By approaching your exam preparation with a plan, you can study more efficiently and effectively. The following list of suggestions will begin the process of effective exam preparation:
Assess your test-taking skills and behaviors
3-step strategy to manage the flagging of test questions:
1) If you do not know the answer, select an answer choice and move on to the next question
2) If you are not able to recall important information at the moment, but think your memory could be jogged with future questions, select A and flag (indicates a #2 type situation). If allowed, write down the question number and topic.
3) If the question requires extra time to confirm the answer choice, select the best choice at the time and flag (indicates a #3 type situation). If allowed, write down the question number and topic.
The infamous two possible answer choices:
1) If one choice takes longer to justify, then it is probably not the best choice
2) Fact-check within the question; something within the question generally confirms or negates one of your two possible answer choices.
Manage anxiety
1) Establish a calming routine when anxiety is first detected during an exam. Possible routines include closing your eyes, taking several deep breaths, and opening your eyes to look beyond the screen or exam paper.
2) Use a seated progressive muscle relaxation technique
Manage time
1) To spend less time and mental energy looking at the clock during timed exams, divide the exam time and the number of questions by 4. Only check the clock when ¼. ½, ¾ through the exam.
Preparation for exam study
(This is not part of the routine development of lecture study materials, preparation for the exam utilizes the work and study products already completed.)
1) Identify what might be on the exam. Theoretically, the questions on the exam should be balanced to parallel the proportion of lecture hours per topic.
2) If provided in the lecture material, use example questions to guide your thinking on how to think about this information. Consider how these questions can be an example of how other similar topics that will be tested.
3) Analyze your planned study steps - delete passive learning steps
4) Replace going over notes (passive) with creating summaries using your own words. Note: this will take longer initially, but reviewing summaries is more time efficient. When reviewing these summaries, add supplemental information as needed in a different color.
5) Survey your study material and make a note of any questions you have about the study material. These questions become study goals.
6) Self-assess your ability to:
- Understand by describing, explaining, classifying, outlining, and paraphrasing
- Apply by illustrating, interpreting, and relating the core information.
7) Organize material in a manner that requires synthesis, integration, and the ability to
identify connections.
8) Use quiz and practice questions for self-assessment. For your wrong answer choices, take time to analyze each question.
- Was it a test-taking error and not a knowledge gap? Work on test-taking strategies to not repeat this error during the exam.
- If you do not understand why the correct answer is correct, review your summaries, charts, diagrams, etc, to close the knowledge gap. Create connections and associations to assist during the exam.
- If material is not in your summaries, cautiously consult a reliable source. Be sure not to spend too much time outside your summaries, diagrams, charts, etc.
- Understand why each answer is correct and incorrect. How could the incorrect answers be made correct?
9) Review, or better yet, discuss the material with a peer.
Final step of the exam preparation process:
Pre-establish a reasonable time to stop studying, allowing for adequate time to implement self-care the day before the exam.
