Nut's Academic Tip of the Week

[NutBrnHair]

How does one go about preparing for an essay exam? Probably the best way is to start the first day of class. Cramming is stressful, stupid, and unnecessary. Preparing for a test by cramming puts the information into short-term memory, like the phone number that you look up and remember only long enough to dial it. The material can be learned better by studying it over a long period of time. Repetition and reinforcement help you to store information in long-term memory.

Preparing for a test can be broken into a number of easy steps that are sometimes called "studying."

Lecture notes
Notes on the readings
Relate the lecture notes to the readings
Prepare a sample exam.
Look up the answers to your exam questions and memorize the details necessary to support those answers.

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1. Lecture notes
Ideally, one should take notes in class and transcribe them into a readable form very soon after class. Notes that are not transcribed are often impossible to figure out several months later when you need to study for a comprehensive final. Transcribing class notes into a neat and understandable form is also an opportunity to be certain that one understands the lecture. Write down any questions that you have as you transcribe your notes so that you can ask the professor during the next class period or get clarification from others during a study group session.

2. Notes on the readings
Read all assigned material before the class it is assigned for, and take good notes on your readings. You will rarely have time to reread this material before the exam (and it would be foolish to wait to read it until the night before the test). Your notes should be your own version of commercially available "Cliff Notes" or "Monarch Notes" (which don't exist for most textbooks). Making notes on the readings also gives you the opportunity to see what you don't understand so that you can write down any questions you have. If your questions are not answered by the lecture on this material, you should ask them in class.

3. Relate the lecture notes to the readings
It may seem strange to take notes on your notes, but this is a good tool for helping you to see the relationship between the lecture notes and the readings. Sometimes the relationship is not entirely clear. If this is the case, try to put yourself in your professor's shoes. There is a connection; you just have to find it. Think about it and write down your thoughts. This will help you to prepare for the exam. Often, college professors do not refer to readings in their lectures. Often they do not go over the readings in great detail as your high school teachers did. This is because they are expecting you to use your critical thinking skills to find the connection between the readings and the lectures.

4. Prepare a sample exam.
About three or four days before the exam, make a list of the topics that your professor spent a lot of time lecturing on and about which topics s/he was very animated and lively. These topics will most certainly appear on your exam in some form. Think yourself into the mind of your professor and try to make up questions that s/he might ask. Come up with a minimum of five essay questions.

5. Look up the answers to your exam questions and memorize the details necessary to support those answers.
Students usually object that learning the answers to their exam questions won't help them on a test. However, in my experience, the details that you memorized to support the answer to your sample question can usually be used to answer the question that does appear on the test if you prepared well.

The biggest mistake students make in answering exam questions when they know the answers is in failing to supply the details. Details make the difference between a correct answer that is a "C" and a correct answer that is an "A." The "C" answer may be accurate but will lack specific examples, quotations, or dates that the "A" answer supplies. Too many students see only that they did not make any mistakes and try to argue that a "C" answer should be a higher grade. If you get a "C" on an exam question, look in your lecture notes and readings for the details that you might have supplied. This will help you to do better the next time.

6. Get enough sleep the night before the test.

source: Copyright © 1998 Pennsylvania State University
Contact: Kathleen Nulton Kemmerer kxk30@psu.edu

[NutBrnHair]

*Establish a routine time to study for each class
For every hour you spend in class, you will probably need to spend two hours outside of class. Study for each subject at the same time every day/week and in the same place if possible.

*Studying includes more than just doing your homework
You'll need to go over your notes from class- labeling, editing, and making sure you understand them. Look at your syllabus to see where you are going and where you've been. Be sure to do reading assignments and read ahead whenever possible. Prepare for class as if there will be a pop quiz that day.

*Establish a place to study
You should have a comfortable place to sit with good lighting, all the supplies you need, and of course, it should be free of distractions. It should not be a place where you routinely do other things.

*Do as much studying in the daytime as you can
What takes you an hour to do during the day may take you an hour and a half at night.

*Schedule breaks
Take a ten-minute break after each hour of study. If possible, avoid long blocks of time for studying. Spread out several short study sessions during the day.

*Make use of study resources on campus
Use the tutors, find out about labs, videos, computer programs, and alternative texts. Get to know your professors and other students in the class so you can feel comfortable asking questions.

*Study the hardest subjects first
Work on your hardest subjects when you are fresh because putting them off until you're tired compounds the problem.

*Be good to yourself
Studying on four hours of sleep and on an empty stomach or a junk-food diet is a waste of time. Avoid food and drinks containing caffeine just before or after studying.


Adapted from Practicing College Study Skills by Carolyn H. Hooper

[neosoul]

I really needed this thread... thanks!

[NutBrnHair]

While many students have good intentions about studying, obstacles often arise.

The following tips are suggested strategies to start studying!

I feel overwhelmed by so much material to study.

Begin by listing what chapters / terms to review. Next, prioritize! Break your review into manageable chunks. Begin studying early so you don’t rush. Determine how long you can study before losing your concentration. Schedule study sessions and breaks.

The material puts me to sleep.

Be an active learner by setting a purpose before reading or studying. Interact with the text by asking questions of the author and writing your reactions in the margins. Underline key concepts. Form a study group to encourage discussing material.

I understand when I read the book but I don’t remember it the next day.

One learns best when information has purpose or relevance to one’s life. Try connecting new material to what you already know. By linking new information with your existing knowledge, additional facts are easily integrated into your long-term knowledge. Chunking is an effective strategy for grouping information into meaningful units.

