• Be Able To Do The Homework Problems
  You should expect a vast majority of the exam problems to be nearly identical difficulty as the assigned homework problems, lecture examples, textbook examples, review sheets and sample exams.
     
• Be Able To Do The Stuff Covered In Previous Exams Better Than In The Past
  Every professor expects students to improve (do problems faster, more accurately, with greater organization, with more proper use of notation, maybe even in fewer steps) on problems pertaining to material tested previously.
  
  
• Don't Refuse To Study Old Methods That Were Replaced By Other Methods
  Professors love to ask you to "Solve <this equation> using <this method>." Just because you've learned to solve systems of linear equations by Gauss-Jordan elimination and matrix inversion doesn't mean that strong-arm methods like substitution are no longer of value. Following directions and using methods requested will always yield you more points than getting the same right answer by the method of your choice.
  
  
• If Possible, Obtain A Copy Of Your Professor's Final Exams From Previous Semesters
  As long as the text, syllabus or calculator methods have not changed, most professors' final exams don't evolve very quickly. There's a good chance that this semester's final is going to be very similar in style, difficulty, and emphasis of topics to previous finals.
  
  
• Keep Your Eyes and Ears Open
  Listen for key words in lectures such as, 'important', 'vital', or any indication that the professor thinks that a particular type of problem, solution technique, theorem, concept, or insight is particularly important. This should put up the big “this is going to be on the final” flag. Visit the professor/TA and ask for help on how to do a particular problem.
  
  
• Study By Reciting And Rewriting
  You'll begin to hear voices and see things during the final exam. Often, much of a person's memory is visual and aural. When you stare at the heavens to remember something during your exam, you'll be attempting to recall what you heard and saw when you learned it. Recollections of repetitions of your own voice and writing are going to be more firmly fixed in your mind than the few repetitions by your instructor and text. Don't just read your study material - actually verbalize it (using precise nouns and verbs - not "do this to that") and rewrite it many times so the sounds and shapes are easily recalled.
  
  
• Make Your Own Sample Exam 
  Don't assume that plowing through the review sheet and sample exam will be enough practice. Cut problems out of Xeroxes of your homework, quizzes, textbook, review sheets and previous exams and assemble them into an exam-like thing. If possible, remove hints about which chapter/section of the text/course they pertain to by cutting close to the problems and mixing them up. When working on this exam, make note of the common mistakes you tend to make. Becoming aware of the accidents you are likely to execute is the first step in safeguarding against them.

Here's a method of taking the sample exam that may point out your strengths and weakness to you, as well as get you the most points out of your final.

First, concentrate on classifying each problem, by identifying key symbols and phrases in the text, note the techniques or theorems you would use to solve it. Then make notes in the margins. It also helps to note how difficult you think the problem will be.

Second, go through the exam and look for each of the classifications made in the first step. Solve the really easy problems and then the not-so-easy problems. What you'll be doing is warming up for the harder problems in each classification without constantly changing gears from one problem to the next, thus building momentum. Don't be afraid to make notes regarding where and why you got stuck on a problem. You may be reclassifying the problem, giving yourself the opportunity to get further through it as you do the problems of this new classification.

Third, go through the exam and check your solutions for accuracy (any arithmetic errors?) and attempt to get a little further along on your partial solutions using the total wealth of knowledge that you've conjured up in the second step (this is particularly helpful in completing the harder concept-synthesizing problems).

Although the first step devotes time to examining problems without attempting to solve them, this time could be easily made up in the second step.

From: http://www.eop.mu.edu/study/MathFinal.html