Exam Preperation

In college, exams are a significant part of student's grades in each class. Some students decide to start studying a week before the test, while others wait until the night before the test. Students should have a plan that allows them to have enough time to study each section of their subject. If you study all subjects in one night, it is more likely that you will not remember all of the information when it comes test time. The worst feeling I have ever had is a time where I waited to study for a big exam the night before and I thought I knew all the information going into the next day. When I was handed my test and looked at the first question, I drew a blank and suddenly forgot about half of the information I studied. A way to make sure that this doesn't happen to you (even though I'm sure it already has) is to make a schedule of how you will study for the test. First, start by making a Source Outline and Topic Outline. These will allow you to break up the subjects into smaller sections and it will be easier to remember come test time.

In order to study for the test I created at study guide using notecards. Notecards are the most efficient way for me to study because I am a visual and kinesthetic learner. They allow me to remember the information easier and I usually study with a person in my class. Next, I made questions in order to quiz myself. In math, making practice questions usual helps you so you can understand the concept to its fullest.

Anticipating Test Questions and Post-Exam Review

Most students will be taking exams before Spring Break. When we think of the break, we are very excited and pleased, but before that we have exams to take. I have three exams coming up, and I would like to apply the two strategies, Anticipating Test Questions and Post-Exam Review, to MAT 121.


For Anticipating Test Questions, I ,first, went over my syllabus on Blackboard to use the information. I found the course description, course objectives, and topic outlines that might give me a hint for exam. This course is focused on fact, so I can determine if my anticipated questions should be factual. As I looked through the syllabus, I had to cover Chapter 3 and 4. Second, I noted the professor's questions asked in class, I was frequently being asked to compare and contrast of the chapters. For example, I need to compare and contrast to get answers for dependent events and independent events. For independent events, I have to use multiplication rule, and for dependent events, general multiplication rule is required to use. Dissjoint events is also the one I have to compare from the two events, so I can find a right rule of equation to apply. Another comparison and constast required is Percentiles and Quartiles as he said in the lecture. Third, I used study aids such as study sheets. I always take notes in the class, and there are a lot of important examples and information. So, I decided to use my notes for my study sheets. Fourth, I created questions that I think my professor might ask me on the exam. I asked him if I was on the right track, and he answered me the questions were pretty good, and he suggested going over last quizzes if I needed more help. Fifth, I used previous exam to create my own questions. I rewrote some questions from the fourth stage. As shown below, they are my own final questions. For last exam, I had only 7 questions, but each was worthy about 15 points. So, I should be carefully solving through each one. I need to know each rule and equation to apply. Lastly, I found out what information will be on the exam and the format of the exam and the number of questions. I also figured out which topics have been emphasized. Chapter 3-1 to 3-4 and Chapter 4-1 to 4-7 will be covered on the exam. The format of the exam was multiple questions and subjective questions, and there were total 7 questions. I figured out the two chapters, Measure of Variance and Probability, were most frequently being asked during the lecture.






For Post-Exam Review, I took the time and reflected on how I studied for the previous exam. So, I answered the following questions carefully. The first question was how did I prepare for the exam. I answered I used lecture notes and review sheets. The second question was what grade did I earn, and I got 90 out of 100 on the last exam. The third one was was my test preparation helpful, and I answered as my exam preparation was helpful some parts, but I got two multiple questions wrong since I didn't read through textbook carefully. The fourth one was how much time did I spend preparing. I said I spent about three hours to cover all of them up. The fifth one was did I feel confident and well prepared, and I answered I felt not confident and well prepared at all, for I only spent total three hours before the exam. The sixth one was which questions were the easiest and why. I said the easiest parts were making a scatterplot and finding the percentage because a scatterplot was only required to look at the text and drew, and finding the percentage was I already knew how to do even if I didn't study for it. The seventh one was which questions were the hardiest and why. I answered as the hardiest questions were multiple questions that required reading textbook carefully because I didn't understand how to compare and contrast each case. The last one was how will I study for the next exam, and I said I will absolutely read through textbook carefully, review lecture notes, use previous exam, review sheets, and anticipate questions, but I will not study with friends, for I talk too much with them instead of focusing on study.



