Exam Hints!!

Exam week can be difficult, dangerous, even overwhelming. You may feel helpless and hopeless, as though there is nothing you can do. After a semester of too many classes and too much work, you think you'll have to stay up all night studying to pass your final exams.

But wait! Help is on the way!

Below are my handy hints for exam time, developed during ten arduous years as a student and fifteen more as a teacher.

Two Weeks Before the Exam

Make up a set of study sheets for each class.
Each set of study sheets should summarize the reading, your class notes, and any handouts.
Type the study sheets so they are easily readable. Use plenty of bold type and white space to accentuate important ideas.
For the next two weeks, read through your study sheets three times each day. Do not try hard to memorize the information. Just read the notes once, three times per day.
The Night Before the Exam

Read your study sheets as usual.
Go to bed early and get a good night's sleep.
The Day of the Exam

Set your alarm and get up early. Allow plenty of time to get to the exam.
Eat a good breakfast, including simple sugars (fruit juice), complex carbohydrates (cereal or toast), and protein (milk, eggs, meat, cheese). This will help your blood sugar stay at a stable level, and since your brain runs on sugar, you don't want to have an empty tank.
Caffeine has been shown to increase alertness and performance. If you are a habitual user of caffeine, be sure to get your accustomed dose.
Take along a piece of fruit to eat during the exam. This will help keep your blood sugar even, so you don't tire during the second half of the exam period.
During the Exam

If you feel tense, relax, take a deep breath, and remember that you know the material because you've been reviewing for two weeks.
Keep your eye on the clock while taking the exam. Allow enough time to finish the entire test. Avoid focusing on one question and running out of time on others.
Read the entire exam before beginning to write. Know your enemy, in other words.
Be sure your name is on the test. (This sounds silly, but sometimes if we feel tense or pressured, we forget the little things.)
Read each question a second time, then answer that question.
Go on to the next question. Remember to look at the clock and keep moving through the test.
After the first hour and fifteen minutes, relax, stretch, eat your fruit. Calm down. You know the material.
Use the entire exam period rather than rushing through the test.
Special Information for Students Taking Essay Exams

Read the question carefully and analyze what the teacher wants in the answer. If the question has several parts, use these parts to structure your answer.
Use the writing process: brainstorm, organize, outline, add supporting information, write, revise, edit.
Write a version of the classic five-paragraph essay. Answer the question in the first paragraph of your essay. State and support one proof for your answer in each of the following paragraphs. Answer the question in different words in your concluding paragraph.

Read More

Figuring Out Your Learning Style

"Take a pointer from a wise sage named Socrates -- the one who said, "Know thyself." Each of us has our own unique learning style. For example, are you the person who says, "I can't think when it's noisy. I need quiet!" On the other hand, does your roommate always have the stereo playing when she studies? That actually could be because she needs to screen out distracting sounds with music. While some of us like quiet, others need music; some like bright light and others dim; some like to be bundled up in an afghan, while others need the fan. There are those who learn best by making lists, outlines, and charts -- others by reading or note-taking. And still others learn best in small group discussions. Take advantage of the offices on campus that can teach you more about your learning style. By taking time out to get to know your own style of learning -- not only will it help you make the grade, but Socrates would give you a gold star."


How Do You Study Best?
"It's important as a student to realize one's learning style if you want to be successful. By learning styles I mean that we need to understand the ways that we study the best. Whether it be quiet, whether it be with noise, whether it be in a place where there is a lot of lighting, not much lighting, whether it be lying down, or sitting up. Those are important to the success of how well we will learn and how well we will take in the information that we are dealing with. Another thought I would like to leave with you regarding success as an academic student is that we should put aside a time of day that we want to make use for studying. Consistency is the key to success."

Read More

Time Management Tips !!!

To begin managing your time you first need a clearer idea of how you now use your time. The Personal Time Survey will help you to estimate how much time you currently spend in typical activities. To get a more accurate estimate, you might keep track of how you spend your time for a week. This will help you get a better idea of how much time you need to prepare for each subject. It will also help you identify your time wasters. But for now complete the Personal Time Survey to get an estimate. The following survey shows the amount of time you spend on various activities. When taking the survey, estimate the amount of time spent on each item. Once you have this amount, multiply it by seven. This will give you the total time spent on the activity in one week. After each item's weekly time has been calculated, add all these times for the grand total. Subtract this from 168, the total possible hours per week. Here We Go:
1. Number of hours of sleep each night
________ X 7 = _______

2. Number of grooming hours per day
________ X 7 = _______

3. Number of hours for meals/snacks per day - include preparation time
________ X 7 = _______

4a. Total travel time weekdays
________ X 5= _______

4b. Total travel time weekends
_______

5. Number of hours per week for regularly scheduled functions (clubs, church, get-togethers, etc.)
_______

6. Number of hours per day for chores, errands, extra grooming, etc.
_______ X 7 = _______

7. Number of hours of work per week
_______

8. Number of hours in class per week
_______

9. Number of average hours per week socializing, dates, etc. Be honest!
_______

Now add up the totals:
_______

Subtract the above number from 168
168 - _______ = _______

The remaining hours are the hours you have allowed yourself to study.

