Exams Tips and Guidelines:How To Pass Your Exams/Tests With "A Grade"

A. Familiarize yourself with the test:  Ask the professor how long it will be and what kind of questions will be on it.  Ask your instructor which concepts are most important, which chapters to focus on, and what you will have to do on the test.  Also ask for some sample test questions, and whether there is a copy of a similar test on file in a library.  Look over the tests you have already taken in the course to predict what you will need to prepare for.  Your aim is to determine both the content of the questions and the type of memory/intellectual skills you will be asked to use.  Examples of these skills include:  

• 1. Remembering specific facts, details, terms, and definitions. 
• 2. Comparing, contrasting and otherwise interpreting meaning in the information studied. 3. Applying principles and theories to solve problems that may not have been covered explicitly in the materials. 
• 4. Predicting possible outcomes given a set of variables. 
• 5. Evaluating the usefulness of certain ideas, concepts, or methods for a given event or situation.  

B. Overview all the work to be done and schedule time to do it:  On the basis of your familiarity with the test, make a list of all the tasks you must complete to prepare for it.  Given what topics you expect to be most important on the test, set priorities among your study tasks and plan to do the most important ones first.  In scheduling your test preparation work keep as much as possible to your own routines.  If you do not know how to make a study schedule pick up the Counseling Center’s handouts on time management.
 
C. Avoid the “escape syndrome.”:  If you find yourself fretting or talking about your work rather than studying, relax for a few minutes and rethink what you are doing – reappraise your priorities and if necessary rethink your study plan to address your worries and then START WORKING.  

D. Deal with unread materials – succinctly:Approach your unread material keeping in mind all of your study plan, how much time you have to catch up on your reading, and what it is you need to pull out of the reading.  Preview the material, dividing it up into parts, looking for the organizational scheme of the work.  Decide what parts in the reading you can omit, what parts you can skim, and what parts you want to read.  Set time limits for each part, and keep to the limits.  Use the following techniques to help move through the reading:  

• 1. Skim all the reading material first (except the parts you have decided to omit) so you will have at least looked at everything before the test.  Take notes on what you skim.
•  2. Read, emphasizing key sentences and concentrating on understanding the ideas expressed.  Try editorializing as you read by asking yourself questions regarding WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, and HOW about the information. 
• 3. Recite the material to yourself immediately,  self testing at the end of each part to enhance recall even without later review. 

E. Review actively:  Integrate notes, test, and supplementary information onto summary sheets by diagramming, charting, outlining, categorizing in tables, or simply writing summaries of the information.  Try to create a summary sheet for each study session, or for each main idea, or for each concept.  Use as many of the suggested ways possible, bringing all your senses as well as your sense of humor to bear on these summary sheets to make them really personally meaningful.  The more of yourself you put into these sheets the better you will remember the information.  

F. Practice doing what you will be doing on the test:  If you will be solving problems, then that is what you need to do while studying; if you will be conjugating Spanish verbs, then write these out.  Answer unassigned problems or questions in the text or anticipate test questions by thinking frequently “If I were making up this test I would probably ask . . .,” and then answer your questions.  Remember, the single most effective way to prepare for any test is to practice doing what you will have to do on the test. 

G. It is frequently useful to study with other well-prepared students and to attend any review sessions if available:  Use these studying formats to clarify any questions you have about the materials and the test.  Do not expect review sessions to repeat any lectures nor to present any additional information.   The purpose of these sessions is to give you the opportunity to ask questions about the information to further your understanding.