Exam Preparation

Being well prepared for exams is a combination of motivation, discipline, effective time management and good organizational skills. Exams can be intimidating and you need to put yourself in a positive frame of mind when planning for them. The best confidence builder is good preparation and the following are some ideas that might be helpful in reducing anxiety and helping you to retain information.

Attitudes and Test Anxiety

  • Affect performance
  • Being relaxed is a great advantage
  • Good preparation leads to relaxation
  • Need for rest and good nutrition
  • Positive Self-talk and Images
  • Negative self-talk = self-fulfilling prophecy
  • Imagine yourself in test room; see yourself reviewing questions and feeling confident
  • Use deep breathing to relax and clear your head
  • Organizing Your Notes for Exams

Studying is a constant process, not just the night before.
A study schedule and good notes should begin at the start of a course—prevents falling behind.
Your final study should be integration and review, not an initial reading of text.
You need to make a special exam time schedule to accommodate extra study and review.
If you’re behind, reduce your hours of personal time to catch up and study without affecting your other academic commitments.

Study Groups
Study groups can be effective if the participants are not sidetracked by irrelevant discussions or inadequate preparation.

  • Students are motivated; they don't want to appear uninformed.
  • The oral presentation of information often helps to point out and correct misunderstandings.
  • The need to explain--recite--reinforces learning.
  • Discussion can corrects misconceptions and fills in knowledge gaps.
  • Hearing what others have to say offers a new slant on material.

Provide good study conditions and limit distractions.
Prepare early: 5 nights prior to major exams; 3 nights prior to quiz. The first part of this will be organizing your notes, so give yourself plenty of time.
Use SQ3R notes (summaries); take outlines, lecture notes, textbook notes and prepare summaries of main topics under 10-12 major subheadings. 

Take all facts, details, laws, principles, etc. and organize them under headings.

  • Go over previous tests and quizzes if appropriate.
  • Make flash cards – question on one side, answer on other side, both brief.
  • Review cards frequently.
  • Shuffle cards to avoid learning order of answers.
  • Start with small groups of cards and add to them.
  • Review them when you have even just a little time.
  • The act of deciding what to write on the cards is good for review and selectivity.

The days before the exam must be used to organize and consolidate facts, not used on tasks that should have been done earlier.

Review your notes on lectures and text throughout the semester – helps keep you remembering at or near the 80% level.

Consolidate lecture and textbook notes into summary sheets – this causes you to review your notes.
Categorize information under specific headings - this gives you a condensed set of notes to refresh your memory before the exam.

Use one heading for text readings and one for lecture notes.

Use key words and recite major points to aid your memory.

Look for ways to compare information (ex. Changes from 19th to 20th century; advantages and disadvantages).

Do concentrated time management.

  • Don't skip classes because you may miss information about exams.
    Complete term papers before exam week—this will reduce pressure and distractions.
  • Leave time immediately before each exam to review the summary sheets for that exam--less forgetting will take place.

Predict questions

  • Ask yourself "what type of question would I ask about this?"
  • Write out questions on a separate sheet.
  • Write answers as if this was an exam.  There is a good chance you will encounter similar questions.

Cultivate a positive mental attitude.

The night before the exam spread out your summary sheets to get a panoramic overview of the course, then get a good sleep.

Taking the Test

  • Arrive early; be comfortable.
  • Calm down-stay away from panic groups.
  • Have necessary equipment: 2 pens, pencils; borrow a watch; batteries for calculators.
  • Jot down memory aids, formulas and facts on back of exam or in margins, which will clear your mind from concern about them.
  • Pay attention to verbal directions.
  • Read the directions carefully. If a question is unclear, ask the professor for clarification.
  • Avoid cheating or the appearance of cheating.
  • Use the time you have; this is not a race. Budget your time: Survey the test, understand the scoring and how points are allotted.
  • Don't sit with a friend; friends are a distraction--conversation can break your mental set; looking up, making eye contact, can break your concentration.
  • Read questions carefully. Do the easy ones first for a psychological lift.
  • If you come to a tough question, don’t get upset or ponder it too long—this wastes time. Quickly outline some logical or reasonable response (you may get some credit); then go on to the next question. Return to skipped questions or ones with partial answers later.

Multiple Choice Exams

  • If  there's no penalty for guessing wrong, then guess if you don’t know the answer.
  • If there is a penalty, use this system: For 5 choices - try to eliminate 2 as incorrect, then guess. For 4 choices - try to eliminate one as incorrect, then guess. If you can't eliminate any as incorrect, skip the question, and come back to it later.
  • Read the question, visualize possible answers, then look to see if similar answers are there on the paper.

Essay and Open Book Exams

  • Analyze the question---verbs are most significant (compare, contrast, evaluate etc.) in telling you what to do.
  • Answer the questions you know best, first---this will build confidence.
  • Do the most important questions first if you know their point value.
  • Write a brief outline of response---jot down main points; this helps your organization.
  • Assume your reader knows nothing about the subject---you'll be graded on what you say, not what your professor thinks you are saying.
  • Proofread carefully---did you stick to the main idea?
  • Use standard English---check spelling, punctuation, subject-verb agreement; make sure there are no incomplete sentences.
  • If you can't do a question in time, make an outline.
  • Take-home and open-book tests require good time management:
    - These are broader in scope.
    - The answers require a lot of reading and good organization.
    - Research the question and put markers in your notes and books so you can find information more easily---especially for open book tests.

How to Study Math

  • Read over text material and go over class notes. List all important definitions, formulas and theorems. Then memorize them.
  • Look over examples in the text and notes. Work at least one of each type of problem without referring to the book or your notes. Check for accuracy.
  • Review problems assigned by the instructor. The more problems assigned and class time spent on any topic, the more likely it is that questions on that material will be on the exam.
  • Go over all previous tests for the final exam. Rework problems you missed or didn't understand.

After the Test

  • Talk over the exam with several friends, the bigger the group, the better to understand the reasoning process.
  • Analyze why your correct answers were correct—this is helpful for future preparation.
  • Check to see what kinds of questions you did not do well on: definitions, interpretations, discussions, facts or ideas. Where did they come from? Texts, lectures, outside readings or discussions? Use this information to study better for the next test.
  • If you did well, great. If not, read the professor's comments or go see him/her--are the comments clear, justified? Be honest with yourself---this is no time for anger.
  • Expect nothing in terms of a grade change when you contest a grade.
  • Correct wrong answers for yourself---try to learn from mistakes.
  • Put the test behind you; it's over. Talk to someone for constructive help.