Stop rereading. Practice like it is the real exam

Rereading is comfortable. You recognize the page. You nod. You close the laptop and feel prepared.

Then the exam asks for the same idea in a different sentence and you stall. Recognition is not recall. The test wants recall, under time, without your notes in the margin.

Make practice look like the test

If the exam is 60 minutes and closed-book, do at least one run like that each week in the last month. Phone in another room. Notes face down. Timer on.

You will hate the first run. That is the point. The panic shows you which chapters you only "knew" because the heading was in front of you.

Review the misses, not the score

A 70% practice test is useful if you write down every miss and turn it into a card or a short drill. A 90% that you never look at again is a sticker.

• Wrong because you mixed two terms? Make a card that forces the difference.
• Wrong because you ran out of time? Do a shorter, timed set tomorrow.
• Wrong because the question type was new? Add that type to the next practice.

Mix question types

Multiple choice is fast. It also lets you guess. Add a few written answers, even if the real exam is all boxes. If you cannot say the idea in a sentence, you do not have it.

True or false is fine for traps. "Always" and "never" questions are good at catching sloppy reading.

Exam mode in Quiz Genius

Once you have a study set, you can run it as a timed exam instead of an open flashcard pass. Same material, different pressure. Afterward you get a breakdown and a list of misses to reopen.

Build the set from the actual syllabus: lecture slides, problem sets, past questions if you are allowed to use them. Then take the exam in the app, not in your head.

A week-out plan

• Seven days out: one full timed practice. Note every miss.
• Five days out: cards and short quizzes on the misses only.
• Two days out: one more timed run, shorter if you are fried.
• Night before: no new chapters. Sleep beats one more reread.

If you want the timer and the miss list in one place, grab Quiz Genius on iOS or Android, make a set from this week's notes, and start a timed exam tonight. Twenty minutes. Then fix only what you missed.