Test-Taking Strategies Presentation

Question 1

Intro: Good Afternoon, everyone!

Answer 1

…my name is Ben Reitz. I’m the College Prep Zone Coordinator for the Red Rocks Learning Commons and Tutoring Department.

Question 2

Intro: Along with Coordinating services through the College Prep Zone…

Answer 2

…one of my roles is to provide guidance to students on study strategies and college success. Today, I’m here to share some effective tips for test-taking/conquering exams

Question 3

This discussion will include not only tips about what to do before, during and after the test to maximize success, but also…

Answer 3

…some effective methods for reducing test-anxiety.

Question 4

Intro: With these little chats, I like to…

Answer 4

Encourage you all, as participants, to feel comfortable interjecting with comments or questions or things to contribute - we again hope to keep the discussion conversational, and casual. With that in mind, let’s crack in!

Question 5

Slide: What are Effective Study and Success Strategies?

Answer 5

If you have attended one of these sessions before, you’ll recognize how we define Effective Study strategies. Our definition is [read def].

It’s always worth mentioning how developing these skills for college success pays dividends well beyond the college experience. These skills are coveted by potential employers, which is one reason they so often search for college degree holders.

Question 6

Slide: What are…

Now, there are several categories of effective study strategies we like to cover with students. As I mentioned before,

Answer 6

…we will focus on this one: Test-taking strategies, which will include a short discussion on test anxiety coping techniques.

Question 7

Slide: Test-taking strategies

Answer 7

But before we begin to cover those details, we should spend a little time talking about why these techniques are worth learning (and they ARE worth learning, whether you are the type of student who struggles with exams or not).

Question 8

So why are good test-taking strategies important? How do they help?

Answer 8

Some obvious benefits are:
1) First, they are devised to maximize the fruitfulness of our pre-exam prep practices
2) Some target and decrease high levels of test anxiety, either actively during exams or through test anxiety prevention methods
3) Of course, they improve our overall performance on individual exams, and

Some less obvious (but equally compelling benefits) would be…

4) Raising our academic performance in general, over many courses and many tests
5) They train us to succeed in formal assessments beyond college, maybe in certification or professional exams in our career lives.

So now that we understand why they are important, let’s look at test-taking techniques themselves! As an aside, there will also be a test, at the end of this discussion, in the spirit of this topic. I can assure you, there will be VERY HIGH STAKES!

Question 9

Slide: Prepare, Prepare, Prepare!

Answer 9

So I think most of you will probably recognize this old dude: it’s Ben Franklin of course. In his lifetime, he was known not only as a statesman and scientist (and for his taste in high-quality head-phones), but as a journalist, who would offer nuggets of wit and wisdom.

One such nugget that applies to our discussion here is this: “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail!”

Question 10

I couldn’t agree more emphatically with Franklin on this when it comes to test prep…

Answer 10

I have seen many a student come into the tutoring commons in states of extreme stress, saying things like “I can’t believe I put this off until now!” or “I’m freaking out! My test is tomorrow! Please help!” And often, by that point, they have run out of energy and time to build up the knowledge and confidence needed to succeed on those exams. In the Learning Commons, we often see first-hand how students ignore these words of wisdom at their own risk.

Question 11

Slide: Before the Test

Answer 11

So preparation is crucial, but in a recurring theme for these workshops, the mere act of preparing is not enough. How we prepare matters. There are several important steps you can and should take in actually getting prepared for exam time.

Question 12

An essential step is to Compile, Create, and Organize study resources…

Answer 12

Having your own ready-made study packet, specific to your needs for a given test, will have the best chance of efficiently setting you up for exam success.

Question 13

These include your own notes from the class…

Answer 13

And hopefully, you will have used an effective note-taking method, one that catalogues and organizes ideas (perhaps by key term). Getting into that habit will keep you from having to flip endlessly through your notes during precious study time, both before a test or even during one (for an open-note exam).

Again, I would recommend you use a note-taking template, like the Cornell note-taking method, which I will have Ellie link for you in the chat.

