How should I prepare for FAST sessional exams, and are lecture slides enough?

Slides on their own usually aren't enough. No rule says so, since it depends on the course and the instructor, but slides only tell you what was covered. They can't tell you whether you can actually solve something with it, and that's exactly what a sessional tests.

Start with the dates. FAST announces the sessional and final exam weeks at the start of the semester, and you're not allowed to miss them. A missed exam gets no credit unless you qualify for a retake, and that needs a real emergency with documents. So work backwards from the date instead of waiting for the week before. Keep in mind too that in-semester work normally makes up half of a course's marks, with the final carrying the other half, so a bad sessional isn't something you can just write off. Check your own course outline for the exact split.

Next, build a topic checklist from your instructor's outline and what has actually been taught. Beside each topic, be honest with yourself. Can I explain this? Can I solve a question on it without looking? Most people overestimate. The gaps you find are your revision plan, and anything that hasn't been taught yet stays off the list even if an old paper includes it.

How you practise depends on the course. In PF, write programs and trace code on paper instead of only reading it. In Calculus, work through the exercise sets listed in your outline and write out every step, because marks often depend on showing the method. In Applied Physics, a lot of the paper tends to be numericals, so practise problems with changed values and learn why a formula applies, not just the formula. For a reading-heavy course, close the slides, explain a topic in your own words, then check what you missed. These patterns come from how students describe their own courses, so your instructor's format is what counts.

Once you've reviewed a topic, use past papers as a timed rehearsal. Sit one under real conditions. Same time limit, no notes, no phone or smartwatch, and keep the solutions out of sight until you've made a serious attempt.

After marking your attempt, sort the mistakes into four kinds: you didn't know the concept, you knew it but applied it wrong, you misread the question, or you ran out of time. Each one needs a different fix. Extra reading won't help if you keep misreading questions, and speed drills won't fix a concept you never understood. Do this sorting after every paper, not after the fifth one.

A couple of habits to avoid. One is spending lecture time making beautiful notes instead of listening and understanding, which some students later list as a first-semester mistake. The other is putting all your effort into the courses you enjoy while the ones that need real work get left until the last minute.

If time is short, go for the confirmed syllabus first, then your weakest topics, and pay attention to what your instructor keeps stressing in class, since that tends to show up in exams.

Here's a check you can run the night before. Take a question you haven't seen, solve it, and explain why each step works. If you can only recognise a worked solution when you see it, you're not ready yet.