Test preparation begins well before the day of the test.

The week or two before the exam:

• Set aside some  time, in addition to your regular study time, for test review. You should have some test review time at least two or three times a week. As with any other studying, you're more likely to benefit from five one-hour sessions than a single five-hour marathon.
• If supplemental instruction or review sessions are offered, take advantage of them!
• Instructors sometimes make old tests available, either at the campus library or on the Internet. If old tests are available, study them. Instructors rarely recycle old test questions directly, but they usually give the same kind of test and ask the same kind of questions from one semester to the next.
• Get yourself a study group. It has been shown that studying with a group is 2.5 times as effective as studying by yourself. And a very good way to check your understanding is to see if you can explain it to someone else. If you can't explain it to someone, then you don't really understand it.
• Here's a useful technique if you're studying in a group: Divide up the material to be covered into sections, with each person taking responsibility for one or more sections. Each person makes up a one page summary, two or three test questions over their sections, and an answer sheet for their questions; everyone makes enough copies of their materials for everyone else in the group. Presto! Your group has just put together a practice exam!
• Look at all examples in the text. Work through them. Work additional problems, besides the ones assigned as homework. Review your notes carefully. Can you work through all the sample problems? Is the process used to solve these problems clear?
• Memorize all definitions and key terms.
• If there are particular areas that are difficult for you, pay particular attention to those areas.
• Some students find study guides such as Schaum's Outlines helpful. These generally summarize the material and have practice problems.
• Make a set of flash cards with key definitions, symbols, formulas, and terms. Carry them in your book bag; anytime during the day when you've got a few spare minutes, take them out and drill yourself.
• Put together a "cheat sheet," summarizing all the relevant information in no more than one page. Do this even if your test is closed-book and closed-note. The process of sorting through the material, deciding what's important, organizing it, and writing it all down will help solidify your understanding of the material.

• Go through the material a final time, focusing on areas that you know are likely to give you problems or are likely to be covered in detail on the exam. If the instructor has given any hints about what will be on the test, or suggested that a particular topic will be important, examine that section in close detail.
• Abstain completely from alcohol and cut back on the caffeine. You want to be able to sleep tonight.
• Go to bed at a reasonable hour. Late-night, last-minute 'cramming' is overrated. It won't matter how much you've studied if you're in a fog from lack of sleep.
• Make sure your alarm clock is set.

• Eat something for breakfast. It doesn't have to be much, but you'll do better if you've got something in your stomach. Sugary breakfasts such as donuts, sweet rolls, etc., should be avoided. You'll get the initial 'rush' from the sugar, but your blood sugar will drop abruptly about an hour or two later. If that happens to be in the middle of the test, it is Not A Good Thing. Have a bagel, some toast, or cereal instead. Moderate the caffeine as well--too much can cause anxiety, which destroys concentration.
• Arrive at the site of the test a little early. You'll want to have a few minutes to settle in before taking the test.
• Look over your review sheet one last time.
• Make sure you've got your pencil sharpened, eraser at hand, etc.

• Put your books away. Close your eyes. Take some deep breaths and picture yourself someplace calm--a beach, a mountaintop, home relaxing, whatever. The idea is to calm yourself down. Cramming right before the test is pointless; it only pushes your anxiety up higher than it already is, and the chance of learning anything you don't already know is very small. (The simple truth is that if you don't know it by now, you're not going to learn it in the next five minutes.) Your time is better invested in getting rid of excess anxiety. Some people find prayer helpful. The point is, find what works for you and do it.
• Listen carefully to any instructions about the test itself--whether some problems are optional, how much of your work you should show, etc.

