Tips for Studying for a Timed Test
In a lot of classes, a big percentage of the grade is based on test scores. So knowing how to study for a timed test can be very helpful. Actually, there are so many times when students could have done much better if only they had studied effectively! Here are some tips. Here are some scenarios that involved real students and real math classes.
Scenario 1: A few days before a big test, Allie takes an old exam and reviews the answer key. She got most of the questions right! She thinks, “I did well on the old test, so I’ll probably do well on the actual thing.” She feels nervous but prepared. But when she sees the questions on the actual test, she realizes that she wasn’t prepared. She did her best on the test, but didn’t do well. She was disappointed when she got her test back. The questions on the test weren’t like the questions on the old exams.
Advice: Practice tests can be useful, but they should be taken keeping in mind that they do not cover all the material that could be on the test. If you think of homework, quizzes, etc. as a pile, you want to study questions from the entire pile, not just those that were picked on previous tests. In other words, to get a high score, you need to study everything, not just old tests. This includes:
notes from class
homework
quizzes
worksheets that you did in recitation/discussion/quiz section.
Sometimes, though, a professor will write a review for the test. Definitely do those questions. In general, reviews are *not* comprehensive, so reviewing that will not be enough to get all the questions. But in my experience, it’s usually enough to at least pass.
Scenario 2: Brian has been very confused about the course material from the second or third week of class and was always behind. A day or two before the test, Brian spends all day studying. But he still ended up doing poorly on the test.
Advice: Start studying for a test well in advance, closer to two weeks than two days. For complex material like college-level math, it takes a significant amount of time to learn the material. You can’t rush it. In my experience, there’s no way to force yourself to learn the material faster. Try to learn a bit of new material every day or every other day.
Sleep is also important for learning. We actually consolidate our learning when we sleep. When you try to learn a lot of new things without time to sleep in between, it’s harder for the content to be retained.
What could Brian do better next time? In order to do better on the text test, he needs to find a way to catch up while also learning the new material. Brian could set aside a time in his schedule for math. He also needs to keep in mind that he actually doesn’t understand the material well, so he has to somehow learn the new material while also catching up with the old material. Because he is behind, Brian will probably be confused more often. Usually universities have a math study center. Brian should go regularly and talk with people who can answer his questions.
Scenario 3: Cass is a hardworking student. He attends every lecture and understands the lectures, for the most part. A few days before the test, he reviews his notes and they all make sense. However, he did poorly on the test. He’s not sure what happened. He understood the concepts. So why didn’t he do well on the test?
Advice: Just because you understood the lecture doesn’t mean that you can answer the questions on a test. On a test, you have to answer questions that you haven’t seen before. So the real “test” isn’t, “Do you understand the material when it is explained in class?” It’s, “Here are some questions. How well do you answer them?”
What could Cass do next time to improve his odds of getting a good score on the next test? To prepare, he would want to make sure that he has practiced answering the kinds of questions that are likely to show up on the test. How can he find these questions? Sometimes professors go over examples in class. He could cover up the answer and try to answer the question. Then compare with what’s in the notes. He could also look at questions in the textbook.