Essay Exams

Essay exams - I don't think I'd be alone in saying that they're my least favorite. You definitely have to use a different preparation strategy for essay exams. Figure 12.1 from our textbook displays a great strategy:

From our textbook: "Orientation to College Learning"

Predict, Plan, and Practice!

1. Predict Questions - From the material covered, try to guess what the essay questions may be. If the professor focused on a certain topic more than others, that might be a good hint. In the past, I've had teachers give the essay questions out before the actual exam, or give a list of possible questions to go by. But that's not always the case.
2. Plan - Once you know or narrow down what your essay questions may be, it's a good idea to review and gather correct information for your answer. Re-reading a section in your textbook or creating a study sheet or outline from your notes would be helpful. The more organized your information is the easier it will be to remember.
3. Practice - After predicting the questions and planning your answer, it's helpful to practice your answer several times. You might write it out once, read and study over it a few times, and then create a mock self-test to measure how much of your answer you're recalling from memory. If you're not doing well, then start the process over again and study more. It may be useful to use Mnemonics (memory cues). For example, to remember the states of matter, I might think PLSG: "Please Let Sally Go," for Plasma, Liquid, Solid, and Gas.

Preparing For Exams

This week I've also learned some useful tips for preparing for exams.

From: http://www.unilodge.com.au/Melbourne/Swanston/newsletter/november-2009/

Our textbook, "Orientation to College Learning," lists the different levels of questions that we might find on an exam. For future reference, they are:

1. Knowledge-level questions: Questions that can be answered by remembering key terms, dates, lists, etc. This is by far the easiest level of questions.
2. Comprehension-level questions: Questions that challenge you to recognize the answer when it's phrased differently.
3. Application-level questions: Questions that ask you to apply the information in a new way. In science class, you might have to answer an example applying what you know.
4. Analysis-level questions: Questions that challenge you to break down a complex concept. A lot of essay questions are at the analysis level.
5. Synthesis-level questions: Questions that require information be brought together as a whole. Essay questions may also involve synthesis.
6. Evaluation-level questions: Questions that usually require both analysis and synthesis. Evaluation challenges you to make a judgement about a certain idea. They are the most difficult to answer.

From: http://www.study-habits.com/how-to-prepare-for-an-exam

To help me prepare for all types of questions, I can:

Preparation Strategies

1. Answer Questions – if there are review problems at the end of the chapter, textbook, or on the textbook’s website, working them out or answering them can help me prepare for possible real questions on the exam.
2. Develop Study Sheets – using my notes, the key terms, and review problems, I can create clear, well-organized study sheets that will help me learn the information and review it quickly.
3. Make Self-Tests – creating a self-test over the information that I am studying would be a good way to prepare for the real exam. It would also help me to measure how much I’ve learned so far.

Review Strategies

1. Do “Missed” Problems – focusing on the problems that I’ve missed on my self-tests or practice quizzes on the textbook’s website will help me make sure that I remember them in the future.
2. Explain the Material to Someone else –Discussing the subject with someone else would be a good way to measure how well I know the topic myself. The other person may also have information to add to the discussion, which would help me remember it later.
3. Recreating Charts From Memory- This would also be a good way to self-test myself. Being able to mentally visualize a chart on an exam would be helpful for both multiple choice and essay questions.

Test Taking Anxiety

Test taking anxiety can be tricky to overcome. I think that everyone has probably experienced one form of test anxiety or another, be it over a final exam or a major exam like the SAT or GRE, LSAT, MCAT, etc.

I generally notice that I am usually most anxious about the first exam of any class and the final exam. Normally, it seems that the first exam sets the stage of what to expect on future exams for the class. With the first exam it's easy to be nervous because I'm never sure if I've under studied or not. As for final exams, sometimes if they count of a large portion of my grade, I'll feel anxious because it could determine if my grade goes down a letter.

From: http://www.localschooldirectory.com/k-12-articles/87

While in high school and technical college, I used these strategies to cope:

1. Don't arrive too early - I noticed that it was hard for me to focus on reviewing my notes as the other students filed in before the exams. So, I found it better to study in the library or in my car and arrive right on time.
2. Take my vitamins - It's easy to get sick when your stressed and taking an exam while your sick can feel like a nightmare. Taking a multi-vitamin and vitamin C can help boost your immune system.
3. Don't overeat - I was surprised to read in this week's wikiHow article on "How to Ace a Test" that guys do better on tests with a slightly empty stomach and ladies do better on a full stomach...I must not be a typical test taker, because I've noticed if I eat a heavy meal before a test and I'm nervous, I'll end up feeling sick. So for me, I usually eat something light on test day, like apple slices or toast.
4. Aromatherapy - Lavender is a scent that is claims to be calming. It could just be a placebo effect, but wearing a lavender scented lotion or body spray has made me feel better in the past.

Here are some tips that I read this week that might help me in the future:

1. Repeat a positive mental script - I'd do well to give myself a mental pep-talk and think "STOP IT" when I have negative thoughts.
2. Answer the questions I know first - This would probably help calm me and motivate me that I'm doing well and I can handle the other, more tricky questions.
3. Use visualization - Visualizing myself doing well on the test would also be helpful. Since I'm an online student now, it's easier to know that test taking area is going to be a quiet space.
4. Go with my first answer on the exam - I really need to follow this advice. I'm bad about going back and changing my answers at the last minute. Then, afterwards, when the test is graded, I'll notice that my first choice was right. I don't need to over-think the answers, just go with the one that I recognize first.