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How to Take an Exam

DL Study Tips

This series of tips is designed to help you prepare for and take written examinations. If you find that you understand the material and you do well on homework assignments, but your test scores are not up to your expectations, then these tips on taking exams should be helpful.

 

 

Is Homework Enough?

Doing homework will certainly help you develop your skills and improve your understanding, but it is no gaurantee that you will do well on an examination. There are several reasons why this is true.

  • Unlike homework, exams must be completed in a limited amount of time.
  • The fact that your performance is being graded tends to make most people anxious and more prone to error.
  • Homework covers a limited amount of material whereas exams cover a much broader range of topics. This increases your chances of confusing concepts and forgetting formulas, rules, and procedures.
  • Your notes are normally available while doing homework but not during exams.

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When Should I Study?

One critical factor in preparing for an exam is the proper distribution of time. The concept of the "all night cram session" seldom produces the desired results. As with any other skill, good test taking skills must be developed through consistent effort over a period of time. It's normally best to begin to study for an exam as early as possible. When practical, beginning one to two weeks before the exam will allow you time to perfect your skills and work out any problems which may prevent you from doing well on the exam.

Distribute your study sessions over an extended period of time. Don't spend eight hours studying in one day. Instead spend two hours a day for four days. Following this method will allow you to be more alert and keep your mind clear. Taking a ten minute break each hour will help prevent fatigue and keep your mind sharp and focused. Finally, schedule your time to allow a rest period before the exam. The most valuable tool you can bring to the exam is a sharp, well rested mind.

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Study Activities

If you truly desire to master a subject you must concern yourself not just with the memorization of times, places, or equations, but with the understanding of underlying concepts.

All too often students memorize procedures for solving a particular kind of problem without ever considering, or even understanding the reason for the procedure.  While this type of learning will work for a while, it will eventually lead to serious problems.

Concentrating on understanding what a method is and why it works is vital to true learning.  No textbook or teacher can present every possible way a problem or concept may present itself in any given situation.  The examples and problems that you deal with in your studies are only representative of those which you will encounter in the real world.

If you are to achieve your goal of developing both skill and understanding, your study habits must include four things:

It is usually best to do a little of the first three activities during each study session and save some time for reflection at the end of each session.

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Study Activities: Habits

Doing Exercises

After reviewing the appropriate material, you are ready to begin to do exercises assigned by your instructor. Here are some tips to help you get the most out of these exercises.

  • Accuracy should be your primary goal.
  • When working problems involving new concepts, you should take your time and concentrate on the concept or process being demonstrated.
  • Don't be concerned with speed! It takes time and practice to become proficient.
  • Remember that learning the reason for doing a particular process is often more important than learning the process itself
Reviewing Material

In many areas of study each new concept or skill is dependent on those previously learned. If a certain skill has not been learned well enough, it will most likely affect your ability to learn the next concept or skill. Remember:

  • Simply passing an exam or making it through a topic is no cause for celebration! Success comes when the knowledge and skills presented have been mastered.
  • Constant review and practice of previous topics will pay big dividends in understanding new topics.
  • A skill is truly mastered only when it becomes consistent and automatic.
Are There Any Special Secrets To Studying?

Sorry! There's no magic and there are no secrets that will suddenly give you good study skills. Like all skills, study skills are perfected over time through consistent effort. There are, however, some common tips that will help you to develop good study habits.

  • Turn breaks and snacks into a reward system for studying well.
  • Join a study group: divide up work, share ideas and test each other.
  • Use flash cards: use 3" by 5" cards to put questions or equations on. Put a question on one side and the answer or data on the other. Go through the stack discarding the cards you know, until you know the material on every card. Carry the cards with you as a portable "notebook" and review them in spare moments.
  • Use lists, charts, and diagrams: after reading your notes or textbook, see if you can rewrite the information in a new way; now reproduce these ideas without looking at your notes.
  • Listening to music seems to help some students; however, studies show that slow, soothing instrumental music works best. Save more intense types of music for a reward.
Reflecting

After working a problem or completing a new section, it is always a good idea to take a few moments and consider what you have just done. Think carefully about how the problems or examples relate to what you have previously learned. How are they the same or different from those already studied? What new ideas or procedures were introduced? Are you comfortable with your level of understanding? Do you need to go back and review before moving to the next topic?

An honest self evaluation of your skills and understanding may be the single most important step you can take to ensure your continued success.

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Reviewing Notes and Course Material

Another strongly suggested activity in preparing for an exam is reviewing your notes and other course material. When taking notes you indicated that a concept or procedure was important-that's why you wrote it down. Your notes therefore, make an excellent study guide and may help to bring to light important ideas or concepts which might otherwise be overlooked.

