Exam Prep

I have always had trouble with my preparation with large exams and essays due in my most difficult classes. In order to improve my test preparation skills, I decided to use the 20 Minutes Test Prep method for two of my most challenging classes: Human Sexuality and Hebrew. In Human Sexuality, I have a midterm coming up so I decided to use the 20 Minute Test Prep in order to manage my time better and reviewed multiple chapters two to three times a week. I started my review two weeks prior to the exam and left the final two days before the exam before the final review.

In my Hebrew class, I have a large accumulative exam coming up in vocabulary and grammar and I also used my 20 Minute Test Prep. This is by far my most difficult class. I designed a study schedule for my Hebrew exam in which I separated the chapters and made note cards. I made 10 practice mock test questions that were related to the Hebrew grammar from chapters 4, 6, and 7. I also made an answer sheet with details reasons of why the correct answer was correct.

One major flaw in my study habits has always been anticipating proper test questions. Through the completion of the 20 Minute Test Prep, I learned how to predict test questions better by thinking like the professor, reading my syllabus, and understanding the notes he or she took on Blackboard. I understand that Human Sexuality and Hebrew are both fact-based. This really helped too.

Overall, I felt like the 20 Minute Test Prep has been my best form of studying. I was able to focus more on my subject and concentrate on particular chapters rather than being overwhelmed with the entire upcoming exams. In the future, I would like to usea post-exam review to further my study habits and gain a better understanding of exam material that has already been covered.

Want to know a great way to study for a test? Anticipate test questions!

Sometimes I only study with some review materials that my proffesor gives me. I convince myself that everything I need to know is right there in a review sheet and if I know that i'll ace the test. Then when the test comes around, I recognize information and know that I have learned it, but I don't know the answer because it wasn't on the review sheet. Does this sound familiar to you? If so, I think I have a solution that can help. It is anticipating test questions.

Anticipating test questions is exactly what it sounds like. You should use all class materials (notes from class, syllabus, previous tests or quizzes, and other materials given to you ) to make test questions. These questions should be what you think the teacher will be asking you. After creating these questions it is now time to find an answer to them, and then this should turn into a very helpful study guide. It is also good before the test to show the teacher your "anticipated questions" and see what he or she thinks. If you cover all you material and do this correctly, theres a chance you can see many of the same questions on the real test that you see on your study guide! Imagine walking into an exam and seeing questions that you wrote for yourself before hand and already know the answer too. How awesome would that be?

I personally am going to use this strategy for my midterm in economics. As i previously mentioned, I am going to use previous quizzes, the syllabus, notes from lecture, and even home works to create my test questions. In regards to LAME, i am considered a reading/writing learner, so this strategy is definitely good for me. The materials I review to make my questions is how I am recommended to learn, reading handouts and notes. I hope everyone tries this strategy, as I predict that it will be an extremely effective way to prepare for tests.

20 Minutes Help More Than You Would Think.

What up Internet world?
Welcome back. This weeks discussion topic is EXAM PREPARATION. Exam preparation is required for success in any class. Without being prepared, you will most likely do poorly on tests. In college, most classes don't have that many tests so you doing poorly on one could drastically affect your grade. Preparing for the test with an efficient strategy will greatly improve your test taking skills and luckily for you, I'm have the perfect strategy for you to try.

You might recall learning this all the way back in chapter 2 but today I will be talking about The 2o Minute Test Prep.
When/What to Do:
- After each class spend 20 minutes reviewing the material you learned that day. Try making a study guide. I recommend flashcards for us kinesthetic learners but there are a great number of different study aids you could use (outlines, study sheets, summaries etc.)
- At the end of the week spend 10 minutes reviewing everything you learned that entire week.
- After reviewing, try making 5-10 possible test questions. This will help you prepare yourself so you aren't surprised by what is asked of you on the test.
- Attempt to answer the questions as best you can.
- When the exam gets closer, maybe one or two weeks before hand, start developing a topic outline. Review one topic at a time.

