their final exams.

As always, don’t forget to follow me, so you don’t miss a story.

I hope this helps!

Photo by Pixabay

Disclaimer: These tips and strategies are based on my experience as a former Computer Science undergraduate student in college. Everyone is different, but this worked for me, so I hope that by sharing my experience upcoming Computer Science students can benefit as well. I am

Originally published at yadielcabrera.com on December 2, 2018.