Question 14

Other great materials to use for exam prep would be flash cards…

Answer 14

…which, as I mentioned last time, I personally like to create as I am first exposed to material in my active study sessions, so that they are both accurate and ready-to-go by exam time.

These are, of course, most useful for any material that you need to have memorized. Even for open-note exams, they still help you familiarize yourself with multi-step processes and rules in advance, so again, you don’t have to do quite as much flipping through your notes on an open note exam.

Question 15

Of course, most instructors provide study guides that cover all the potential topics that will appear on your exam….

Answer 15

I would recommend you start using the guide from the moment it is posted or made available.

Consider doing a “diagnostic session” with key terms included on the guide when you first have access to it.

Also, don’t cheat yourself by ignoring any practice problems! Math exams, for instance, are almost guaranteed to include practical problems, and not just conceptual ones.

Question 16

Finally, Old exams and quizzes from the class provide you will another goldmine of study resources.

Answer 16

As long as any mistakes have been addressed/corrected, they help to prioritize what to review in future, as what has come up before (especially multiple times) is very likely to reappear on cumulative finals, or unit tests.

Question 17

Manage your Review Time (Not just your study materials) - the Gift of Time!

Answer 17

As I said, one of the biggest and most common mistakes I see students regularly make is to devote way too little time, way too late, to test preparation.

Give your self the gift of time! - A good rule of thumb is study for multiple, frequent, hour-long blocks of time, in the 1-2 weeks leading up to the exam.

Question 18

Manage your Review Time (cont.) - Hacking your brain!

Answer 18

…consistent review will serve as a sort of “brain hack”, to build up our neurological pathways, until the knowledge and skills we need are “2nd nature”.

Daily and weekly reviews of the material over the several weeks leading up to your exam will keep the material fresh, accurate and more easy to recall under pressure…

Question 19

Before the Test (cont.) -

Answer 19

It is helpful to try to prioritize the content that will be most likely to appear. Of course, you may be wondering, “How are we supposed to know what will be likely to appear?”

Well, instructors are in the habit of providing clues, both intentionally and unintentionally, especially in the weeks leading up to an exam.

Does anyone have some idea about what kind of clues to look for in identifying high-priority test material, as your instructor teaches in class?

Great! I think we hit on most of these, but common things to pay attention to in this area would be…[read list]

Question 20

I am living proof that we ignore these helpful clues about instructors’ priorities in class at our own peril….

Answer 20

I had a medieval history instructor once, who took pains to repeat a few facts about a medieval philosopher, over and over. When exam time came, I didn’t include those specific facts in my short essay response. So even though I had lots of good material about that historical figure, which was all true, he didn’t appreciate that failed to incorporate the material he’d repeated so much (which also happened to be his area of professional expertise). I got my lowest score on any exam in college, as a result.

So listening for the high-priority topics in the run up to exam time pays-off, so learn from my mistake!

Question 21

It is also essential that we prepare ourselves physically and mentally for the exam. Any ideas about how we can build this type of preparedness?

Answer 21

All very good thoughts! Here is our list of suggestions…

Make sure to get plenty of sleep the night before. I would strongly caution you against “pulling an all-nighter”, as sleep deprivation contributes more to poor cognitive performance than almost any other factor.

Question 22

Be sure to eat adequate food and hydrate!

Answer 22

A light snack about a half-hour before the exam can help to stabilize your blood-sugar. Try to avoid hefty meals just before the test; we’ve all experienced how they can make the brain sluggish. Also, drink lots of water in the hours before the exam! Remember that the brain itself is 73% water, and functions best when given good water saturation…

Question 23

Make sure to arrive around 10 minutes early.

Answer 23

Arriving late to an exam can already set you out on an anxious footing going in, and test-anxiety can be easily triggered as a result.

Question 24

Try to avoid “doom and gloom” discussions with classmates…

Answer 24

We’ve all had that experience when we arrive early for an exam, and a crowd of classmates are already chatting about how worried they are for the exam, about how underprepared they feel, or they might be openly second-guessing some content they had studied. Try not to participate, as it could trigger test anxiety.