MY EXPERIENCE:
This week I used the 20 minute test prep in my REL 206 class. The class is heavier on the readings and the actual class is more just review of the readings we did. If you have a class like this you should be coming up with questions as you do the readings. This should help you fully comprehend the material you are going to be tested on.
I had to read about 60 pages out of one of my books this week and as I did, I took notes on what I was reading because I am a kinesthetic learner. The process helped me understand what I was reading better because not only was I reading it but I transferred the ideas in my own words on to the paper. Putting ideas from a textbook into your own words really helps you to understand the material better. Just make sure your translation is right!!! After reading and taking notes I decided to come up with a few questions I might have to answer on the test I have coming up.
This proved to be difficult at first because I thought it was hard to have to come with a question without already knowing the answer to it. After a few easy questions I started thinking outside the box.
DON'T MAKE THE QUESTIONS YOU ASK YOURSELF TO HARD.--I want you to challenge yourself not stump yourself.
My test next Tuesday should be a piece of cake thanks to this strategy. I feel prepared and you will too if you apply it to your classes.

What Will Be On My Next Exam???

What Will Be On My Next Exam???

It seems like it may be hard to know what will be on the next exam, but I will discuss some ways to work towards a better grade and further understand what may be asked and how to prepare for it.

Math 222 in my opinion is my hardest class this semester. I struggle to understand the problems. I can comprehend the problems when I am shown how to do them but I find it to be difficult when the question is in a different format, to determine what the question is asking. During the faculty interview, my teacher recommended that I look at all the practice questions and be sure that I can determine what all of them are asking, even if I don’t complete the problems. These questions are usually muti-step and asking many different questions, so it takes a long amount of time to even work through one problem.

What Do You Do?

Its easy! Make practice questions that you think will be on the exam!

Use your syllabus to determine the types of questions that will be asked. Make sure to go over information that YOU DO NOT know how to do, rather than building confidence with the ones you already have figured out. If you interviewed this faculty member, you should also have a far better idea of what should be asked and the amount of preparation and types of things that will be given on an examination. If you have had any quizzes, those would be great questions to work through and know how to do. If there is a study guide, certainly know all of the information on it, but know HOW to do them, not just what each problem is.

How has this helped me?

I have not actually had an exam since I started using this method, but so far, it seems to be helping. I am learning how to approach all types of problems in all different formats. I have learned plenty more information and spent more time studying than I have yet this semester. I am finding that doing simple problems on occasion can really help to gain knowledge that will certainly be needed throughout the course. This will certainly benefit me on the next exam.

Below is a problem that is similar to the example problems shown in class. It is easy to substitute numbers for other numbers in example problems and see if it has the same result or a similar one with different numbers. As long as I have this format figured out, I should be able to do any problem given to me. The problems are so lengthy that I will only show one example.

The Exclusive on Exam Prep

Exclusive: Anticipating Test Questions

Its that time of the year again, midterms! Half a semesters knowledge crammed into one test. So, how do you go about studying all of it? I know during midterm and final time I am overwhelmed with the amount of material I have to go over and never know where to begin or how to do it. That is why this weeks topic of Anticipating Test Questions for Exam Prep is perfect.

Mat 122 is a course that does not have just one midterm exam but 4 mini midterms. You learn about 2 chapters and get tested on the material. This was the perfect time to test out the exam prep because I had an exam coming up.

The following are ways to anticipate questions your professor might ask you on the exam:

1. Syllabus

2. Professor's questions

3. Study aids

4. Your questions

5. Previous exams

I am a Kinesthetic learner so I thought the professors questions would be a great way for me to visualize and work out the questions. Mat 122 is a class with a lot of notes

so every time the professor asked a question or showed an example I would fully write it down and highlight it as an example so I would make sure to go back to it. When I sat down to study, I wrote out all of the examples on one sheet and made myself a study aid with all of the professors questions and equations for this unit. I then was able to easily go through the examples and memorize the equations. Study aids and professors questions can work in courses like math, history, science, and even for papers to write down key words the professor uses and organize them in your paper outline. Both of these strategies are great for kinesthetic, visual and audio learners.

To make a study aid, which can be a study sheet, graphic organizer, outline, flash cards or any other aid that you think may help you, all you need is your notes from class and place to organize them all. You should go through your notes and write on your study aid the information that is most important or that is hard-to-remember.

