Sunday, February 27, 2011

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! :)




(http://www.school-clipart.com/_small/0511-0703-2015-4322.jpg)

1 comment:

  1. I really like this post. The images shows the process of anticipating test questions. I like how you put a picture of the course description of your mah syllabus. But you are missing your source and topic outline for the Exam Experiment.

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