2. Study Hour Formula

To determine how many hours you need to study each week to get A's, use the following rule of thumb. Study two hours per hour in class for an easy class, three hours per hour in class for an average class, and four hours per hour in class for a difficult class. For example, basket weaving 101 is a relatively easy 3 hour course. Usually, a person would not do more than 6 hours of work outside of class per week. Advanced calculus is usually considered a difficult course, so it might be best to study the proposed 12 hours a week. If more hours are needed, take away some hours from easier courses, i.e., basket weaving. Figure out the time that you need to study by using the above formula for each of your classes.
Easy class credit hours
________ x 2 = _______

Average class credit hours
________ x 3 = _______

Difficult class credit hours
________ x 4 = _______

Total
_______


Compare this number to your time left from the survey. Now is the time when many students might find themselves a bit stressed. Just a note to ease your anxieties. It is not only the quantity of study time but also it's quality. This formula is a general guideline. Try it for a week, and make adjustments as needed.

3. Daily Schedules

There are a variety of time schedules that can fit your personality. These include engagement books, a piece of poster board tacked to a wall, or 3 x 5 cards. Once you decide upon the style, the next step is construction. It is best to allow spaces for each hour, half-hours for a busy schedule. First, put down all of the necessities; classes, work, meals, etc. Now block in your study time (remember the study time formula presented earlier). Schedule it for a time when you are energized. Also, it's best to review class notes soon after class. Make sure to schedule in study breaks, about 10 minutes each hour. Be realistic on how many courses to take. To succeed in your courses you need to have the time to study. If you find you don't have time to study and you're not socializing to an extreme, you might want to consider lightening your load. Tips for Saving Time Now that you know how you spend most of your time, take a look at it. Think about what your most important things are. Do you have enough time? Chances are that you do not. Below are some tips on how to schedule and budget your time when it seems you just don't have enough.
4. Don't be a perfectionist

Trying to be a perfect person sets you up for defeat. Nobody can be perfect. Difficult tasks usually result in avoidance and procrastination. You need to set achievable goals, but they should also be challenging. There will always be people both weaker and stronger than you.
5. Learn to say no

For example, an acquaintance of yours would like you to see a movie with him tonight. You made social plans for tomorrow with your friends and tonight you were going to study and do laundry. You really are not interested. You want to say no, but you hate turning people down. Politely saying no should become a habit. Saying no frees up time for the things that are most important.
6. Learn to Prioritize

Prioritizing your responsibilities and engagements is very important. Some people do not know how to prioritize and become procrastinators. A "to do list" places items in order of importance. One method is the ABC list. This list is divided into three sections; a, b, or c. The items placed in the A section are those needed to be done that day. The items placed in the B section need completion within the week. The C section items are those things that need to be done within the month. As the B, C items become more pertinent they are bumped up to the A or B list. Try it or come up with your own method, but do it.
7. Combine several activities

Another suggestion is to combine several activities into one time spot. While commuting to school, listen to taped notes. This allows up to an hour or two a day of good study review. While showering make a mental list of the things that need to be done. When you watch a sit-com, laugh as you pay your bills. These are just suggestions of what you can do to combine your time, but there are many others, above all be creative, and let it work for you.
8. Conclusion

After scheduling becomes a habit, then you can adjust it. It's better to be precise at first. It is easier to find something to do with extra time then to find extra time to do something. Most importantly, make it work for you. A time schedule that is not personalized and honest is not a time schedule at all.

Read More

The Memory Fallacy

Most people believe that their memories get worse as they get older.

This is true only for people who do not use their memories properly: memory is like a muscle - the more it is used, the better it gets. The more it is neglected, the worse it gets.

While in education most people have to use their memories intensively - simply to remember facts and pass exams. When people leave full time education, they tend to cease to use their memory as actively, and so it starts to get flaccid.

How Memory Works

Memory works by making links between information, fitting facts into mental structures and frameworks. The more you are actively remembering, the more facts and frameworks you hold, the more additional facts and ideas will slot easily into long term memory.

Why Memory Doesn't Work!

Another reason for memory getting apparently worse is that outside academia information tends not to be as clearly structured as it is in education. The clear presentation and organisation of a good lesson or training course provides a structure that is almost a mnemonic in its own right. Where information drifts in as isolated facts, it will normally be forgotten simply because it is not actively fitted into a mnemonic.

Again, as people grow up they are trained out of spontaneous, imaginative behaviour: most peoples' jobs depend on them being predictable and reliable far more than on them being imaginative. An important feature of memory, though, is the imagination that allows you to construct the strong mnemonic links between things to be remembered and the cues for their recall. Of course be reliable, but keep your imagination fresh at the same time!

So memory in most people does get worse with age, but only because it is allowed to. By continuing your education throughout your life, by cultivating your mind and keeping it open to new experience, by actively fitting facts into clear and flexible frameworks, and by keeping your imagination working, your memory can get better and better as you get older.

Doing this not only gives you a better memory: think how many times you have heard this message in connection with other self-improvement methods! An important thing to realise is that different people learn in different ways. The way in which people learn is often a factor determining the subjects they choose to study, instructors they relate to, and careers chosen in life

Read More