Test Taking Tips

[anglswings]

Does anyone have some good tips that have always helped you out before a big testfor high school, college, anything? ....Whether taught by a teacher, preofessor, or self taught. I figure it may help more people other than me. Thanks

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[solitude]

Does anyone have some good tips that have always helped you out before a big testfor high school, college, anything? ....Whether taught by a teacher, preofessor, or self taught. I figure it may help more people other than me. Thanks

I just posted this in another thread for students struggling with orgo, but...

Half of the battle with difficult exams is having a ton of confidence going in. If you do, you work quickly, you work efficiently, and you don't second-guess yourself, because your first instinct is usually right if you've studied a lot.

I personally like to go into an exam with arrogance, not exuding it to others, but in my head thinking I'm the man and I will ace this beast. Next semester, get confident/cocky/arrogant about your knowledge of the material before the exam. Once you've studied your butt off, everything will flow from the repository of knowledge that is your brain. My motto is to "just push electrons toward positive charge" [or other one-line summary of the course material for a course other than orgo], and everything else will follow.

 

[pagemmapants]

Listen to one of your favorite cheesy, terrible, awful "pump up" songs beforehand.

Suggestions:
"Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy" - Big 'N Rich
"Motivate Me" - Good Charlotte
"Paradise City" - Guns 'N Roses
"A Better Son/Daughter" - Rilo Kiley
"You Shook Me All Night Long" - AC/DC
and of course, the ubiquitous "Eye of the Tiger"

 

[Dr.D-man]

You must take your tests with confidence. Prepare for the test so that you can go in confident. Talk to the teacher about their tests and how you can prepare for them, ask them how they write their test questions. Also, if you are unsure about something during the test, go with your gut, your first response. This approach has worked excellent for me.

 

[DrBowtie]

During the test...take your time. Its not a race.

 

[drmota]

envision success. my advice for any and all situations.
-mota

 

[Dr.D-man]

During the test...take your time. Its not a race.

It is though... a race against the clock. Many people get screwed because they run out of time. You must prioritize the questions if you find yourself running short on time.

 

[DrBowtie]

I mean go through the test once full speed then check with the remaining time. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[Dave_D]

I find test taking to be a zen thing. You have to go in with peace of mind in order to do well, IE not panic and fear. (Fear is the mind killer.) Once I had that I could concentrate and do well. My techniques to gain calm were actually pretty simple, about an hour before the test I would walk around the campus for 1/2 hr to 45 minutes to blow off any steam. I'd usually arrive about 10 minutes before class and start this breathing exercise.
1 Deep breath in
2 Deep exhilation while thinking to myself "relax"

You may actually practice this by really saying "relax" when you exhale.(You should finish saying the word as you finish exhaling. Similarly you should finish thinking "relax" when exhaling if you're doing it silently.)

I would continue the relaxation reflex (Which is what I've heard this technique called.) right up until I actually got the test. At this point I was pretty calm and when told I would start the test. I would flip through the test first and look at all the questions.
One to make sure they didn't have multiple places to put my name.

Two to make sure it wasn't double sided.(Sometimes people miss questions on the reverse side.)

Three so I could do all the easy questions first. There's 2 reasons for doing easy ones first. You don't want to miss easy points. The other reason is it's like exercise, you need to warm up you mind so you can think better.(I found if I dove at the hard ones first I really wasn't ready. By doing the easy ones first my mind was chugging along, ready to think.)

Guess that's all I can think of right now.

 

[chef_NU]

Does anyone have some good tips that have always helped you out before a big testfor high school, college, anything? ....Whether taught by a teacher, preofessor, or self taught. I figure it may help more people other than me. Thanks

Try to imagine what kind of questions the professor will ask (or find previous questions). You may think you know the material from the book, but until you practice on actual problems/questions, you can't be sure of anything. Do every problem (or at least look at every problem) available to you.

 

[kimmcauliffe]

There's a lot of tips out there to help you. I've got a few that I'll share with you.

1.) Take practice tests. Most books now come with CD ROMs with these already on them.

2.) Study the boring/ difficult stuff first.

3.) Study. It's obvious.

4.) I can't think of anyone that didn't benefit from a study group. Make it fun- bringing beer tends to liven things up.

5.) Start from the last question first- I don't know why it helps, but it does.

6.) Answer all the questions you know first, then go back and do the others you weren't so sure of.

7.) NEVER change your answers unless you are ABSOLUTELY SURE you're changing them to the right one.

8.) Look for key words like ALWAYS, NEVER, ALL, NONE, or other exclusionary words. Usually, these are incorrect, but be careful because sometimes they are!

9.) Don't cram. Usually doesn't help. Set aside a time each day or every other day to study.

10.) REWARD YOURSELF! Give yourself reason to do really well. I let myself buy a new surfboard once when I aced an exam.

11.) It's not a race, but pay attention to the clock.

12.) BREATHE!! As long as you prepared for it and remember some of these tips, you'll be just fine.

PS- I was an instructor in the Air Force and wrote standardized tests for Air Education and Training Command. Told these tips to my students- NEVER had a failure.

Best of luck to you!

 

[anon-y-mouse]

hehe do the examkrackers thing of 5 second pauses before starting the test, so you get relaxed... it worked for me!! it's true, you really do see everyone around you freak out, while in that 5 seconds you're just getting relaxed.

relax, focus, and THINK. with logic, you can solve quite a lot of things.