• Put your name on the exam. (It seems silly to have to remind people of that, but there are always a few who forget.)
• Before jumping in, look over the exam. How many problems are there? How difficult do they look? Are there any that you know the answer to immediately? Are there any that look especially difficult or time-consuming? Budget your time; If you have 50 minutes to take a test with 10 questions, then you should average about 5 minutes per question. Some may take more and some may take less, but that should be your average. Keep an eye on the clock to track whether or not you're on schedule, ahead of schedule, or falling behind.
• If there are any problems that look particularly difficult, leave them for later. One of the other test questions may jog your memory, and there's no point in leaving easy questions unanswered.
• Start with the questions that you know the answer to. In general, your strategy in the first half of the test period is: If you can't answer it right away, leave it for later and move on.
• True-False Questions: Watch carefully for key words like 'always,' 'never,' etc. For math-related questions, always check to see if the statement is true or false for 0, 1, and 2 (the most common special cases).
• Matching Questions: Ideally, you'll know the answer to all of these; if you don't, at least answer the ones you know, which will improve your chances if you have to guess. Most of the time, each item in column A will match to one and only one item in column B. Thus, if you can match even a few, you can improve your chances. If there are ten terms and ten definitions, then you have a 10% chance of guessing any one of them right. If you can correctly identify seven of the ten, then your chances of guessing the final three improve to 33%, and you'll probably be able to pick at least one from the final three that are left without having to guess. Thus your final chances of guessing the right answer for the last 2 are 50-50. It's still not ideal, but 50% is better than 10%. (Let's say you guess wrong on those last two; then you still got eight out of 10. Not too bad.)
• Short-answer: Generally, you either know these or you don't. Write in the ones you know and leave the rest for later. Only guess if you're running out of time and still have several blank items.
• Problem-solving: Math tests will probably be mostly problems to be solved. Count up the problems you have left to solve and the time left to solve them. This tells you how much time to budget for each problem. Manage your time; if you're running out of time for a problem and aren't making substantial progress, move on and come back to this later. Some strategies for solving problems are discussed here (general problem solving) and here (general proof techniques) and here (inductive proofs).
• Monitor your anxiety level. Occasionally taking 5 seconds to close your eyes and take a few deep breaths can be a good investment.
• Whatever you do, don't leave any problems blank. Generally, you'll get at least partial credit for setting up the problem or identifying the key variables; partial credit for taking the correct approach; and full credit if you have set up and worked the problem correctly. Remember the old adage about half a loaf being better than none. You'll have a higher final score if you've half-answered every problem than if you've completely solved the first two problems and left everything else blank.
• Sometimes problems will be worded such that you have to make some assumptions in order for the problem to make sense or to know how to work it. If this is the case, make sure the assumptions are as minimal as possible, and that you clearly indicate what assumptions you're making. Just be sure that you don't 'assume away' the entire problem. One final note: Most instructors prefer that you make whatever assumptions you have to, then solve the problem that way, rather than working it both ways "just to be sure." (Indecisiveness can be as bad as incorrectness -- or, as one professor put it, "If you don't know how to pronounce it, say it loud!")
• If you have to guess, leave your guess alone unless something has jogged your memory and you're sure of the correct answer. Your first guess is more likely to be correct than a second guess.
• Once you've gone through all the questions you knew immediately, look at the remaining problems. Are there techniques that you used in solving the other problems that could be used here? Are there problem solving or proof techniques you discussed in class that you haven't used on the test yet?
• Re-check the amount of time you have left and the number of problems you have, re-figure your time budget, and attack the most likely-looking problem among those remaining. Again, stick to your time budget.
• DON'T WASTE TIME ON BONUS OR EXTRA-CREDIT QUESTIONS UNLESS YOU'VE ANSWERED EVERYTHING ON THE EXAM. Extra-credit questions are often chosen to be tricky or to require a particularly high degree of insight. They're not worth your time if you've still got unanswered exam questions.
• Once you've completed all the questions, use the last few minutes to look over your work. Check your math. Is it clear how you got your answer? Is your work legible?
• Once you've completed all questions, and checked your work, you can look at any extra-credit or bonus questions. Not before.

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