There is not a significant amount of limitation to these strategies. In class you should be attentive and focusing on what the professor says anyways so writing down all of the questions they say should not be a burden. Making a study aid will only help you better organize your notes and the material that will be on the test so it is easier to focus on what to study.

This is a method that is great for everyone and could help anyone ace those exams!

Part of My Study Aid

Problem Solving for Joshua

For this week's assignment, we are tasked to strategize on how to better many our academic problems. In order to address such an issue, I brainstormed what exactly my specific problems are. I listed how I always procrastinate, get overwhelmed with activities, and never can find a good place to do my work. I therefore, looked to the Ranking Priorities strategy for my College Learning Strategies course. I chose my Hebrew class to start. I normally do not struggle in Hebrew, yet I was sick last week and missed several classes. This put me far behind in my workload. I decided to list out the four assignments that I had due that week in Hebrew. I then ranked each one based on its importance. The picture atop shows how I listed each task as either:
A-Most important
B-Important
C-Least important
I had two for the A category, so I listed each as one and two. One being the more important, two being the lesser.
This really helped me to visually map out all of the assignments I had for my Hebrew class. This way, I also did not get overwhelmed by seeing all the tasks I had to finish immediately. I thus did each task in sequential order based on the importances of each; indicated by the legend of the corresponding letters.

Now that I had planned all that I had to do, I had to figure out the best, most convenient place to actually conduct my work. I turned to page 69 of my CLS textbook to analyze my optional study environments. The checklist really helped me to realize that the library is, by far, the best place for me to do my homework. It is quiet, nearby all my classes, and has all the necessary resources I could ever need to do my homework. I can now easily go to the library, and know which specific assignments are a priority to finish first.

Struggling with what to do next? Rank your priorities!

Hello All, for this week of problem solving I used the Ranking Priorities strategy. This is a strategy I have been using myself for quite some time, and it just so happens to be a problem solving strategy from the book! Personally I believe this strategy can be used in multiple ways. You can rank your priorities for one day or one week, or you could rank your priorities for one class or all classes! I personally like to know what I have to do for the whole week so I set up my priorities list for 2 separate classes that included my whole weeks work. I used this strategy on my economics class as well as my sociology class. The reason I used the great strategy on these classes is so I could see my whole weeks work. In my economics class I have a homework due as well as reading and a quiz. In my sociology class I had multiple readings to do and also a homework to hand in. When ranking my priorities for my economics class, because my homework is due on monday I ranked that as my highest priority because it counts for points due soonest. Reading the chapter for lecture Monday was my next priority because my quiz is not until Wednesday, so studying for my Wednesday quiz was third on the list. As you can see, it was helpful for me to use ranking priorities strategy so I could see what made sense to do first.

In sociology, I have readings for Monday and Wednesday, as well as a homework assignment due Wednesday. In my ranking priorities list I ranked the reading for monday first, so I could be prepared for class. I then put the homework assignment second because it is worth points, and the reading for Wednesday followed up the rear. Once again I ranked my priorities in an orderly fashion.

When ranking my priorities you can see that I took due dates and point totals into my consideration. I find this the best way to rank your priorities because it ranks them in a way that is best for your grade. By due dates and points! I highly recommend this strategy for anyone. Your thoughts are clear and organized, and you know exactly what you need to do for your class to succeed. Ranking Priorities is a great strategy that should be used by all!

Ranking Priorities

Ranking Priorities!

Do you ever feel so overwhelmed by your work that you end up just avoiding all of your assignments all-together? Do you ever waste time wondering what you should do first? Do you ever do all other assignments and save the huge dreaded project for two in the morning the day it is due? I do. I often spend a long period of time just playing on my computer because I can’t choose an assignment to begin with. Sometimes I forget that I have assignments due the next day, and accidently do long term projects instead and forget things that are more necessary, and end up staying up later to complete them. It is also hard on nights when I have so much work to complete, to choose where to begin.

I have other activities and things I need to keep up with that aren’t class related, considering I am a member of Syracuse University Ski Team and Danceworks. It is hard to balance these activities, but using this method and “D’s Due and Due,” I manage to keep everything straight.

