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Part 3: Planning for the Next Test

By now you’ve received your grade, taken in some data, and you’re ready to really take a look at your strategies for studying so you can improve on your future scores. Studying for tests is a really big topic that would warrant a lot more discussion than I can give you here, but I want to cover at least the basics and some of the best strategies and ideas.

The first thing you can do is ask your instructor what to expect on the exam (ask an open-ended question like this rather than a pointed “will it be multiple guess” so that you get a better answer). Often, if students know what to expect they are much less anxious and perform better on tests and quizzes. Most instructors create their own exams and, because we’re also not stupid, create new exams for each semester – so there’s always a chance that the instructor may not know what’s on the exam yet. If the instructor hands out a study guide, make sure you know everything on it!

If you’ve been reviewing your course materials throughout the week each week, reviewing your notes after class, and keeping up with your textbook readings, studying for an exam won’t be any huge deal. You’ll continue reviewing as usual with some extras. Some of my favorite ideas for studying:

·         Pretend (because we all have an inner child) that you’re the teacher and create your own exam. What questions would you ask? What topics do you think are most important? If you study with classmates, you can exchange and test each other – this is excellent practice! I’ve often had students bring their own practice tests in and then ask me how I would score the essay questions!

·         Review the review questions throughout and at the end of each chapter. Don’t just go over them in your head, either state the answer out loud or write it down. Often students think they know the answer so they skip on through their review. Speaking the answers out loud or writing them down forces you to see what you really know and what you don’t know.

·         If you’re an audio/visual learner, YouTube should be your best friend! There is so much good educational content on YouTube (and elsewhere on the internet).

Remember that no matter what stage of data-gathering or studying you are in, you can always ask your instructor for help! We live for students who are eager to learn and understand!

In my next blog post, we’ll talk about how a poor grade looks from the instructor’s point of view and why you should care. Until then, continue doing your best work and being your best student!

Kelley

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