To sum up, the effectiveness of Anticipating Test Questions is I can get valuable clues at once such as syllabus information, the professor's questions, study aids, creating questions, and using previous exam. Before I started this strategy, I felt I had to choose another strategy to apply since this one required many steps to do. However, after I used this, I felt very organized with my exam for MAT 121 and ready for it. I have two weeks from the exam, but I already looked over the syllabus and I already created my own questions. This strategy is seriously effective for preparing the exam and Exam Experiment. The reason why I chose this strategy is even if this one required a lot of steps to do, I felt it must be helpful to use since it made me go over the syllabus, talk with a professor, and create my own questions. How important are they! The effectiveness of Post-Exam Review is I can look over my responses that tell me what I need to change. I can also see the specific questions that I got wrong. So, I know how I have to do for the next exam, especially, I need to read through textbook carefully if I want to get a better score. The reason why I chose this strategy is when I fisrt looked at this one, I thougth I could change my study habits that were obstacles all the time to get an A. And now, I know how I need to change my studying for the course to get a better grade.

I feel very satisfied with MAT 121 now, and I must use the strategies to my other two courses! :)

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Exam Prep

Exam Experiment seems to be a good strategy for studying for an exam. I decided to do the Exam Experiment for ILL 265, which is an Illustration history course. On March 10th, I will be taking a midterm for this class. I thought this experiment would be beneficial for this class because only two exams are given in this course, which means that exams are a big part of my grade.. Before I started this experiment, I asked the professor how the exam was formatted.He told me all the questions were multiple choices that ask for illustrators and their artworks. I also need to know what kind of style each illustrators used and how each time period affected what kind of artwork was being produced. First I made a source outline, which is listing each source of information that I learned in the class The image shows what was covered during the lectures. I included the lecture notes by dates. The topics in the source outline are very general because it only shows the time periods. This helped me get a sense of the general topic which was being covered in each lecture.

After the source outline was done, I decided to get more specific by completing the topic outline. The topic outline includes much more details. There are subtopics based on the important ideas, events and illustrators. By breaking down each time period into more specific subheadings, I was able to see what I needed to study. I would usually read through the textbook only but this experiment helped me concentrate more on important topics. For example,I used my notes and the textbook as a guide for studying and if more notes were taken for a particular illustrator, I concentrated more on that illustrator.I think Exam Experiment is helping me get prepared for this midterm. I know which materials to study more and what to focus on.

Problem Solving Strategies

Last week, we learned about some problem-solving techniques. I decided to use COST and Ranking Priorities for my classes. While using these strategies, I thought about the different problems I have that affects my academic performance. I noticed that I am a very lazy student. Procrastination isn't my only problem. I put sleep and social life before my studying. By using the two strategies I mentioned before, I tried to change my bad habits.

COST: A Problem-Solving Strategy is strategy for students to realize their problems and find ways to change these problems. C stands for cost, O stands for option, S for schedule and T for test. My problems were sleeping too much and not going to my classes and spending time on my studies. I thought a friend thats in my classes will help me attend all my classes. And it did work partially. We would meet to go to class. But sometimes, we would both skip class. Hopefully, this won't continue and we will go to all our classes together. Sleeping is one of my favorite things to do. I know sleeping so much is a waste of my life. But because I work, I get really tired. Sleep has prevented me from going to my morning classes. Sometimes I don't hear my alarm clock so I decided to ask my roommate to wake me up on the days she has morning classes. But after awhile my roommate started to sleep in as well. These problems reflect on myself. It shows me that studying isn't my number one priority. But I will continue to try to improve on these problems.

Ranking Priorities is strategy where one

forms a list of everything he or she has to do. Then that individual puts each item in an order of importance. Group A for absolutely essential, B for important, and C for optional. If you look at my list, there is no Group C. This is because I find everything important or essential. No school work is optional in my opinion. Group A consists of things that are due first. Group B is everything else I need to accomplish by the end of the week. Having this list helped me accomplish one thing at a time.

Throughout this semester, I am sure more problems will arise. By using COST and Ranking Priorities strategies, I hope to change all my problems and lead a well academic life.

