7.5. Write Sample Essays & Do Sample Problems
For subjects in which you will be expected to write essays, either "psych out" the teacher and make up some plausible essay questions, or get copies of old exams that have real essay questions on them. Thenwrite sample essays. Although the essay questions that you find or make up may not be the actual ones on your exam, you will probably find that much of what you wrote in your sample essays by way of preparation for the exam can be recycled for the actual exam. You will then be in the advantageous position during the exam of not having to create an essay answer from scratch but being able to merely recall the main ideas from a sample that you have already written as part of your studying.
For subjects in which you will have to solve problems or write proofs,
solve lots of sample problems from your text or from other texts
(
Schaum's Outline Series
(McGraw-Hill)
books are usually quite good in this regard).
How will you know if your answers are correct? The best way is to form a
study group of 2 or more fellow students: Solve the same problems and
compare answers. If your answers agree, they're probably correct; if not,
go to your Teaching Assistant (TA) or teacher. As with slow reading,
it's always better when asking for help from a teacher to have a specific
problem or question to ask.7.6. Make "Flash Cards"
For any subject, you can make a set of "flash cards". But I suggest
using regular 8 1/2" x 11" paper, not index cards. Divide each page in
half, vertically. On the left, write a "question" that requires an
"answer", e.g., the name of a theorem, a term to be defined, the
statement of a theorem, etc. On the right, write the answer, e.g., the
statement of the theorem named on the left, the definition of the term on
the left, the proof of the theorem stated on the left, etc. (This could
even be your study outline.)
Then memorize the questions and answersbut do not simply recite them by heart. Instead, write down the answers: Cover the right-hand side (the answers) with a blank sheet of paper, andwrite down the answers. When you finish a page, check your work and repeat writing the answers to the questions you missed until you get them all correct.
Recent psychological evidence suggests that people learn better by making mistakes than by getting everything correct. So don't worry about getting some answers wrong! (See Roediger III, Henry L.; & Finn, Bridgid (2010), "The Pluses of Getting It Wrong",Scientific American Mind 21(1) (March/April): 39–41.
Why write, and not merely recite? Because you will have to write the answers on the actual test; get used to writing them now. (Of course, if it's going to be an oral exam, reciting may be better than writing. Still, one tends to skip details when reciting, especially if you recite silently to yourself, but if you write the answers and have a good memory, then, during an oral exam, you can "read" the answers with your mind's eye.)
Moreover, there is evidence that the kind of "self-testing" that you can
do with this technique is one of the best ways to study: "taking
practice tests (versus merely rereading the material to be learned) can
substantially boost student learning", according to
John Dunlosky,"Strengthening the Student Toolbox: Study Strategies to
Boost Learning", American Educator 37(3) (Fall 2013):
12–21.
7.7. Stop Studying When You Feel Confident
How do you know when you've studied enough? It'snot when you're tired of
studying! And it's not when you've gone through the material
one time! You should stop only
when you get to the point that you feel confident
and ready for whatever will be on the examwhen you're actually eager to
see the exam to find out if you guessed its contents correctly.
First, read the entire exam all the way through. For an essay question, do a "mind dump": Write down, on scrap paper, brief reminders (keywords) of everything that you remember about the topic of the question. Then develop an outline of your answer. Then write the essay. (With luck, much of the essay can be "copied from memory" from the sample essays you wrote when studying.)
For an exam with problems to solve or proofs to write, do the easy ones first.
When you are all done, review your answers carefully.
And, when all of your exams are over, take heed...:-)