Anticipate and list the potential test questions. Your instructor's lectures should give you some indication of what types of questions you will be answering. For instance, if you have spent an entire week in your art history class covering the impact of the Italian Renaissance, you should anticipate a question on the importance of that movement for western art. Knowing the types of topics that are likely to be on the test beforehand can get you in the proper frame of mind to write your essays and will help you focus on studying those topics for the exam.
Practice writing your essays beforehand. Write down key names, places and events and create an outline of each potential essay question. Commit your outline to memory. Use mnemonic devices if necessary in order to remember the main ideas of each topic.
Dump your memory onto the paper as soon as the test starts. This is often referred to as a "memory dump" because your first task is simply placing everything that you memorized onto the pages of your test. Write down your outlines and any other key terms as quickly as possible in order to have them available for quick reference later. You can write these in the margins of your exam or even on the back of the exam if it is blank. If no space is available, ask your professor if you can use a blank piece of scratch paper. Many will be willing to let you organize your thoughts on a separate piece of paper.
Budget your time wisely. Determine how many questions are on the exam and how much time you have to take the entire exam. Divide the number of minutes by the number of questions to determine how long you should work on each question. For example, a three-essay exam that you have 60 minutes to take would leave you 20 minutes for each question. Once you hit your time limit on each question, move on to the next one. You can always return later if you finish the remaining questions early.
Answer the question succinctly but thoroughly. Answer each question by restating the question in statement form. For instance, on a history exam that asks what the major causes of the American Civil War were, you would restate the question: "The major causes of the American Civil War were . . ." From there you would enumerate each cause and provide a supporting fact to back up your claim. Avoid generalities and make only statements of fact. Include all key terms and statements that you used in your outline.