Ranking Priorities for CLS105 and MAT194

Sometimes, I was running out of time to work on my homework. Sometimes, I needed more time to do my assignments. Sometimes, it took more time than I expected. I never thought it would be obstacles to my studying. I forgot one thing...and that was I never did my work in priorities order. This became a motivation to choose "Ranking Priorities". To solve my problem, I've used this strategy for my two courses, CLS 105 and MAT 194, this week.

CLS 105 has a lot of work to do this week, which includes Faculty Interview Project, TECH #2: Problem Solving, and another strategy to use for problem solving. So, I wanted to use the strategy to this course. First, I created a list of every assignment. Second, I ranked them by groups. Third, I started with A tasks and each in order. Finally, I moved on to other homework in order. As you see the picture for this, TECH assignment is a group A, for its due date is coming up the first. I specified all of work that are included in this course this week such as using the strategy for two courses, taking pictures of them, rough draft for Faculty Project, Final draft for Faculty Project, and etc. The effectiveness of this strategy is to accomplish assignments that is due first, which has saved my time this week. I've got a more free time than last week. I really regret that why I didn't use this way to study before or earlier.

MAT 194 also has a big amount of work. Same as CLS105, it also has a project to do, which is a lab report. I followed the same strategy as CLS 105. First, I created a list of all assignment. Second, I ranked them in order. Third, I started with tasks in an aphabetical order. Lastly, I moved on other assignments in order. I did Webassign homework first because it is due first, then started the lab report. Actually, the lab report is due on this Thursday, so I can still work on, but I feel I did 70% out of 100. The effectiveness of this strategy is to save my time for big assignments. This lab is the second one, and I didn't manage my time well for the first one. I did the first lab one day before the due date, which was kind of crazy and I suffered from my time.

But, it is not any more for this time. I feel very satisfied and proud of managing my time more wisely this time.

Ranking Priorities is the best strategy so far in my opinion since it has saved my time the most. What I'm grateful the most is that I've saved my time for the projects which require more effort and time.

Problem Solving

Problem Solving is a part of our every day lives. In almost everything we do, we need to make a decision that will either benefit is in one way or hurt us in another. When it comes to studying, I have found there are many problems that can happen throughout the course of time. You can run into obstacles that take your focus away from what is at tasks, you could have multiple things due on a certain date and not have enough time to even finish. All of these things can cause people to be very stressed out and make bad decisions and not give the full effort they possibly could. I think that Time Management plays a big part to Problem Solving when it comes to doing schoolwork or studying for tests and quizzes. If you use your time correctly, the whole problem solving process can become a lot easier. Throughout this semester I have tried a couple of Problem Solving methods. One of them, the COPER process, I liked, and the other, Ranking Priorities, I didn't.

COPER process has helped me with studying for upcoming midterms exams. I have two midterm exams on March 3rd, which is a problem for me because that will be a lot of information I will have to retain. The COPER process has helped me organize and create a plan to study for these exams. The current condition is the two exams I have on the 3rd and figuring out a way to study for them. I have many options on how to go about studying for the exams. I could alternate studying subjects, study all for one of the tests, and a little for the other, or I could wing it and study for neither of them. My Plan, is to alternating studying subjects and then the nights leading into the tests review the subject as a whole. I have executed this plan so far by starting the process. Although I have not completed the process, I have had this issue a few times before and this plan has been very successful for me although having to exams in one day is quite difficult.

I recommend this way of studying so you do not forget everything that will be on the other exam by studying in wholes. Make sure you retain a good amount of information before moving on to a new subject.

Problem Solving

Dear Diary,

He looked and smiled at me today. Well, I actually think he was just smiling at something his friend next to him said, and was simply looking at me at the same time, but still. Ahh, he's so amazing! WRT 205 is the class I look forward to the most because of him! But I still don't know his name!

Anyway, life has been crazy this week, what with all of the homework for WRT 205. Even though that guy's in it, it's so hard, and I'm already sick of that class, and I'm not even halfway done with the semester. I've just got so much work all the time, and it's hard to keep up with it all sometimes. There's so much reading and writing and researching we've got to do, and it's too much!

So, Diary, you'll be proud of me, I've come up with a solution. Or, well, actually, it was taught to me, but never mind that. I've got a solution. It's called 'Ranking Priorities', and basically, it's a strategy to help you figure out which assignments are most important for you to do. That way, if you simply MUST not do an assignment for whatever reason, you can choose for it to be one that doesn't matter as much.

