How do you study/revise for essay based exams?

Just wondering how other people study for essay based exams. Are you doing extra reading and stuff throughout the year, or are you just revising lecture notes + doing extra reading and stuff with some time before the exam?

I'm doing a Biochemistry degree and I'm trying to do extra reading every day for every lecture, but I can't because I have lots of other tasks/assessments, so I guess I'll just have to do most of the studying before exams.

One of the main methods is to practice past paper essay questions under timed conditions, this will help you to see how prepared you are, whether you can recall a lot of information on that particular topic and preparing you to write accurately and concisely in a time frame. Having someone to read and mark your practice attempts will also give you valuable feedback which will improve your grade.

The examiners will also be impressed when they are marking your essay and see content which they haven't taught. As an undergraduate you are expected to do your own reading on each topics. I would strongly recommend looking up some reviews on each topic you've covered, making notes and remembering them so you can quote results from a research paper or article. This is one of the key things to do if you want to be obtaining the higher grades.