I started by listing my classes in priority order. So I took my REL 120, CLS 105 and MAT 222 classes and put them in order of importance, for what order I should do them in. I picked a specific color for each class to make it easy to read. Then I put them into the days that I should do them on. I put those in order of what is most important and should be done first. I also added tasks I need to do for clubs and campus activities that were important. I would recommend this method for others because it really helps to be able to see all of the tasks I must complete that evening, so I need to budget my time in order to get all of these things done. I used colors on mine as just a fun way to keep things straight visually, but I think it helped, so I would recommend this to others also.

This method keeps me on track and kept me from procrastinating. I spent a night this week at the library until six in the morning and this was helpful, because I did only the most important tasks and left the least important for another time, rather than not having time to complete the most important things.

Trying to Solve a Problem?.......It's Gunna COST ya.

So this week's subject is Problem Solving. Everybody has problems but not everybody knows how to solve them. Well, check this out:
COST. (don't worry, it's not expensive)
What does it mean, you ask?

It's a strategy that focuses on students recognizing their need to change a given situation

HERE'S HOW IT WORKS

C- Change- Point out the problem(s) you want to solve or what you want changed.

- It helps if you try to determine what the source of your problem is.

O- Option- Brainstorm some solutions that could fix/solve the situation you are struggling with.
- Don't set an unreasonable goal. Try listing some things that you'll actually do.

S- Schedule- Set up times to tryout your options.
- Ask yourself how long it would take until you see results and if you need help.

T- Test- Look for results. revise if necessary.
- It is working? Should you be considering an other option?

HOW IT HELPS:
We all know that the first step to solving a problem is admitting you have one. The first step (Change) does exactly that. It helps you physically point out the problems you have by having it it writing. Then the second step (Option) gives you the opportunity to brainstorm solutions. It helps to just pump out ideas that can help you. Thirdly, 'Schedule' helps you execute your options. And lastly, your results are shown to you in the 'Test' step.
See? Simple steps to solve complicated problems.





My Experience:
Guys, this works.
In my Religion 206 class, I was falling behind in my readings! I knew it wasn't the end of the world thanks to the life-saving strategies provided by Dr. Blumin. I knew there was a way to solve my problems. Suddenly, the COST strategy was brought to my attention. That night, I went on to my computer and made a chart for the COST strategy. Seeing my problems in front of me made them more real and therefore made me more concerned with their solutions. So, I came up with some ways to solve my problem of being behind in my readings. I used the Fritter Finder to find some free time that week and use that free time to read. Instead of going back up to my dorm, I went to the library and read. The next day in class, I followed the discussion better than ever because I knew what was going on.

EVERYBODY SHOULD TRY THIS!

Jill's Ranking Priorities

Have a Problem?

Rank Your Priorities!

Having 15 credits this semester is a lot of work thats usually all due in the same week. Ranking my priorities was the best problem solving strategy I found. I am a visual learner so being able to write out what I have to do is always key for me. With ranking priorities I am able to write it out and then organize it so I know when I have to do each thing because having a long list of things to do gets stressful.

All that one needs to do in order to rank your priorities is list out what you need to do that day and then rank it A-Essential, B-Important, C-Optional and then number them in the order you want to do them within each letter group. Its that simple! It makes a long list of to do more manageable. You can apply this to any school work for any class. For me, I like to break each class up and list what I have to do for that class next to it. If I have more than one task in a class I will separate them so that I can still rank which I should do first. This strategy is good for people who never know where to start. When you have a lot to do it can be stressful and make you not want to start since you do not know where to.

Whenever I get an assignment I will write it into my assignment book. Everything is just listed as to when I have to do it and when it is due. I find it helpful to go home and use the "Stickies" app on my computer to write out the tasks for the day and rank them on there just to make it neater.

This week, I had a paper due in WGS 201 on Wednesday, and ECN 203 quiz Thursday, and some CLS homework throughout the week. On Monday I made my A1 printing my economics notes because that was quick to due and I needed them for the next day. A2 was working on my WGS paper because that was due Wednesday and was a big paper so I needed to get some of it done and I made my CLS homework B1 because it was not due until wednesday so I put it under B because if I did not get to it I could always move it to Tuesday. I followed basically this same strategy for the whole week and used my Fritter Finder to determine when I was going to do each task.

