20/11/2017
3 Study Tips:
1. Pretest
Let’s say you unintentionally received a copy of your year-end examination paper at the beginning of the year. The teacher had accidentally emailed you the copy together with your lecture notes. Assuming that the teacher was not aware and the same paper would be used in future, would that paper help you in taking the exam at the end of the year?
Definitely! You know the questions beforehand. You know what to pay attention to and what to study. On the actual exam day, you will ace the paper and most likely get an A*. Of course, that is considered cheating.
Now, what if, instead of having the actual paper, you have a copy of a similar paper. Like a 10-year series (TYS). You can have an idea of what kind of questions are most likely to be tested. When the teacher is explaining those concepts, chances are you will pay more attention to them. This will greatly improve your chances of doing well for the exam and it is not cheating. This is called pretesting.
When it comes to pretest, you need to take the test. Do it, even if you get zero since you know nothing about it. People remember better when they have the wrong answer and get corrected. Let’s take a multiple choice question as example: What is the capital of Jordon?
Adamstown
Amman
Ankara
Asmara
Ready for the answer? The capital of Jordon is Amman. Did you get it right? It’s okay if you get it wrong. It might be the first time you come across this information. You’ve just learnt it.
Compare this to reading a line that says “The capital of Jordan is Amman”. This is the traditional way of learning. Just like reading a textbook. Let’s say a few months later, the same multiple choice question appears. It will be very difficult to recall the capital of Jordon from a line you saw months ago. Distractors like Adamstown, Ankara and Asmara will just make it worse. Research has shown that doing the question (even when a person knows nothing about it) and getting it wrong has a better chance of remembering the correct answer than reading the same information from a book. The same research also shows that those lucky correct answers will be easily forgotten compared to questions that were answered wrong. So, don’t be afraid to make mistakes in learning. Our brains seem to remember mistakes better.
2. Space Repetition
If we want to remember anything, the most obvious way is to revise it. However, if we have a lot of information to remember, revising the same material every day is time consuming. Not efficient and impossible as time passes.
We need to recall only when memory starts to fade. So when will that be? I will use the Forgetting Curve as a basis for it. It is best to revisit new information within a day or two. When that happens, our brain will remember this information better and last around 4 days to a week. Actually this varies from individuals. You will need to try it out yourself. Continue to lengthen the period after each revision and you will be able to remember the same information for a long period of time without repeating it every day.
Here is what you can do. Prepare 5 boxes and label them “1 day”, “3 days”, “1 week”, “1 month” and “3 months”. For information you need to remember, create a flashcard and study it. When you are done, drop it into the “1 day” box. 1 day later, take it out and have a look. You should be able to remember it pretty well. Promote that flashcard into the “3 days” box and review it 3 days later. If you can’t remember it, don’t panic. Review it again and put it back into the “1 day” box. Review it the next day. Promote the card once you are confident with it.
Repeat this process and the older cards will get promoted to 1 week, 1 month and 3 months. Most of the time, you will be looking at the more recent cards. In the event that you have a card in the “1 month” box (for example) that you can’t recall well when you revisit it, demote that card all the way to “1 day” box and start all over for that card. It contains information not easily remembered by your brain. That card needs special attention.
When you follow this method of revising, you will spend less time looking at concepts that you already know very well. Your time will only be spent on the difficult concepts. This is a very efficient way to revise for exams but the tough part is to make those flashcards. Do you have the discipline to do it?
Like I mention earlier, the duration above is just a guide. You get the idea now so what you need is fine tune it. If you want to find out more, do search for “Leitner System”.
3. Exam Anxiety
Many students view exams and tests negatively. Tests are seen as a way to find loopholes in their learning. Tricky questions are created to make them lose their marks. Ask around and chances are you can hardly find a student who loves tests.
I think that test should be viewed as a way to show how much you have learnt. Do as many questions as you can and get as many marks as possible. My idea is this: since you need to take the test anyway, you might as well view it positively. In fact, I think that is the real purpose of a test.
Maybe you don’t get full marks. Maybe you realize that you only understand a little of that chapter. In that case, that test would have served its purpose. You know what is needed to do better.
Many of my students used to say that they answered a question wrongly and lost a few marks. Some of them lost more marks and only scored 80 marks. I realized that they started counting from 100 marks and started feeling negative for every mark lost. It became demoralizing for them, maybe (I wanted to say confirm) stressful just to maintain 100 marks. Even the joy of finally getting 100 marks will be greatly reduced (happy becomes glad) due to their expectations.
I believe we should view test score from zero. As students answered more and more questions correctly, they will be rewarded with marks. When they finally reach 100 marks, that joy is jubilant. When they get 90 or 95 marks, they will be more willingly to try for 100 marks. Compared with the previous mentality of expecting 100 marks, they will most likely think that 90 or 95 marks is already very good.
Let me try to give an example using the analogy of the games/puzzles that you can play on your phone. Those games that reward you with 1, 2 or 3 stars when you clear a stage. Usually a stage can be cleared with minimal effort of 1 star. However, when you see 2 stars, it might prompt you to think a bit harder and see if you can achieve that perfect 3 stars, especially so since you cleared that stage with 2 stars. Imagine, if all stages in that game can only be cleared by achieving 3 stars, I think most people might not even want to play.
There is no way we can avoid tests and exams. If we have to do it, we might as well try to inject some fun into it. There is a saying “All exams can be prepared”. If you believe in that, then it is a matter of preparation. If you are not prepared, then you can’t really blame tests or exams. If you want some learning tips, feel free to browse my website.
Home Every year-end, thousands of parents will try to prepare their children for a good start of the next academic year. Advice is abundance and all too familiar. Create a quiet study area. Plan out a study schedule. Set goals. Practice past year papers. Such ideas are common and easily accepted b...
