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A few other techniques to try include:

• Looking for bolded words. Words in a bold or italicized font are probably important. Take note of these words by writing them down, highlighting them or flagging them in some other way.
  
• Knowing how to answer chapter end questions. Lazy professors pull their exam questions straight from the back of the book.
  
• Using the table of contents, the glossary and other overlooked parts of the textbook to get an overview of key information.
  
• Reading introductions and conclusions. These parts always include important points.
  

There are tons of different memorization techniques that you can use to cram for an exam. A few of the best include:

• Repeating information over and over again. (Do this until you can easily repeat something ten minutes later.)
  
• Rewriting information that you want to retain. (Rewrite at least three times for maximum retention.)
  
• Acting it out. (Make up a dance or hand signals to remember whole sentences.)
  
• Making rhymes and songs out of important dates and facts. (Who can forget that in 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue?)
  
• Using acronyms to remember facts. (SIM translates to Sedimentary, Igneous and Metamorphic--the three basic rock types.)
  
• Using acrostics to remember words in a specific order. (My Dear Aunt Sally = Multiply and Divide before you Add and Subtract)
  

Learning is a process similar to building a house. You aren’t fed the complete picture. Limitations on communication prevent the instantaneous transmission of knowledge. Instead you listen to lectures, read textbooks and take painstaking notes to try and comprehend a subject.

You are fed building supplies, bricks, mortar and glass. It is up to you to assemble the building. Unfortunately, most learning strategies fall into two basic types:

1. Memorization – Instead of building anything you simply stare at each brick for several minutes trying to record its position.
2. Formulas – This is the equivalent to being blind, fumbling around a new house. You can’t see the building itself but you learn to come up with simple rules to avoid walking into walls.