A Definitive Guide
October 3, 2020
You have an exam scheduled the <day indicated in the syllabus>
, at the <time indicated in the syllabus>
, and you want to make sure you are ready for it? You want to organize your revision, and make sure you don’t overlook any aspect of <class you are enrolled in>
? You would feel better if you had a list of the topics covered during the class, and that could be on the exam?
If the answer to those questions is Yes!
, then you probably want a study guide, and I strongly suggest you write your own.
Essentially for three reasons:
Actually, I believe that providing my own study guide would be counter-productive, because it could
The content of the exam is predictable when you listen in class, do the assignment, went over the syllabus and pay attention. Since every exam is cumulative, there isn’t really any surprise as to “what will be on the exam”: everything will be on it. You have five sources to make sure you know what the core aspects of the class are:
Read the description of the class, the student learning outcome, and the planned schedule.
Your notes should be organized and reflect the plan we followed in class. Identify the key words, the topics, the transitions, the tools and the examples.
The content of the exam is always similar to what was asked in the homeworks. Look again at the exercises, think about how you could combine two exercises into one, make sure you know how to do them without external help and in limited time.
Even if the class does not always follow the textbook as closely as you may want, there are indications in the syllabus as to where to look for another description of the topic we covered in class. You can also look at the review questions or exercises it offers.
Look at your previous evaluations (quizzes, projects and exams if there were any), and wonder: what did you missed? Why did you missed it? Was it because of lack of time? Lack of attention? Lack of knowledge? Depending on the answer, work on having a better focus, a better time management, a better attention to the questions asked, or a better skill as identifying what to revise.
You wrote your own study guide! Great, now it is time to revise, isn’t it? I see two options:
<class you are enrolled in>
are still not clear. List them, circle them, look for other sources if needed, ask someone (including me!), leave them aside for a while, go back to an exercise, do whatever helps you, but don’t panic.In both cases, remember this graph:
It is plain wrong (and not only because there is no unit on the vertical axis): while not studying at all gives you good chance of getting a terrible grade, cramming two additional hours instead of getting a reasonable amount of sleep is almost certain to lower your grade. Plan ahead, study regularly, and if you did actually come to class, worked on the homeworks and various exercises regularly, your revision should be nothing more than making sure you actually master the notions you have been studied for some time.
Most importantly, relax and try to enjoy this opportunity to learn about that exciting topic!
Well… Maybe the Academic Success Center will have more useful tips and ressources than me!