Preparing and Taking College Exams, Research Paper Example

You’ll Be Glad You Read This

So, you are in college now. Congratulations. “A professor once told me that college was designed to teach you three things: how to meet deadlines, how to think clearly, and how to learn on your own” (McCurdy, 2010). With this excellent thought in mind, the purpose of this brief guide is to acquaint first year college students with the right and wrong ways to prepare for and take exams. It is written in a manner that blends two forms of development: narration and comparing and contrasting. Are you ready? Let’s get started.

Ways to Be Somewhat Serious About Your Approach to Exams (You Want to Pass)

Once I was where you are now. I was a college freshman, uncertain what the next four years held for me. Immediately I knew that I would have to learn from my academic successes and mistakes. I knew that college success was not about working harder but working smarter. If you study long, you study wrong. Keep your study sessions short, but do them often (Loulou, 1995). You are so lucky. You do not have to endure all of the trial and error that I went through. I am going to pass along my top ten list of things you need to do to be ready for those quizzes, tests, exams, and papers that are coming through a college course near you.

Somewhat Serious Tip #1: Go to class. As tempting as it is on pretty afternoons and dark, cold mornings to skip, you cannot afford that luxury. And when you get there, really be there. Do not let your mind wander out of the room.

Somewhat Serious Tip #2: Take good notes. Being able to synthesize lectures and readings is an art form. Being able to retrieve information that you have written is a blessing. Write things down, organize them, and do not lose them. 

Somewhat Serious Tip #3: Form a study group. Early in the class you will discover the students who appear to be the most interested in learning and succeeding. Befriend them. Set times to meet with them outside of class for times of intellectual sharing.

Somewhat Serious Tip #4: Finish assignments early. Waiting until the last minute will only bring stress and mess. You owe it to yourself to finish an assignment and reflect on it. Most of the time, you will add extra touches to your work that make it better when you have “slept on it” before turning it in.

Somewhat Serious Tip #5: Review routinely. Do your reviews of things covered on a daily, weekly, monthly, and term as a whole basis. In this way you will be repeating and clarifying and growing deeper in your grasp of the course.

Somewhat Serious Tip #6: Create tools that will help you succeed. Many students make flash cards and outline/summary cards for this purpose. Not everything you need is in a book.

Somewhat Serious Tip #7: Take care of yourself. As corny as it sounds, eating well and sleeping well have profound effects on student performance on exams.

Somewhat Serious Tip #8: Understand the types of exams that you will face. Learn all you can about test taking secrets. Information is readily available on this topic.

Somewhat Serious Tip #9: Do not be afraid of your professors. Most of them are people just like you. All of them once sat where you now sit. Ask them questions. Set appointments to meet with them.

Somewhat Serious Tip #10: Anticipate the test. Make up your own quiz before the quiz. Brainstorm possible questions. If you were making out the test, what would be on it?

Ways to Be Somewhat Silly About Your Approach to Exams (You Plan to Fail)

My evil twin, the darker side of my personality was in college to have a good time. The twin was quite certain that many good times were coming our way during our college years. If we stayed awake in class, paid attention, took decent notes, and sat close to brainiacs we would do just fine. College was about making lifelong friends and doing wacky things that make us laugh in our elder years. Grades weren’t that important. That twin part of me wants you to follow these silly tips so that you can make “evil twin-like” grades for yourself. It’s really easy if you try.

Somewhat Silly Tip #1: Class attendance is really optional. You have the syllabus. You know the material covered at each session. You know what the readings are. If you are not there, who is going to miss you?

Somewhat Silly Tip #2: Note taking is not all that it is cracked up to be. When you try to write everything down, you miss the activities of class in real time. When you take notes up tend to clutter up your book bag.  

Somewhat Silly Tip #3: Form a “study group.” Wink, Wink. Have the study group on Mondays and you can watch Monday Night Football while you study together. Better yet, you can take turns bringing in your favorite CDs and play them as background for your parties –uh, I mean, study sessions.

Somewhat Silly Tip #4: There is no motivator like the last minute. Delaying the start of a class assignment will only bring focus and quality to your work. Think of the time you will be saving. What you can do the day before an exam takes other students weeks to do.

Somewhat Silly Tip #5: Conduct reviews of your course materials when the notion strikes you to do so. After all, if your head is not in it, planned times for review will do you no good. Spontaneous studying is the best policy.

Somewhat Silly Tip #6: Try to hang around people who seem to organize their leaning into checklists. Keeping in close proximity to these people means that you do not have to do the same.

Somewhat Silly Tip #7: Nobody would party the night before a big exam. So, party for three consecutive nights before that so that you will have all of that out of your system before the big day.

Somewhat Silly Tip #8: Tests are not that hard. When they are True-False, you have a 50% chance of getting them right even if you haven’t studied.

Somewhat Silly Tip #9: Know your role. You are a student. Your professors are your professors. You are two different species. Interact as little as possible so that neither of you get irritated.

Somewhat Silly Tip #10: Don’t fret about the kind of exam you will face. All of that is out of your control.  Show up for the quiz with your best attitude and do your best.

Post Script

Now that you have read my helpful hints about getting yourself ready for exams, you have all of the information you need to be successful (or not successful) in your first year of college test taking. Post these positive and negative tips in your dorm room. Refer to them often. If you make constant comparisons between your actions and the tips, you should be able to predict, with great certainty, what your college grades will be. Some students make the mistake of waiting for their schools to provide them with this kind of information, but the truth is that most universities assume students will adjust to college academic expectations on their own (Yazedjian, Toews, Sevin, & Purswell, 2008). No one else is going to do this for you—not your mama, not the person you are in a relationship with, not even your roommate. Remember, it’s all up to you.

References

Loulou, D. (1995). Making the A: How to study for tests. ERIC Clearinghouse on Assessment and Evaluation. ED385613, 10-00, 6p.

McCurdy, D. (2010). What professors wish students knew: Advise from a biology professor. EduGuide. Retrieved February 20, 2010 from http://www.eduguide.org/Students-Articles/What-Professors-Wish-Students-Knew-Advice-From-a-Biology-Professor-1954.aspx

Yazedjian, A., Toews, M., Sevin, T., & Purswell, K. (2008). It’s a whole new world: A qualitative exploration of college students’ definitions and strategies for college success. Journal of College   Student Development, March/April.