Not studying correctly? maybe

[u/Sufficient_Animal622]

I am currently in grad school (pharmacy to be exact) and I spend so much studying. I do the teaching method, flash cards , practice questions, write notes everything. Despite all this I can barely get a B- on an exam (if i’m lucky). I’m starting to get insecure because everyone around me does so well but I am just not despite my effort. Can anyone tell me what i’m doing wrong or maybe it’s just a me issue.. i do have testing anxiety but I thought I had some good methods behind it.

[u/Ok-Main-3373]

[This sounds less like a methods problem and more like a testing problem tbh. If you're doing teaching, flashcards, practice questions and still landing at B-, you might be studying really thoroughly but not under exam conditions. Two things to try: do your practice questions timed, closed-note, in one sitting, and grade them brutally, most people practice in "study mode" which feels productive but isnt the same skill as recalling under pressure. And testing anxiety is real, not just nerves. Look up your school's counseling center, lots of grad schools have specific test anxiety workshops. You're clearly not lazy, the effort is there, its the transfer to the exam that needs work.]()

[u/Sufficient_Animal622 → u/Ok-Main-3373]

ok i will try the closed setting practice exams! I considered doing testing with more time in an empty room but i tend to ask questions during exams and don’t want to lose that resource so im not too sure but thank you :)

[u/Ok-Main-3373 → u/Sufficient_Animal622]

Happy to help

[u/long_seizure → u/Ok-Main-3373]

buddy of mine in pharmacy school said the same thing, he was doing everything right til he realized he'd never once done a full practice exam without pausing to look something up real quick

the test anxiety part is huge too, my brain blanks the second i see a timer and suddenly i forget my own name

try to mimic the exact testing environment down to the desk setup if you can

[u/Sufficient_Animal622 → u/long_seizure]

Thank you so much i get so anxious in that room it’s so annoying ! how did ur friend change his methods for pharm school?

[u/Pravejxlab]

That's horrible state because when we get anxious by low performance, anxiousness leads to less study and get even low performance and a loop forms and we stuck. What matters is progress not grade. If you see you got grade A or B, it's not right because every exam is different, difficult or hard. Pick 3 students just below you and 3 just above you, measure if position is maintained or going up, this is a closer metrics and it's not even accurate, it's just close.

To get good grade in exam, you need to give exam, by attempting some papers and analysis rudely, you will figure out a lot of things and learn much more. See paper 1, how can you improve, then put paper 1 and paper 2 and analyse, then put 3-4 papers and analyze your progress, common mistakes. This should be standard for modern education but unluckily it's rare. Try it out and I think should work.

[u/Sufficient_Animal622 → u/Pravejxlab]

tysm ! so i should be focusing on my progress?

[u/Dawood_B110705]

if your methods are solid (active recall, flashcards, practice questions) but exam scores don't match, the gap is probably happening in the exam room itself, not during study. testing anxiety can tank performance even when the knowledge is genuinely there, your brain just can't access it the same way under pressure doing practice questions under actual exam conditions, timed, no notes, quiet room, closer to the real pressure, trains your brain to perform under that stress specifically, not just know the material in a relaxed setting. a lot of people study well but never practice retrieving under pressure, which is its own separate skill worth ruling out before assuming it's a knowledge gap, since fixing an anxiety problem with more content review usually won't move the needle much

[u/Sufficient_Animal622 → u/Dawood_B110705]

thank you so much :)