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Studying for the Exam -- Tips
(The following is adapted from Prof. Running's study guide on his GEOG 104 web site:
http://www.uwec.edu/Academic/Curric/runningl/104/page5.html)
Study guides come in many forms. Some instructors provide detailed,
specific lists of concepts for students to study. Others provide no
input beyond listing the chapters to be covered on an exam. In either
case, the goal of the instructor is to develop your independent skills at
collating, prioritizing, and assimilating content. I believe that learning
how to learn is as important as the information provided in this
course. Learning how to learn is why you are in college.
I hope that this class will help you take a step toward becoming a master
learner, someone who can coolly and effectively dissect new information,
distinguish the important from the unimportant, prioritize it, and make
connections between it and information from your own pre-existing knowledge
and experience. Hence, to foster the development of this skill, I
will provide you with some study strategies and alert you to "markers", ways to determine
relative significance of given bits of content.
General Studying Strategies
Read and re-read the text; outline it; take notes. Go over your lecture notes; recopy them; reorganize them; add to them from the text. Do this early. Do it often. If you're just starting to study for the exam, it's pretty well too late if your goal is to do better than mediocre.
You probably have already figured out that cramming the night
before a test puts information in your head but provides you with no context
for that information.
Knowing the definitions of terms will earn you a
C, if that's all you know. Knowing how the things described by those terms fit together
will get
you an A. Seeing and understanding these connections is very
challenging, especially for brand new students of Geography.
How do you study for something like this? We think it is better to
study intensely, a few hours or sessions over several days than to do it all
at once. Some students learn best when they hear about a
concept, see some visual illustration of it, and then do
something with it. Recopying lecture notes, writing explanations and
definitions in your own words, drawing pictures of diagrams in the text and
presented in lecture, and making flash cards to quiz yourself are great things
to do to enhance your learning. Know that "reading the
text" and "reading over my notes" are only a small part of the
studying process. Real studying requires that you do a lot more.
Strategies For Studying The Text
Study the text before you study your lecture notes. Content presented in lectures weaves in and out
and through that presented in the text but the framework, the "cosmic
structure" of this course, at least within chapters, closely follows
that of Christopherson.
At the beginning of each chapter, Christopherson provides the reader
with a list of key learning concepts that will be answered in the chapter.
You should be able to explain, describe, relate, identify, distinguish
the key learning concepts when you are finished reading the chapter (I
recommend writing out your responses to these concepts as part of your test
preparation). Consider these as excellent sample test
questions. Christopherson also provides a summary and review at the
end of each chapter. Use these as a catalyst to crystallize your
understanding of the subject matter presented in the chapter and in lectures.
Practice preparing written answers to the questions in these sections too.
Chapters in Christopherson are extensively outlined (SECTIONS, main
headings, subheadings, subsubheadings) and key
concepts, phrases and words are highlighted, italicized, and put in
boxes. This outline = Christopherson's priorities! The
highlighted concepts and definitions are used to link information
together. They are the "dots". If you can connect the
dots you have mastered the chapter.
Do not forget to carefully examine the figures in each chapter and read
their captions. The few students who believe me when I say
this are well-served. LOOK AT AND STUDY THE FIGURES!
Strategies For Studying Lecture Notes
After examining your notes on the chapters you will begin to see that
Christopherson has provided you with detailed outlines. Information in the
chapters is organized in a hierarchical arrangement of main heading and
subheadings. Lectures are similarly organized. You should note that your
lecture notes are your outline. Ask yourself, "how does the
subject matter presented in lecture fit with that in the chapters?"
Your answer will be either the same as that in the text, more detailed or less
detailed than the text, or completely different (but linked to some information
in the text). You must go through the intellectual exercise of fitting
lecture material into the framework/outline that you identified from your
analysis of the text. Once you've done this exercise, you will note that
lecture material is also organized in a hierarchical fashion with main heading,
subheadings, and definitions. Compare the two sources of information
(lecture and readings). Where information is presented twice you have
found yourself a key issue. These issues/definitions/topics are your
highest priority (why else would I have repeated them?). If you know how
they relate to the whole and to each other you cannot lose!