So, I've used this strategy for my WRT 205 class:


I figured out which assignments are more important, and I make sure I complete those. Now, I feel better prepared when I go to class.

So now I've got more free time to stare at HIM instead of listening to the teacher!

Sumin Park- TECH assignment

Ranking Priorities

Dear Roommate,

Hey. I decided to write you a letter about what I learned in CLS 105 because it helped me so much in school work and I hope you would use this strategy! I have learned a strategy call 'ranking priorities', which is one of the best problem solving strategies I have done so far. You need to create a list of everything that needs to be accomplished and rank in three types: A= absolutely essential, B= important and C= optional. Then you group by a letter and a number in a order that you need to finish first. You start from A-1 task and move on to remaining letters in numerical order. So I used this technique for my illustration class. I had my caricature assignment due on last Thursday and I was able to finish it by following the steps I explained above. First, I wrote a list that I need to do for this assignment: idea sketching, analyzing characters in different views, color and choosing background, and final piece. I wrote these in group A, because it was the most essential project that had to be done for the week and I wrote numbers in a order that I listed above. For group B, I wrote down my homework for computer arts which was finalizing our work that we have been working on for last two weeks. I was almost done with it, so I just put in under group B. Lastly, under group C, I put chores! I need to get my laundry done and both of us need to clean the apartment by end of the week including washing dishes. Following this steps helped me a lot with school work and I truly recommend you should try use it for your schedule once. Make sure you do the most important tasks first, know that you can rank your priorities if you pretend you only have half the time to accomplish all your work and use due dates as a factor for determining priorities. Thanks!

Sumin

Fritter Finder and D's Due and Do Organizer

I always had had lack of study skills and lack of control, which makes me procrastinate my work. For this week, 2/7-2/13, I used the fritter finder and the d's due and do organizer in MAT 194, for I had an exam in 2/10, and that class gives assignments everyday so I had to find the two strategies that could fit into the both, an exam and homework.


For Fritter Finder, the reason why I chose this is that it shows visually represented so I could see easily when I had to study for and which a particular study and assignment I had to do or review. I found it was very helpful in identifying my free time in each color to spend properly for studying exam and doing homework. Because of using this strategy, I didn't have to waste my time, and I could be prepared to my MAT 194 exam very effectively.

For D's Due and Do Organizer, when I first learned this strategy, I wanted to apply to my schedule so I chose this strategy immediately, for I liked the idea to write down all the assignments due dates and when I was going to finish the work. The effectiveness of this strategy was easy and convenient to use, beneficial, and to adapt to other courses. Because I already wrote all the assignment and tests or quizzes for this month, I can keep using it. Since, I could see my calendar any time and did my MAT 194 study for on time, I had enough time to finish up the chapters for the exam and to do homework.

Both of strategies made me get an A+ on my MAT 194 exam, and I want to keep using them and to suggest my friends using them. I also feel very organized than last semester, and I don't have to waste my time anymore!

Time Management

Procrastination has always been a big problem for me. I've never managed my time very well. But the Fritter Finder strategy actually proved to be very helpful for me. What I first did was I gave each course I was taking a colour, and then I decided that I was going to work from 9:00 to 19:00 every day. So then I highlighted all my free time on the weekdays that were between those times, and I decided what subject I would be working on at each time. It made me realise that I actually had a lot of time to work that wasn't at night or during the weekends. I really started to become more organised, because I wasn't up working until 3:00 anymore in order to wake up for an 8:00 class. I started sleeping better. And I had more free time on the weekends to spend with friends, and more time for myself.

TIme Management

I used the Target Planner and Fritter Finder for my PSY 205 class. Although these methods are simple, I found them very helpful. Using these strategies allowed me to be more organized. Because I followed the due dates in my Target Planner, I was able to finish my reading assignments for my psychology class. As I reached my target, my confidence for my PSY 205 class began to grow.Fritter Finder was an effective strategy as well. By visually seeing the free times I have in between classes, I was able to use my time wisely. Instead of going back to my dorm, I would go to Bird Library and start my homework and reading assignments. I am able to use my time wisely and focus on my academics more than I did last semester.