This was a light work week for me so breaking everything up was pretty easy to determine since my paper was the big task and then my other small work came after that. My big tasks like papers and studying for tests will always come first for me because it takes the most amount of time and these assignments are worth the most points.

As soon as I saw the ranking priorities page in the textbook I knew it would work perfect for me and my lists. Since I am a Kinesthetic learner, I like to visualize and do things. Writing everything out and being able to see what I have to do in an order fulfills my learning needs.

Josh's target planner

Hey. I have decided to speak about my usage of the Target Planner for this blog post. The Target Planner has allowed me to set due dates for myself for a given task. I can visually draw up a series of dates where I need to have specifically completed certain tasks. This planner allows me to see when each individual thing I need to do is due in a sequential order.
For example, I have designated certain due dates for each step in the process of doing my faculty interview project. I divided up the project into specific tasks that would not take me a large amount of time to complete. I then drew in each of these tasks into single layers in the 'target.' This way, I knew when each specific chunk of material was due for the project as a whole.
I have used the Target Planner for my College Learning Strategies course. We have a faculty interview project due in about 2 weeks from now. It is, however, a significant amount of work and involves many different tasks and assignments. In order to successfully utilize my Target Planner strategy, I have divided the entire project into 5 different sections and tasks which I need to complete. I planned to complete the the writing of the interview questions by the 2nd as my first task. Then I would email all my teachers to schedule appointments by the 9th. Next, I would interview my teachers and get signatures by the 13th, write my reflection by the 17th, and finally hand in my project on February 21st. By doing so, I can see which specific assignments I need to complete in sequential, logical order in order to finish the project as a whole in the allotted time. I found this very helpful, because by chunking up each task, it makes the entire assignment less intimidating and I can move on and forget about a task I have already completed and attempt to fulfill the next one on the target.
I used this Target Planner method also for my Presentational Speaking Class. I designated specific due dates for a two week long task where I had to write and memorize a speech and then present it in class. I had my outline due three days after the project was assigned and then I divided up the rest. The first day, I brainstormed and jotted down some of my ideas for my speech. The second day, I wrote down in an acceptable format all the ideas I wanted to cover and my 'key terms' in order. The third day, I finished the outline by writing my introduction and conclusion, and also each body paragraph's main points.
I much prefer chunking up a task into smaller portions so that the entirety of the full project is not overwhelming. By completing smaller events in a big-scaled project, paper, or even exam, it can be easier to avoid procrastination. By getting parts of the full project done in a logical amount of spaced out time, I never will have to wait until the night before the project is due to complete the entire thing.
Below is my Target Planner that I artistically struggled to draw. It shows several due dates for my faculty interview project and when, ideally, each task should be completed by.
Time management is something I have always struggled with. I almost always will wait until the night before the assignment is due to finish the paper, project, or study for the exam. The usage of the Fritter Finder (attached picture) helped to plan out times where I had free, available time where I could do some of my homework or study for an exam, or write a paper. By plotting out my schedule in an organized matter, I could see how specifically I had given time slots available during the day which I could use much more valuably. This strategy helped me to plan out my assignments better and not procrastinate so much in the last minute especially. I chose the fritter finder technique because it did allow me to clearly see when I had free time. This visual presentation was a good method for me, because it provides me my own schedule which I can easily manage if i plot in my class time and time slots for academic work.

Time Management: Using the target planner and Fritter Finder

As you can see I have used the Fritter Finder and Target Planner for my time management strategies. Since I am a procrastinator I found the target planner extremely helpful because when you follow it there is no chance of you having to cram everything the night before. Getting things done when the target planner said can save you a lot of headaches. The fritter finder made me realize that I do have a lot of time during the day to get things done and do what I want. Both time management strategies are helpful, and for other procrastinators like myself I highly recommend using the Target Planner.

Busy schedule? Need more time? Try the Fritter Finder.

