Improve test taking speed?

[Hemorrage]

---

Members don't see this ad.

So needless to say i had my first mid-term in an honors genetics course today and i think i could have done much better, however, the distinction to my problem with this class vs the usual "i could have studied more" issue is that i simply didn't have enough time. The professor gave us 50 minutes INCLUDING all of the pre-test scan-tron crap to finish a 40 question MC exam where every 3rd question was a long passage we had to derive information from. Sure, thats fine i studied and knew what i was doing, but what really got me is the amount of time it takes to understand and calculate the right answer. I knew all of the content but i felt like my brain couldn't process the questions fast enough.

Has anyone had the same issue with classes? How can i improve my speed?

 

[mishaS]

Do you have access to old tests? Do them with a timer. Don't waste your time on those problems with long passages until after you do all the quick ones.

 

[sliceofbread136]

My secret is cocaine.

 

[Osakhomen]

Lol, I was a little confused by the title. I thought at first you were talking about taking speed to improve your score on tests...

 

[1stmeds]

Do you have access to old tests? Do them with a timer. Don't waste your time on those problems with long passages until after you do all the quick ones.

👍👍

triage the questions. easier first, harder after. if you cant solve it immediately, move on. sacrifice a few long passages for several shorter, doable passages. You're still losing points, but not as many. You could even start with the last question on the test and move forward. there is no reason to go numerically 1-40. Jump around. you have to get creative and see what works for you. But definitely taking and timing previous tests will be helpful. Also go express this same concern to your professor. You're not the first person to deal with test taking issues. Bring it up before its too late, because there is nothing more frustrating to a professor than when you've dung yourself into a hole and then go for help. Its too late at that point.

 

[plumhill]

Do as many practice problems as you can. The better you know it, the faster you can finish it.
Did others have the same issue with speed, or was it just you? If there were a lot of other students who didn't finish the exam, it may have just been a poorly-constructed test.

 

[Hemorrage]

Do as many practice problems as you can. The better you know it, the faster you can finish it.
Did others have the same issue with speed, or was it just you? If there were a lot of other students who didn't finish the exam, it may have just been a poorly-constructed test.

Yeah most people didn't finish, but about 20% of the class did on time. Either way i need to figure out how to speed up.. she gave us practice exams from previous years but i wouldn't say our test was exactly on the same level as the practice exams... (they were 2x easier)