Reviewing explanations of problems in the text and in your notes helps to put things in their proper perspective and tie the material together. Concepts will make more sense when you review and reflect on how they are interrelated. Reviewing your homework problems, quizzes, and exams will also help you organize your thoughts and maintain skills you have already learned. Pay special attention to problems that were done incorrectly on homework or quizzes. These offer an excellent opportunity to improve your skills and increase speed and accuracy.

As you review the material, ask yourself the questions in the following Study Skills section, Comparing And Contrasting Examples. Try to identify the distinctions that exist in areas that cause you to be confused.

Comparing and Contrasting

Many times what you are learning is similar to a topic or concept that you are already familiar with. Other times you may be learning something totally new and will find it difficult to relate to any previous experience. It is important that you learn to make decisions based on comparing and contrasting concepts. You must learn to identify concepts that look almost identical but are not. When comparing concepts, learn to ask:

  • Is this the same as other concepts or topics you have studied?
  • Is this similar to other topics or concepts you are familiar with?
  • Is it different?
  • How is it different?

By asking yourself these questions you can avoid making careless errors and eleminate needless confusion.

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Just Before The Exam

During an exam you'll need to think clearly and be alert. In order for you to be at your best, you should get plenty of rest the night before. A good breakfast is also essential to an alert mind.

It is not a good idea to study until the last minute. You may find something that you have overlooked and become anxious because there is no time to to study it. This anxiety can result in poor performance on the entire exam. It is better to spend some time before the exam doing something that will relax and calm you.

Immediately before the exam you may want to quickly review key points and concepts.

Be sure to come to the exam prepared. Bring two pencils, scratch paper, and have fresh batteries for your calculator. Allow sufficient time to get to the exam to avoid starting off feeling rushed and anxious.

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Beginning The Exam

When taking any exam, it is vital that you pay close attention to any oral instructions given by the instructor or test proctor. You can improve your chances of doing well on the exam by following a proven series of steps.

As soon as you are given permission to begin, you should:

  • Write down equations, dates, rules etc. that you feel you might need.
  • Write down any warnings of common errors you know you may be likely to make.

By writing these down first you will be relieved of the burden of worrying about whether or not you will remember them when you need them, thus allowing you to concentrate on the actual problems. You should refer back to these often as you progress through the exam. Next you should:

  • Read all instructions carefully and follow them precisely.
  • Quickly preview the entire test, noting the relatively easy and difficult parts.
  • Unless directed to do otherwise, answer the easier questions first.
  • Read each question twice to be sure you completely understand it before answering.
  • Write legibly
  • Leave enough time to review your answers.

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What To Do First

Exams are not always arranged either in ascending order of difficulty or in chronological order. Since time is usually a factor, it is not wise to spend too much time on problems that you find difficult to understand or cannot recall the procedure to solve. Therefore, as suggested in the Beginning The Exam section, you should first look over the entire exam and then:

  • Start with problems or questions you can complete quickly.
  • Go back and do problems that you know how to do but will take longer.
  • Work on problems that you find difficult but have a general knowledge of how to solve.
  • Divide your remaining time between solving problems you find the most difficult and checking your answers.

Don't forget to check your list of warnings and tips you wrote down at the beginning of the test. Another benefit you will find helpful is that often by doing problems you know first you will remember or discover how to do the more difficult problems.

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Dealing With Panic

If you have followed the advice and tips on studying and preparing for exams thus far, and if you have put your time to good use, you should feel fairly confident about taking an exam. However you may still find that during the course of the exam, you get stuck or "draw a blank". Such a situation can easily lead to panic and irrational thoughts like ..."I can't do this" ... "I don't know any of this stuff" ... "I'm going to fail this exam." Your pulse rate increases and you begin to breathe faster. Your thinking has become irrational, and you are entering a panic cycle!

STOP!

Getting stuck on a few problems does not mean that you cannot do well on the rest of the exam. This type of thinking can only serve to interfere with your performance on the entire exam-even the portions you would have otherwise had no problem with!

How do you stop the panic cycle? First, put the exam aside and say to yourself ... "this is only one problem" ... "I've done this before" ... "I can do this."

Now take a couple of deep breaths, start looking for some problem that you know how to solve, or a question that you can easily answer. Build up your confidence and concentration steadily with more problems that you know you can do. If time permits, you can always go back and try to work those problems that you were stuck on. Don't forget to allow enough time to go back and check your work.

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