Question 25

Eliminate Unnecessary Stressors

Answer 25

In the weeks leading up to a big test, try to avoid taking on projects that aren’t necessary. In finals week, this can be tough, as final projects and papers are also often due, but maybe you can take a rain-check on helping your friends move apartments, or on working overtime hours in the run-up to your exam dates…

Question 26

Does anyone else have other ideas for solid test-prep?

Answer 26

Lucky socks/underwear, perhaps?

Question 27

Slide: During the Test

So let’s move on to talk about what can be done during the exams, as best-practices for test-taking…

Answer 27

In the first phase of the testing period, some simple practices can help to set you up for success later in the exam period…These practices would include things like…

Question 28

Reading written directions carefully, multiple times…

Answer 28

Sometimes, even well-worked problems are not correct b/c they are answering questions the exam is not actually asking.

I have been burned by this. On a calc III exam, I did 20 minutes of calculations that were unnecessary, because I failed to read that the question was only asking me to set up an equation, not go through with evaluating it. Again, learn from my mistakes!

Question 29

Scan the entire exam early…

Answer 29

…to evaluate the importance of each section. By “evaluating the importance”, we mean prioritizing sections by their length, difficulty, point value, and so on…

Question 30

As an extension of the last item, it can be helpful to answer easiest/shortest questions first…

Answer 30

That gives you the chance to rack up as many quick points as possible; then, you can address more challenging problems when you are not as likely to answer every one correctly anyway…

Question 31

Pace yourself…

Answer 31

Try to keep track of how much time has passed. Many instructors provide this information in a running count-down on the board.

Also, try to keep the amount of time you spend on each question consistent with its relative importance/point-value worth…

Question 32

Look for answers in other test questions…

Answer 32

I have gotten a lot of mileage out of this tactic in math classes, especially. In stats, for example, probability problems that appear later on exams often use probabilities already calculated in earlier sections, as factors in calculating some new probability of interest…

Also, definitions that you can’t remember are sometimes included or implied in the context of earlier questions…

Question 33

Try to relax…

Answer 33

Consider taking a moment to do a little “box breathing”, which is great for drawing down nervousness and increasing focus. This is 4 seconds of breath in through nose, 4 seconds holding, 4 seconds of breath out through mouth, 4 more seconds holding, and then repeat.

Question 34

Slide: During the Test (cont.) -

Use appropriate test strategies

Answer 34

It’s also critical that we approach the questions on the exam with strategies that are specific to the types of problems that appear…

Question 35

One common type of problem is, of course, multiple choice. There are a few key tips for these, specifically.

Answer 35

First, be sure to read all answers completely before selecting one. Sometimes, it’s only very subtle differences that set the possible answers apart.

Second, use the process of elimination to rule out anything that seems either absurd outright, irrelevant to the particular question, or wholly unfamiliar.

Finally, Check the directions to see if more than one answer is appropriate; example: “All of the following-type problems…”

Question 36

Less common at the college level, but still not unheard-of is the true/false question. General tips for questions of this type would be…

Answer 36

…First, read each true/false proposition completely and carefully (watch out for tricky wording (esp. double negatives, as these reverse the meaning of the statement twice)

Second, watch out for absolute statements (these are almost always false)

Third, Don’t over-analyze; your intuition is often best for these types of problems, as there are only two possible answers, and one must be right. If you’ve studied at all, that means, your first intuition about a problem will give you a more than 50% chance of being correct (in theory).

Question 37

Also, there is the dreaded Essay question…helpful guidelines might include

Answer 37

a) making a quick outline of your soon-to-be draft before you start writing - it seems counterintuitive, but taking some time to organize your thoughts will ultimately save you test time

b) Include introduction and conclusion sections - Ending too abruptly, or worse, failing to establish your thesis/main idea with a short intro section will leave the details of the essay without broader context and analysis. These types of questions are designed to test your ability to do that analysis, so don’t just list details in a body of paragraphs.

c) Avoid “fluff”- get to the point for each paragraph and after you’ve made it and provided support, stop (provide nothing extraneous). Instructors value their time as much as you do, and don’t look kindly on grading padded essay question responses

Question 38

Other tips: Keep Scratch Paper Handy for doing clarifying drawings…

Answer 38

It really helps to draw out certain diagrams, both for math problems (like drawing out triangles you are trying to solve in Trig) and for essay questions (for visual outlining before crafting a longer written response)

Question 39

Watch out for important differences between similar concepts/symbols…

Answer 39

A good example would be the difference (in statistics) between say, standard deviation and variance, which are VERY closely related but not the same thing.

