EXAM PREP

This week, our class started to focus in on preparing for an exam. I was very happy to hear that we would be learning about strategies helping to get ready for an exam considering I am the worst test taker and I never know how to start studying for an exam. I usually just read over the notes that I take in class, and occasionally read the bold headings in the textbook. I used to really feel like I was studying hard when I just re-wrote everything down in my notebook over and over again, however, sometimes I got carried away and wrote every word and detail and that was too much work which I didn't even absorb.

So our assignment over the weekend was to create a source outline and a topic outline for one class which we will have an exam in within a few weeks. I chose to apply these two outlines to my Psych 205 class because we have our second exam in that class on Tuesday March 29th. The source outline is helpful because as I was organizing the assignment it allowed me to write down each chapter that will be included on the test. I wrote down the chapter number and what topic they narrowed in on. I then outlined which notes I took in lecture and which sub-topics the professor noted. The source outline is a great way for my ideas to be grouped together and I feel it starts off broad with a chapter, but then the topic becomes more familiar and then from referencing my lecture notes I can

have an understanding of the topics, but then after my weekly recitation I grasp an in depth meaning of the topics and the sub topics included which helps me learn tremendously.

The source outline is great for grouping ideas and taking it step by step from one chapter to then single definitions or what not, but I think the topic outline is a better mechanism for me personally. I like how the topic outline groups the main ideas into one letter of the outline and then underneath the chapter number is posted

as well as the page numbers. Beneath the main topic I write down what the lecture notes entailed for that topic. For Psych 205 especially this is going to be a convenient way for me to study because it clearly separates the four topics and I can make a study schedule which allows me to study perhaps one topic a night. Therefore, I will not become overwhelmed and I will study the one topic closely and all my notes are already outlined there for me, I just have to flip to a page in my notebook.

Moving along with my exam prep I thought the smartest way for me to create study sheets would be the 20 minute test prep. This seems like the most effective way for my learning style because I noted that I have my Psych 205 lecture on Tuesday morning and then Thursday morning I have my recitation from 8-9:00 am. After my recitation I always go straight to the library to try and get my homework accomplished ahead of time. Since I have a break from 9-11:00 which I will spend at the library I thought the idea of reviewing my Psych notes would be brilliant. I now have formed a routine where I will go to the library right after recitation and conduct the 20 minute test prep over the material that I just learned. I will get used to this routine and I believe it will work wonders for me because I am usually very focused right after class and I am most alert during the morning at that time. Since I am a visual and kinesthetic learner writing out the 20 minute test prep is the best way to go!