Have you ever found yourself in time trouble when preparing for exams? Do you spend the last days and hours before the exam with your nose buried deep in the book? As a professor at the university I have seen many of the students suffer from these problems. Time trouble and last minute cramming are serious problems, which have a negative impact on many students' exam results. Yet, it is possible to avoid them if you follow my advice below.

Why do students cram heavily before exams? Because they do not feel confident in their knowledge as they have not prepared on time for the exams. But it will not help them to achieve a good result. Heavy last minute cramming will make your head thick and while sitting in the exam room you will find it difficult to answer the questions.

It is much better if you relax before taking the exam. You may take a walk or chat with your course mates. In the latter case do not discuss the exam topics. It will not help you to gain extra knowledge, but your brain will be fresher when doing so and you can get a better result in that way.

You much admit that it is not possible to save much with last minute cramming. You have to acquire your knowledge in the right time. You cannot start with your preparation on the last couple of days. In order to avoid time trouble you will benefit from good time management and fast reading.

The first thing is that you have to plan your time. It means that you have to share your study load on all of the months of the semester. When doing so you have already acquired the required knowledge before the exam day approaches. During the last days before the exam you will only have to revise the material slightly in order to keep it fresh in your mind.

It is wise to do really hard work at the beginning of the semester. You can gain a huge advantage by taking it serious during the first two weeks of the semester, when most of the students to not think much about studying as the exams are far away. If you get an early start then you will build a strong basis for achieving a good exam result.

The second possibility to save time is to study faster. We acquire most of the information by reading. Therefore if we could read faster then we can learn faster. It means that learning to speed read will help you to gain more knowledge in shorter amount of time. Fast readers are good learners. I teach speed reading courses at my university. They are not compulsory for the students, but I can say that students, who have participated in them, tend to do better at the exams.

Speed reading will not teach only to read faster. On speed reading courses you will also learn how to prioritize your reading materials as some of them are much more important and more relevant for the exams. You will also learn how to preview texts quickly, which helps you to make that kind of choice. In many cases you can save much time by applying selective reading techniques.

It is also important that you will choose the right speed for different texts. There are always some texts, which are more difficult or more important. You should read them at slower pace, while for some other text you should be really fast. You have to be flexible with your reading speed in order to use your time rationally.

Finally, being able to speed read gives you a psychological advantage. If you are sure that you can work though piles of study material without spending too much time on it then it gives you self confidence. You will avoid pre-exam stress and have control over the study process.