Be bulletproof for your exams

Have you ever wondered how to summarize? A useful abstract is more than just an abbreviated or abridged version of your work. A good summary requires you to analyze your study material, identify key concepts, and explain them in your own words.

So why do summaries?

• Summaries increase your understanding of the content and make it easier for you to remember the most important points of the exam.
• You should get into the habit of reviewing and summarizing your notes at home every day, therefore maximizing your study time. Leaving all the summaries right before the test/exam is stressful and time consuming. He prefers to do a little each day and then use the time before exams to review the work you’ve summarized.
• Summarizing reinforces what you have learned that day, ensuring that you have fully understood the work and, if not, giving you time to ask your teacher questions the next day while the topic is still being discussed in the classroom. After all, her brain learns best when she already knows something and builds on it.
• Simply highlighting or underlining and then rereading your original notes isn’t enough. When writing summaries, the material enters your long term memory making it easier to remember on the exam.

Prepare to summarize

• Be organized as it is not good to have summaries of different topics all mixed up and scattered among other materials.
• Have a separate file or book for each topic.
• Use dividers or tabs to separate the different sections.
• Organize your study material in a format that suits your learning style.
• Store all your abstract files or books together.

Remember that the most effective summaries are made for you, by you!

how to make a summary

1. Keep it brief—your summary should be headings and key points that remind you of the main material to remember, not a rewrite of course material.
2. Write your summary in your own words so that you understand it, but never add your own ideas or opinions.
3. Reduce your notes to short, manageable pieces that are easy to memorize.

step by step summaries

STEP 1

Understand your material before you begin to summarize. Read all the material to get an overview, don’t take notes yet. Read it again if necessary until you really understand it. Look for words or concepts you don’t understand along the way, this ensures that the material makes the most sense.

STEP 2

Now reread the material for meaning, underlining or highlighting the most important information you need to remember and making notes in the margins to clarify the content. Identify key concepts and supporting facts and write down headings and subheadings or divide the information into sections to organize your summary. Think about the approach: who, what, when, where, why.

Remember at this stage that LESS is MORE, you don’t want to rewrite your notes but you need to rethink them by explaining the essential information in your own words.

STEP 3

Re-read the material, crossing out unnecessary information. This is information that is not necessary for understanding or has been repeated. Cut your notes down so that you have mostly key lines, phrases, half sentences, and bulleted lists.

STAGE 4

Write the summary with what remains in your own words. You can write it in full sentences or as dots, draw pictures, use colors, depending on your preferred learning style. Make sure your points make sense to you. Use phrases instead of full sentences, use words instead of phrases, and keep some words/terms as they are, eg definitions, quotes, specific facts, and formulas. Check that you have saved the essential information. Aim for 10-25% of the original text. If your summary is too detailed and too long, create a summary of your summary.

Preparing an abstract is not a one-step process. The important thing is that you are left with a concise learning aid that will make a stronger impression on your memory.

Different variations of summaries

Depending on your learning style, you can tailor your summaries to suit you.

Visual learners may prefer to draw graphs or mind maps/spider diagrams using visual symbols, colors, and shapes. Auditory learners find it beneficial to record audio summaries and play them back several times. They can also turn their summaries into flash cards and “teach” their favorite teddy bear by reading the summaries aloud or having a question and answer session.

MIND MAPS – also known as Spider Diagrams

Mind maps are visual methods for summarizing information that help you see the general structure of a topic and how everything is related, as well as the necessary facts. Start with the main concept in the middle and then related concepts branch off from there. So you can see the big picture and how everything connects. Use colours, pictures and words (not sentences), mind mapping works the same way the brain works, which is not in nice neat lines.

FLASH CARDS

These are pieces of poster board with questions on one side and answers on the other side. You can add pictures or other visual images to help you memorize the concepts.

Whichever summarizing method you choose, remember that good summarizing skills take practice.