It's that time of year when we begin thinking about preparing final exams for students, knowing full well that in many cases they will not study as much as we would like them to. One way to help remind students of key items/questions/ themes etc. that you know will appear on the final is to begin now with short reviews or even test items that you can use for a warm up or closure in class. One technique is to take an old exam with similar questions, cut up the exam so that questions and answers are separated from each other and distribute the strips of questions and answers among the students. Give them a few minutes to work with their classmates to find the matching questions and answers. Then review quickly to be sure they have chosen correctly
Another review technique is to create a "scavenger hunt," using the text or notes they have taken. Give students a list of names, questions, vocabulary words, etc. they have to find to complete the scavenger hunt. Team students as partners or in small groups and give a reward for the first one who completes the hunt. By calling it a "scavenger hunt" it takes on the feel of a game, and a little competition will appeal to many students.
A third technique is to assign chunks of material to small groups ( a chapter, story, or section per group) and ask the group to come up with questions and answers from that chunk. You can assist the students to ask good questions by providing a variety of question stems based on Bloom's taxonomy so that questions will come from a range of thinking levels.