We all know how busy a collegiate life can be. There may seem to not be enough hours in the week. Well I've got some good news for you: There are enough hours in a week, you just need to know how to find them. To help you 'find' those hours you should use the Fritter Finder method. It doesn't take long and it will help you tremendously. All you have to do is get a weekly schedule and map out all the time you are not in class with a different color. Now add up all the time you have in between and after classes that week to find how much fritter time you have. You may say, "But that's when I take my naps!" Yes, naps are magnificent but imagine all the naps you can take on the weekend because you've already completed all your homework during your free time that week! Unbelievable, I know. With all this new time found, instead of going back up to the dorm to catch some Z's how about hitting up the library and catching some ABC's(Homework).

I'm speaking from experience here people. This last week I've used the fritter finder and it has already helped me do my math homework (MAT 121), catch up on my religion readings (REL 206), and even complete a paper that is not due until next week (ETS 145). Budgeting your time is one of the best ways to succeed when you feel overwhelmed. Before I started taking this class I felt like I was holding off to do work until the weekend and using my fritter time to sleep. But thankfully, Dr. Blumin showed me the light and I now I feel more accomplished while I use my free time to actually do work.

Here is my Fritter finder schedule (Top Right). You can see that in between classes and after classes I have a tremendous amount of time to get work done. I really hope you all can take advantage of this simple method. you won't regret it.

Kyle

Fritter Finder

My Fritter Finder
I am blogging about the topic Fritter Finder today. I used this method this week to help me better organize my free time. I have a lot of breaks in my schedule throughout the day and so this method helped me get work done during those breaks so I would not have to stay up late at night doing it. I used the fritter finder to help me in all of my classes, especially WGS 201 and HTW 318.

For WGS 201 we have to do a lot of reading and write papers. To help me spread this out I chunked the task and then looked at the free time I had on my fritter finder to decide when to do the different parts. I spend some of the free hours I had in between classes Wednesday and after classes Thursday reading and then had the weekend to write a draft of my paper. The fritter finder gave me a visual representation of how much free time I really had so that I was able to sit down a know when I was going to actually do things.

I also used this strategy for HTW 318. This class has a lot of textbook readings due before class so I used the fritter finder to help me see when I was going to sit down and read them. I chunked the task as well for this class so I did not have to read a lot of dense material in one sitting. I did this around 4:00 tue-thursday because this was a good time for me to focus since it was usually after I had eaten lunch and had a little break from class. This helped me get the reading done a lot quicker and actually pay attention to it.

I think the fritter finder is a great strategy for visual learns and people with schedules that have big breaks at different times in the day, like me. It can work for any type of work because it just lets you know when a good time to do it is. It has already helped me so I think that I will continue to use it when I get a new schedule and classes, as well as throughout the remainder of this semester.

D's Due and Do

D's Due and Do

I am blogging about the topic “D’s Due and Do.” I have used this in all of my classes as well as to remind myself what I need to do daily even when it isn’t regarding my classes. I used this strategy in CLS, MAT 222, REL 120, CFS 388 and PHI 107. I already used this method to some extent before this class, but now I just added the words “due” and “do,” but it was already very similar. I found that by adding these words it became easier to understand my schedule and what I should plan on doing when. I prefer not to split my schedule with a line, I simply prefer to write them out plainly on the date, because I will read them all anyways and I find it easier to read. I also put all of the major due dates into my monthly calendar at the beginning of my schedule in to be sure that I do not miss any assignments.

Above there is a picture of my weekly schedule.

This strategy has not failed me yet. I find it very useful and I honestly intend to continue using it throughout my college experience. I have always been very organized and used my schedule already, so this small step should not be a hassle and should be more helpful than the method I was using before. I chose this strategy because I basically already used it, I just made a couple little tweaks to the way I wrote things down.

It is very important to be organized; “D’s due and do” is a very easy method and takes only a few minutes to set up. It can save me from forgetting little things I may previously have forgotten. This is my favorite method so far, I know it isn’t a method for actually doing the work, but if I don’t know I need to do an assignment, those other methods will never come into effect. I would recommend that everyone give this method a try! I am sure it will continue to be useful from that point on.

Below there is pictures of my monthly schedules.