Let's Get ready to Prep!!

What time of the year is it? Did you say Exam Prep Time? Well, if you did you were right.This week was the 6th week of the Spring 2011 semester so many students campus wide started studying for exams in their classes. One of the things that alot of students had trouble with this week was preparing themselves for the exams that they had to take. Many students decided to wait until the night before their exam to begin studying while other decided to pull all nighters instead of resting before their exams. While some students might think exam prep is easy and does not require much effort others including myself struggle with making sure that they are properly prepared for midterms. This week I used 2 techniques which included a Source Outline and a Topic Outline to help improve my preparation skills.

This week I had my first CHE 116 Exam on Thursday that was over 3 chapters which were Chapters 14, 15 and 16. These three chapters covered a wide range of information ranging from reaction rates to Le Chatelier's Principle to Acids & Bases. I learned a lot of really difficult concepts during the past 6 weeks so I knew that in order to get ready for this exam I was going to have to organize my notes and homework problems if I wanted to earn a good grade. Last semester when I took CHE 106 I would prepare for exams by reading the chapters one by one each day for 3 days then as I read I would write a summary of what I read. This method worked okay for me on the first two tests but on the last test this method did not work well for me at all. I also found that it was extremely difficult for me to stay interested in reading a chapter of the text a day. So this semester I knew that if I wanted to do well on all of the test I would have to change my study habits by taking action and adopting a new way of preparing for exams.

The first technique I tried this week was the Source Outline. In the Source Outline you list each source of information for the exam such as the textbook, lecture notes, homework and other assignments used in the course. For example you can use A for textbooks, B for lecture notes, C for homework and so on. Then under each of these sources you write the headings and titles so that you can categorize the content in each of the sources. It is very important to be specific when writing down the content you should include dates of lecture notes, dates of handouts assignments and chapter titles.The course syllabus can be used to help you identify major topic.

Source Outline for CHE 116

The second strategy I used to prepare for my exam was the Topic Outline. The topic outline takes the source outline and rearranges it into the topics that are studied in the course. It is really simple to do a Topic outline once you have done a Source Outline. The first step is you list each exam topic for the exam in outline form. Then you go back so that you can add dates & page numbers. Below is a picture of my Topic Outline:

Topic Outline for CHE 116

Both of these strategies helped me organize myself so that I could begin studying for my exam which is a very important step in the exam prep process. I really liked the Source Outline because it allowed me to organize all of the different sources that I use in CHE 116 that I needed to review for the exam. The Topic Outline was also beneficial to me because it helped me to further organize and combine all of the info for this course by topics and sub topics which made it easier for me to study. Furthermore it provided page numbers for specific concepts that I need to know so I did not have to search through the index to find the pages all I had to do was look at the outline to find the page numbers. These 2 strategies worked the best for me because I am a Linear Learner so I learn the best when information is presented to me in a sequenced, structured and organized way that has lots of details & facts which is exactly what both of these strategies provided for me.

One disadvantage of the Topic Outline is that it is kind of time consuming because you have to look through your syllabus as well as lecture notes and homework assignments to find out dates and titles. However I think it is definitely worth spending the time on making a topic outline because in the end nothing bad can come out of making one and by creating one you are reminding yourself of the topics that you learned in class.

Try making a Source Outline and a Topic Outline so that you can apply these strategies to your classes. If you want to have a successful exam day and if you know is best for you then you will use both of these strategies.