To remember the colors in the rainbow (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet) requires memorizing seven bits of information. However, by taking the first letter of each color, one can spell Roy G. Biv, and reduce the information into three meaningful chunks.

I understood the information while I was reading it.

Students, who immediately forget what was just read, experience short-term information processing difficulties. Try paraphrasing information in your own words after reading a section. If this is difficult, re-read the section or try paraphrasing shorter amounts of text.

I always study lying down.

It is important to study in an environment that is similar to test conditions. Create a study environment that facilitates mental, emotional and physical conditions similar to test context.

I learn best by cramming during an ‘all nighter’

Learning actually occurs through repeated exposures. The more one reads or studies material, the more throughly it is incorporated into one’s knowledge. Thus, this information is easier to recall. An all nighter only leads to mental exhaustion.

I was so sure I understood the material.

Thinking you mastered the facts and knowing the facts are two different things. To prove to yourself you KNOW the material, test yourself. Transform section headings into questions. For example, the subheading The Five Good Emperors might be changed into the following questions: Who were the five good emperors? For what is each man remembered? In which Roman era did these men rule? Next, try answering these questions in writing. There will be no question whether you know the answer.


Good luck studying!




source: www.sju.edu

[NutBrnHair]

Forming an acronym is a good strategy to use to remember information in any order that can be remembered. An acronym is a word that is formed from the first letter of each fact to be remembered. It can be a real word or a nonsense word you are able to pronounce.

Here is how to form an acronym.

*Write the facts you need to remember.

*Underline the first letter of each fact. If there is more than one word in a fact, underline the first letter of only the first word in the fact.

*Arrange the underlined letters to form an acronym that is a real word or a nonsense word you can pronounce.

“HOMES” is an example of an acronym that is a real word you can use to remember the names of the five Great Lakes: Michigan, Erie, Superior, Ontario, Huron: In HOMES, H is the first letter of Huron and helps you remember that name; O is the first letter of Ontario, and so on.

“Telk” is an acronym that can be used to remember the following animals: tiger, lion, elephant, kangaroo. “Telk” is not a real word, but you can easily pronounce it. You could also have used “kelt” as an acronym. Notice that in this example, you cannot form a real word using the first letter of each fact to be remembered.

Sometimes two or more of the facts you must remember each begin with the same first letter. For example, the acronym “capp” can be used to remember the following fruits: pear, apple, peach, cherry. You can use the first letter “p” in the acronym to remember either “pear” or “peach” and the second letter “p” to remember the other.

Use the acronym strategy as a way to remember information.





www.how-to-study.com

[NutBrnHair]

Get enough sleep the night before your exam (8 hours). You need at least 6 hours of deep sleep for transfer from short-term to long-term memory. Staying up late the night before a test will slow down your responses of your neural transmitters the next day and for the next THREE days, even if you get a good night's sleep the night after your test.

Raise your endorphins to prevent anxiety which stimulates adrenaline production causing the release of cortisols, which prevent recall during tests. Do one of the following to raise your endorphins before your exam:
*Read a joke before an exam.
*Have a Hershey's kiss.
*Take a short walk down the hall.

If you start to feel anxious before or during the test, pause for a minute, take three deep breaths to get oxygen to your brain (it needs oxygen in order to have fast firing of your neurons ) and to break the cycle of panic which can send out the adrenaline and cortisols that block memory and recall.

"Get physical" A study has shown that students who did calisthenics while studying French learned it better than students who used traditional methods to study French. Repeat vocabulary and formulas out loud to yourself.Draw "pictures" of scientific, economic, political, historical processes. Write notes of difficult points over.

Practice. You need repeated "hits" on subject matter to recall it, but not all of them have to be "in-depth" hard hits. In other words, it's not only more effective to do a 30-minute review daily of material for two weeks than to study for 7 hours on the night before a test, it is also easier and less stressful. And this will allow you to go to bed at a decent time the night before an exam.Take your lecture notes, fold the paper over, and ask yourself the question out loud , recite back the answer out loud without looking, and check your answer. If you're right, go on to the next question. If not, repeat the question, recite the answer, and check it until you're right. Use the same technique with your reading notes: read the question aloud, recite the answer aloud without looking, and check your answer.

Form a study group with 3 or 4 students and meet regularly to quiz each other using your lecture and reading notes and other study aids such as visuals and vocabulary flash cards.

Take a one-a-day vitamin, which includes B, B6, C, and folic acid, all very important in memory development and retention.

Eat a breakfast that includes protein (eggs, toast, oatmeal, or meat) and some carbohydrates, especially blueberries, which have been shown to improve verbal memory by 35%. Your brain needs amino acids that come from protein to properly function, and you need some sugars in order for the neurotransmitters to fire rapidly.

Avoid excessive amounts of coffee as the caffeine has been shown to kill brain cells, and once killed, they are gone forever, and caffeine can raise your anxiety levels, something you do not want to do before an exam, if you want to easily recall information







http://www.hcc.hawaii.edu/~leilani/preparingexam.html

[SoEnchanting]

I just wanted to say that this is a great thread!

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by NutBrnHair

Avoid excessive amounts of coffee as the caffeine has been shown to kill brain cells, and once killed, they are gone forever, and caffeine can raise your anxiety levels, something you do not want to do before an exam, if you want to easily recall information

But how will I study til 3 in the morning????