Question 40

For word problems on math tests, provide answers that connect back to the context of the problem, not just the specific statistics/numbers/equations or symbols the question is asking about.

Answer 40

Make sure you are using units that the problem dictates for the final answer.

This practice will help you get the most credit possible on each question of a math exam.

Question 41

Slide: After the Test

Answer 41

It can be tempting to simply wash our hands of exams once the stress of actually taking them is over. But we do ourselves a dis-service if we don’t wind down from and reflect on our performance in the aftermath. Post-test tips include…

Question 42

Before you leave the test area, look over your work

Answer 42

This is your last chance to make sure there are no obvious errors and that all answers you’ve provided make sense in the question context.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If after a first thorough review of your work, you see no obvious errors, don’t spend too much more time looking for them…it can be easy to second-guess your work, even when you have done it correctly the first time.

Question 43

Reward Yourself

Answer 43

Wind down with a pleasant experience, like spending time with a pet or a loved one.

This can be difficult, when you are anxiously awaiting graded feedback, but no amount of worrying will alter what is now out of your control…

Furthermore, relaxing after a test may enable you to address the outcome with more energy and drive.

Question 44

Once the test is returned, complete a brief analysis…

Answer 44

This is the first critical step in reflecting on your performance. Components of this analysis could include:

Question 45

Ask yourself if the test is scored correctly…

Answer 45

Instructors are fallible, and most are willing to admit when they have made a mistake in the grading process. And the worst that can happen is they will explain how the grade they gave is warranted, which gives you even more information about how to address that material in future exams…It is truly a win-win situation.

Question 46

Ask where most of the questions came from (textbook, lectures, handouts, etc…)?

Answer 46

This is, naturally, a great clue as to the types of in-class materials that will inform future exams…

Question 47

Ask yourself: What topics did I miss? Why?

Answer 47

Success in college is as much an exercise in humility as in discipline and learning. Try to be honest with yourself about your failings on the exam…consider the root cause: Was your understanding too shallow? Did you not practice a certain process/skill enough? Did you succumb to test anxiety in the moment, despite having prepared amply?

Question 48

Of course, once you know the root causes of your struggles with a test, you can reflect on what can be done differently later on

Answer 48

If you conclude your understanding of concept was too shallow, you can go back to the book/lecture notes, diving more deeply into the details of that concept.

If you conclude that you didn’t practice a given skill enough, you can seek out practice problems and application exercises for that type of question.

If you conclude that you were the victim of test anxiety, you can employ some test-anxiety reduction techniques (more on that in a moment)

Question 49

Chat with your instructor about ways to improve…

Answer 49

I know we often have a terrifying vision of taking our concerns after poor performance on an exam to the instructor, only to be dismissed or scoffed at; we might fear that the instructor looks down on us for having underperformed or that they think we aren’t taking their class seriously.

In fact, most instructors are happy to share some details about how to improve your performance on future exams; the truth is, most of them genuinely WANT to see you succeed! Don’t hesitate to pick their brains for tips on specific points of struggle in your last exam.

Question 50

Slide: A Word about Test Anxiety

Answer 50

Test anxiety, as many of us know first-hand, is a combination of physical, mental and emotional reactions that make it difficult to perform well on exams.

Let’s take a look at this phenomenon under a microscope and discuss some strategies for how to reduce or even eliminate test anxiety.

