Tips for Success on Examinations

Throughout the Semester

Laying the foundations for success occurs weeks before taking the examination. Indeed, if examinations merely measured how much information you could cram into your brain the night before, professors would have long since abandoned tests as a useful measurement of what you had learned over the preceding weeks.

Think of preparing for an examination in the same way you would think of building a house. You must plan in advance before laying the foundations and building upward. It's a gradual process that takes time and ability. It's not like filling a car with gas or pounding a beer—activities that require no forethought, a minute amount of skill, and little time.

• Do the reading. Think about the reading. Take notes on the reading. No matter how intelligent you are, you need to read. If you do not read, you will remain ignorant, and even the greatest intelligence cannot overcome ignorance.
• Take thorough, clear, and well-organized notes throughout the semester. You will have to refer to these while you study.
  
• Look for the big picture. Think about how the lectures, discussions, and readings relate to one another. How does one event in a lecture contribute to the origins of another event in a different lecture? To what kind of themes and ideas does the professor keep returning? If you don't understand what's going on, talk to the professor.

Studying

High school teachers and college professors never spend much time explaining exactly what they mean by the word "studying." Consequently, most students don't really know how to spend the last few days before an examination. After placing their notebook, the class handouts, the coursepack, and the textbook on a desk, they begin to

a) cry
b) clean their room, do the laundry, run errands . . .
c) calculate their worst-case scenario GPA
d) wonder if Bill Gates needed to know anything about history
e) get the van ready so they can leave college and follow the Phish tour

It doesn't have to be that way. Take control of your destiny and master the situation! Studying for an examination requires time, care, and thought. Studying is about reviewing, thinking, and then memorizing.

• Look over your notes from the class and the readings. Try to find patterns and put together the big picture. How do different parts of the course relate to one another?
  
• Don't try to study everything. Figure out what is significant and understand it thoroughly. Ignore the insignificant. This is the most important and difficult step to take.
  
• Develop a framework that helps you understand the relationship between important events, institutions, practices, movements, and developments that have played a prominent role in the course.
  
• Ask yourself what kinds of questions the professor would put on the examination. Write outlines of answers to these questions. Be as thorough and precise in your answers as you possibly can. The actual question might not look exactly the way you thought it would, but if you've given some serious thought to the issues involved, you will still do well.
  
• Memorize your outlines of these answers. As you do so, take pains to memorize the specific facts and points that support your outline.
• Find a quiet, peaceful place to review, think, and memorize. Leave the TV, the discman, and the stereo off. Believe it or not, noise and moving pictures will impair your ability to concentrate.
  
• Get some sleep the night before!

As you can see, these tasks require more than just a couple of hours. They also demand that you use your grey matter. To do the job right, you probably ought to break up this work into pieces over the course of several days.

During the Examination

By the time you've sat in your desk and opened the bluebook, there isn't really much you can do to enhance your performance (legally). Nevertheless, the following suggestions might help.

• Read the question carefully. The question may have several parts—read all of them.
  
• Spend some time thinking about the question. Let it sink in.
  
• Make sure you answer the question asked. Try to provide as thorough and detailed an answer as possible. Remember to think.
  
• Write an outline to which you can refer. Such a device will allow you to provide a clear and methodical answer to the question.
  
• Start your essay with a thesis statement that directly addresses the question. Don't just turn the question into a statement—a thesis statement ought to show more thought, analytical ability, and intelligence.
  
• Do not provide a simple narration of events. In other words, don't just describe what happened. Indeed, a question will never ask you "what happened?" In all likelihood, it will ask you "why did it happen?" "how did it happen?" or "how is this different from that?" Your answer will require some sort of analysis.
  
• Try to be as specific as possible. I will draw and quarter people who make such vague assertions as, "The people fought for their rights." Which people? What rights? Why did they fight? How did they fight?
  
• Budget your time wisely.
  
• Write legibly.