Preparation of Materials/Supplies, Physical/Mental Preparation, Cramming, Test Anxiety
Preparation of Materials and Supplies
All materials and supplies needed for the exam should be assembled well in advance. Preparation gives the student one less thing to worry about and one less potential source of panic and anxiety (D. Applegate, CAL).
Depending on the course and instructor, study materials may be used during an exam. It is common, for example, on chemistry tests to use the periodic chart during a test. Math and statistics teachers often permit students to use formula sheets on a test. Some exams are open-book or open-notes.
If study materials are allowed, prepare them well in advance of the test. The information should be well organized and easily accessible. If the book or notes may be used, mark important pages with paper clips or sticky notes. Formula sheets should be neatly written and include a complete explanation of symbols and the order of operations.
Keep in mind that test materials may be a hindrance to completing the exam in a timely manner if they are not well prepared and well organized. Don't waste time during the test flipping through the book or trying to figure out what you wrote on the study aid. Take care of that before the test.
Test supplies should be gathered and organized the night before the test at the latest. Find out what supplies are permitted or required for the test. The following supplies may be needed for an exam:
- working pens
- sharpened pencils
- colored pencils
- working calculator
- calculator batteries
- blue books
- lined paper
- scrap paper
- note cards
If you are borrowing a calculator, be sure you are familiar with the locations of important keys and be sure you know how to use it.
Physical and Mental Preparation
Test preparation doesn't involve learning the information only. One must also prepare mentally and physically for the exam. One's physical and mental states may drastically affect the effectiveness of preparation activities. For instance, one can't prepare if one can't stay awake. Physical and mental states may also profoundly impact exam performance, regardless of how well one prepared. All the preparation in the world will do little good if one is coughing uncontrollably or experiences an anxiety attack during the test.
General guidelines for physically and mentally preparing for tests are provided below. More information on these topics is located in the Attention and Concentration page and the Test Anxiety page.
- Good physical health requires that one regularly eat balanced meals. Avoid excessive amounts of junk food, caffeine, cigarettes, and alcohol.
- Adequate sleep is also necessary for good health. Normal nights of sleep are important while preparing for a test as well as the night before the exam.
- Exercise helps to maintain good health and to release tension.
- Attend to all illnesses as soon as they arise.
- Take care of sensory problems such as poor vision.
Studying in the test room often helps student to feel more comfortable about the test.
- When worries arise, try the relaxation techniques described in the Test Anxiety page.
- Visualize every aspect of studying and taking the test. Visualize oneself taking the exam and turning in one's best work.
- Don't worry about what other students are doing, and don't listen to negative comments made by other students.
- Engage in positive self-talk.
- Don't dwell on past testing failures; learn from them and leave them behind. Focus on past successes instead.
- Have confidence in one's preparation plan.
- Gather and organize the necessary supplies ahead of time.
- Arrange to arrive at the test in plenty of time.
Worries and concerns about an upcoming test can lead to feelings of helplessness. The best way to avoid "self-fulfilling prophecies" about impending doom on an upcoming test is to keep active. Action reduces test anxiety.
Be sure you know the specific procedures for the exam. Develop a plan of action with a variety of strategies, and make a time-table for completing each activity. Start studying well in advance, spacing reviews and keeping study sessions short. Thorough preparation is one of the strongest defenses against anxiety.
Use relaxation exercises when worries arise. Exercise and maintain good health. Unless they can be resolved quickly and easily, avoid stressful situations if possible. Participate in recreational activities to relieve stress. Talk about worries and concerns with impartial parties.
Keep stress at a manageable level. Some stress will keep one alert, but too much will detract from one's performance.
Test anxiety is discussed at length in the Test Anxiety page.
Cramming is defined as intensive, last-minute preparation for an exam in a short period of time (D. Applegate, CAL). Cramming is not learning. The word "cramming" has negative connotations, and rightfully so. It is not an efficient means of preparing for exams. It may work for the best students, but just in the short-term. For other students, cramming usually just results in anxiety and poor test scores.
Some disadvantages of cramming are:
- One is virtually guaranteed to forget the information soon after the test, within a day or two perhaps. Is it worth the thousands of dollars spent on an education to forget what one learned the next day? What if you will need to know the information later, for another class or your job?
- If the final exam in a class is comprehensive, covering the entire semester or quarter, the student who crammed for mid-term tests has to relearn the information from the beginning of the class because most has been forgotten. This is hardly time-effective.
- Information covered during cram sessions is stored in short-term memory only. It is easily lost from short-term memory during stressful situations. This is the "blanking out" experience some students have while taking a test.
- Cramming is very stressful. It is at this time that students realize how much they need to learn and how little time they have to do it. Cramming contributes significantly to test anxiety.
- Cramming usually involves pouring over material for hours on end. Unfortunately, one's attention and concentration drop off drastically after only 20-30 minutes! Information covered after that time is probably not going to be remembered.
Despite the drawbacks of cramming, most students are forced to do it at one time or another. If presented with a situation that requires cramming, use the strategies outlined below to get through the crisis (REFERENCE). Then make plans to avoid a repeat performance.
- Assess the situation.
- Take a few minutes to consider what tasks need to be completed during test preparation. Are notes in order? How much reading must be completed? Is it realistic that all tasks can be completed in time? If not, prioritize the tasks. For example, if there will be few questions from the reading on the last test, wouldn't skimming the chapters be sufficient?
- Consider the type of test.
- Find out what type of test questions will be asked. Select one or two time-efficient strategies for preparing for that type of test. For example, making up practice questions for a multiple choice test is not efficient when one only has a few days or hours to prepare. But skimming the chapters, focusing on key terms and concepts, would be effective and efficient.
- Identify main ideas.
- Identify the main ideas covered in lectures and readings. To do so, look at the course objectives and the topics listed on the syllabus and course schedule. Look at the main points made in each class, or examine the section headings in the textbook. Try to state the main topic of the class and the instructor's purpose for teaching it. For example, "American Business History - to show the relationship between history of U.S. business sector and general U.S. history" (Kesselman-Turkel and Peterson, 1981, p. 6).
- Reduce information.
- Reduce the lecture notes and readings to the bare essentials, using the main ideas identified in the last step as a guideline. Boiling the information down to one or two pages of material helps to focus one's energy.
- Work on memory devices.
- Develop methods of remembering the information. Try visual associations or mnemonics. If the test will involve essays, focus on remembering how information is related. If the test is more objective, focus on remembering facts and specific details. Practice the memory schemes often. Try to use other senses in addition to vision.
- Attend to health.
- Avoid the temptation to stay up late studying and to use stimulants like caffeine or No-Doz. Get a normal night's sleep the night or two before the test. If you can't stay awake during the test, your cramming will do no good.
- Accept the situation.
- If you leave exam preparation to a few days before the test, accept the situation. Don't fight it. And though it may be difficult, don't give in to anxiety. There's nothing you can do about it now, so buckle down and do as much preparation as feasible. Try to focus on the task at hand. Stay as relaxed as possible since tension blocks memory recall mechanisms.