Study Guide for Final Exam

1. Study Guide for Final Exam What Smart Students Know

2. What’s my purpose for reading this? • You know WHY you are reading • You know what you are looking for

3. What do I already know about this topic? • Starts the process of generating questions • Makes you aware of what you know and don’t know • Puts you on the look-out for new information • Provides practice in resourceful thinking • It acts as a review • It makes you the authority

4. What’s the Big Picture? • Find the following • Main ideas and themes • Important terms and concepts • Overall organization

5. What’s the Author Going to Say Next? • This helps you interact with the text • It helps you anticipate what is coming…makes it a game…

6. What are the Expert Questions? • What is this made of? • How can this be identified? • What process causes this? • Where is this usually found? • What can I tell about the history of this?

7. Orientation Questions… • What is the definition of this? • What is an example of this? • What are the different types of this? • What is this related to? • What can this be compared with?

8. What Questions Does This Raise For Me? • Be aware of the questions that come into your mind. • Who, what, when, where, why and how…

9. What Information is Important Here? • 80/20 rule…AKA Pareto’s Principle • In reading… • Beginning and end • Anything emphasized graphically • The gist of a chart or a diagram • The chapter summary

10. In a lecture… • Beginning and end • Anything that goes on the board • Anything your teacher repeats, emphasizes, stresses • Your teachers use of language • How your teacher responds to ?s or comments from the class • Your thoughts, reactions, questions • Anything said after a pause, takes a long time to say, is hard to explain

11. Anything your teacher covers that is not in the book (or disagrees with) • Whether she concentrates on details or the big picture • If she refers to previously covered material • Questions your teacher raises but does not answer • Anything in handouts

12. How Can I Paraphrase and Summarize This Information? • Use your own words • Use few words • Main ideas • Important details • Anything in pictures/colored ink

13. How Can I Organize This Information • Group and regroup • Similarities and differences • What items depend on each other • How do they compare in terms of orientation and expert questions

14. How Can I Picture This Information • Use techniques to emphasize relationships • Be creative but not too creative • Don’t use traditional outlines • Don’t rely on book’s or teacher’s pictures---CREATE YOUR OWN • You can’t make everything visual…try anyway

15. What’s My Hook for Remembering this Information? Hooks (mnemonics) • Pictures • Patterns • Rhymes • Stories

16. Keys • Understand it • Create a “hook” • Link it • Don’t bite off more than you can chew • Get emotionally involved • Engage as many senses as possible • Smell the roses • Sleep on it • Use it or lose it • Quiz yourself periodically

17. How Does This Information Fit with What I Already Know? • Connect this information with something you already know • Condense your notes, handouts into a one page summary sheet

18. Test Rehearsal • Size up the exam…what • Where are the questions from • Is it cumulative • Main ideas, themes, details?? • Factual or analytical • Choice of questions? • What level of expertise is required • Essay or multiple choice

19. How… • Ask your teacher • Review previous exams • Ask someone who has already taken the class • Look at lecture notes • Attend any review sessions • Skim over anything your teacher has written

20. Get overview • Review previous exams • Look at your original notes • Answer expert and orientation questions • Condense your summary sheet • Reconstruct the summary sheet from memory

21. Test Taking • Don’t be afraid to ask for help if you get stuck • Take the questions at face value-do not try to look for hidden meaning • Read all choices on M.C. exams, don’t just pick the first one you see that might be right. • Essay-1st Paragraph = most important • 2nd Paragraph=2nd most important

22. On an essay exam…if your are REALLY stuck…replace the question with one you CAN answer…just don’t try this very often!! • NEVER, NEVER leave a question blank!

23. Tips To Help You Next Week • Put the question into your own words…this might jog your memory • If you get stuck…move on…your suconcious will continue to work on it while you work on other questions • Try to visualize where in the book (or in your notes) the info is • Write something-ANYTHING-other ideas may spring to mind

24. Think of a related question • Examine the wording for clues… • If you don’t know the exact answer, put down an approximation • If you don’t know what something IS, try writing what it ISN’T • If you run short on time…Write “SHORT ON TIME” and answer in an outline

25. M.C. and T/F • Look for words like all, not, always, some, often few, never • Do not read between the lines • Read the ?-anticipate the answer-then find it in the choices you have • Use process of elimination • Read every choice • Skip it but come back if you do

26. Good Luck On Finals!! • Turn in your book before you leave today… • Bring your study guide/outline to the final!!