Question 51

There are essentially two main types of test anxiety. They are…

Answer 51

1) Anticipatory Test Anxiety - Experienced when thinking about or studying for an upcoming exam

2) Situational test anxiety - Experienced while in the act of taking an exam

Question 52

Ultimately, understanding the different types can helps us deal with each more effectively, by using strategies specific to the real root of the problem for each of us

Answer 52

For example, more investment in preparation can help mitigate anticipatory test anxiety, because it raises our confidence in our ability to perform as the test approaches

On the other hand, more immediate mental techniques help us draw down situational test anxiety, as we work to relax and focus during the exam period itself.

Question 53

Signs that we are developing test anxiety run the gamut from…

Answer 53

Physical Signs [read signs] - this sounds like a list of side effects for some awful new medication, but these physical experiences can be very real and very distracting when we are trying to perform under scrutiny

Emotional Signs [read signs] - it’s obvious that we can be nervous and frustrated about upcoming tests, but who here has noticed that they get a little less friendly/more grumpy when exams approach? I know I have!

Mental Signs [read signs] - This includes things like the lack of ability to focus, to complete a train of thought, simply “blanking out”, etc…This is how test anxiety manifests for me…I’ve even walked out of a major educational certification exam because of a case of sudden and complete mental “block”

Question 54

So now that we’ve identified some of the types of test anxiety, what specific strategies can be used for coping with them?

Answer 54

Some suggestions we like to give include:

Question 55

Preparing Well for Each Exam

Answer 55

As we’ve mentioned before, thorough and effective prep means increased confidence going in, which naturally draws down the basis for much anticipatory test anxiety

Question 56

Keeping things in perspective

Answer 56

It’s easy to see the word “exam” or “quiz” and assign massive importance to the outcome…but it helps to keep in mind what the upcoming assessment is actually worth …even for our largest exams they usually don’t make or break our success in the whole course -> realizing the true stakes is usually calming.

Question 57

Don’t overlook physical preparation

Answer 57

Again, try not to cram or pull “all-nighters”; good sleep is critical for the best cognitive functioning. Try to get six to eight hours before the exam day.

Try to get some exercise in the weeks leading up to the exam as well. Cognitive function is highly correlated with physical activity.

And don’t forget: hydrate, hydrate, hydrate!

Question 58

Don’t overlook physical preparation

Answer 58

Again, try not to cram or pull “all-nighters”; good sleep is critical for the best cognitive functioning. Try to get six to eight hours before the exam day.

Try to get some exercise in the weeks leading up to the exam as well. Cognitive function is highly correlated with physical activity.

And don’t forget: hydrate, hydrate, hydrate! Consider bringing a water bottle with you to the exam session.

Question 59

Try the “3-3-3 method” for fighting anxiety

Answer 59

This practice has its roots in cognitive behavioral therapy. How to perform: once you realize that you are growing anxious, look at 3 things in the room and name them to yourself in your mind. Then listen for 3 sounds, like doors closing, pens scratching, clocks ticking, etc…) and name those sounds in your mind. Then, actively move three parts of your body. This little technique can help refocus your attention on the present moment, and away from the feeling of nervousness

Question 60

Bring a positive attitude

Answer 60

Try to remain hopeful about your chances of success; nothing brings anxiety on faster than assuming that you are doomed to fail (because it may dis-incentivize you to adequately prepare or terrify you, distracting you with nerves)!

Question 61

Approach studying seriously but think of the test as a game…

Answer 61

I always say to study like you are preparing for the Hunger Games, but try to approach the test itself as a fun challenge, like being on a quiz show. This attitude can help you reduce the impact of the testing stakes on your mentality, which helps you focus, which in turn can improve how you perform…

Question 62

Does anyone else have any other favorite techniques for fighting off test-anxiety, of either type?

Answer 62

Great ideas, all around!

Question 63

Remember when I said there would be a test?

Answer 63

And you are all thinking, “But Ben, we had no time to adequately prepare!” and to that I say, “touche.” But I’m pretty mean so here are the questions anyway…[ask questions]

Question 64

Okay, terrific everyone! Are there any final thoughts or questions, before we wrap it up?

Answer 64

Okay, fantastic. Well good luck on your first major exam and do come see us in the College Prep Zone if you are struggling in your test prep process!