Studying For and Writing
Exams
Setting Yourself Up for Success
I.
II.
III.
IV.
Seeing the Forest and the Trees
Study Guides
Memorization Techniques
Activities to Promote Synthesis
Preparing To Study
 The best way to prepare for exams is to work steadily
throughout term.
 Get as much information as you can from your professor or your
ta about the format, length, and requirements of the exam.
 Organize all of your course materials. Make an inventory of all of
the materials that you need to look at.
 Make a study schedule. Start as early as you can and space study
sessions over as long a period as possible: “the brain, when it
revisits material at a later time, has to relearn some of what it
has absorbed before adding new stuff – and that process is selfreinforcing. Forgetting is the friend of learning.”
Cutting Edge Studying and Learning
Techniques
1.
2.
Decide what you will do it each day. Mix content.
Alternate one hour of study for one course with one
hour for another, if possible. This is like athletes crosstraining: “the brain picks up deeper patterns.”
Alternate study environments: “the brain makes subtle
associations between what it is studying and
background sensations. Forcing the brain to make
multiple associations with the same material may give
that info more neural scaffolding…and thus slow down
forgetting.”
Cutting Edge Studying and Learning
Techniques
3. Study BOTH alone and with others. Think about study
groups.
4. Realize that testing is about learning as well as about
assessment. Test yourself often: “the process of
retrieving an idea…seems to fundamentally alter the way
the info/idea is subsequently stored, making it far more
accessible in the future.” Answering practise questions is a
good way to study.
Start off by Looking for both the
Forest and the Trees
 Your goal is to understand the larger goals
and themes of the course (the forest) as well
as the facts, events, and details of the topic
(the trees).
 The first way to survey the forest is
to RE- READ THE SYLLABUS.
Create a Study Guide
Step 1
Look for Themes and Connections: Every syllabus starts off by
giving a short overview or summary of what the course is about.
Read over that carefully, noticing the major themes or topics of the
course.
English: Truth, Lies, Storytelling, the Relationship of all these
Biology: Biodiversity, Evolution
Psychology: The Multi-Faceted Self , the Ideal Self and AlterEgos, Self-A/=-ctualization
Note the Major Themes or Topics Down as the Main Categories of
Your Study Guide.
Create a Study Guide
Step 2: Now, look for how the major themes/topics are
subdivided. Skim through rest of the syllabus,
noting how the course is divided up by looking at
lecture names etc.
Step 3: Read through lecture notes, reading notes and
note any further sub-divisions.
Create a Study Guide
Step 4: Make a Course Tree, like a Family Tree, starting with
major themes, and working downwards, through subtopics, smaller divisions, down to the details of the
course. This overview of the course shows you where
bit of knowledge/info fits in the grand scheme. This will
be helpful for essay questions and short answer/mct ones.
Step 5: For each heading, large or small, allot a certain space, a
page or two, to add information. Go over all your notes
and readings again, adding information under the
headings.
You have worked down from the forest to the trees, big picture to
details.
The Study Guide
 Making the Study Guide is studying in Itself. Reading and writing
allow you stay active, and you will absorb information.
 Carry the Study Guide around and read it over regularly.
For Language Courses, or fore Math Courses and other problemsolving courses, making a study guide may be a useful first steop.
But for these kinds of course, practise is the best way to study.
Redo all your assignments, practise sets, homework etc. Use your
textbook and the activities it provides to continue to practise.
The best kind of studying is ACTIVE
Learning the Details
 When you make a Study Guide, you work down from the
big themes/topics towards the sub-topics, and smaller
points to the details.
 The next step may be learning the details, but research
shows that it is much easier to learn details when they are
learned in context, not just as a series of random details.
So, making the study guide first will be the first step to
memorizing the details.
 Just make sure to give yourself time to learn the details or
practise the exercises.
Memorization Techniques




Flashcards
Timelines
Charts
Picture/Symbol associations etc
Carry these around with you to review regularly
Once you have studied details and feel some confidence
about your knowledge of them begin to mix up the
content, mixing content from different themes up
together. This will help you to remember better.
Study Guide, Details, Synthesis
 After having worked down from big
picture to details, you may have to
spend some time, learning the details.
 The next step is starting to put it all
back together again, or move from
details back up to the big picture,
Activities that Promote Synthesis
 Try to guess the questions. What have been the most
important themes? What topics could be combined into
a question?
 Try pretending to explain a concept, orally or in written
form, to a peer who is not taking the course. This is
self-testing. Tape your explanations and evaluate the
answers. Give the answers a grade and try to pinpoint
what would have made the explanation better.
Activities to Promote Synthesis
 Use any resources your text-book has. (Practise tests, mct
questions, etc)
Most important activity:
 Write some questions and then write the answers. This is
a way of testing yourself and is very helpful. Its helps you
learn the content but it also helps you practise expressing
that content clearly.
Managing Exam anxiety
• Eat, sleep, and exercise
• Don’t let yourself get drawn
into a stress feeding frenzy.
• Explore relaxation
techniques for anxiety such
as deep breathing and
progressive muscle
relaxation.
Summary of Exam Prep
1.
2.
3.
4.
Get organized
Make a study guide
Memorize/learn details or Practise/Do Problems
Do activities that promote the synthesis of
knowledge
Writing Exams
I.
II.
III.
IV.
Taking Care of the
Basics
Thinking Strategically
Deciphering and
Writing Multiple Choice
Questions
Deciphering and
Writing Essay
Questions
Take Care of the Basics

Know where and when your exams are being held. Get
there early!

Come prepared with extra pens, pencils, calculators,
rulers. Do not bring notes and books as you will likely be
required to leave them at the door of the exam room.
Same deal with coats, phones, purses, etc.

Know the name of your tutorial leader so that your
exam goes to him or her.
Don’t Just Dive into an Exam –
Strategize
Take Ten Minutes at the Beginning to Organize Yourself.
1. Read through all of the directions carefully. How many
questions do you need to answer?
2. Do some arithmetic and figure out much time to allot to
each question. Beside each question, write start at…..
finish at….. Leave yourself ten minutes at the end to
double check your work.
3. If you are worried about forgetting anything, as soon as
you can, jot down the key words, concepts, formulas,
equations, etc. that you are worried about.
4. Then, begin.
Managing Your Time
 When deciding how much time to allot each section or
question, consider how many sections or questions you
have, how much each is worth, and how long the exam is.
Example:
3hr exam: made up of -25 MCQs (25 marks)
10 SA (50 marks)
1 essay (25 marks)
Managing Your Time
You might think to divide your 3 hours into 3: 1 hour for
each section. But, the SA section is worth twice what
the others are, so it makes sense to give it the most
time. So:
10 minutes at beginning to organize,
70 minutes for SA
45 minutes for MCQs
45 minutes for MCQs
10 minutes at end to review.
Multiple Choice Questions
One answer is better than
the rest:
It answers the question,
even if in a convoluted way.
Multiple Choice Questions
Be Methodical
1. Cover the answers and read the questions first. Try
to answer the question without looking at the
answers.
2. Read each response one at a time. Mark answers
that you know are wrong or think are right.
3. If you’re really not sure, mark it and leave it until
later . . . When you have finished the ones you
know, come back and guess.
Example
Stem:
In the game of Monopoly: Boardwalk is….
Turn it into a question:
In the game of Monopoly, what is Boardwalk?
Answer questions and jot it down:
blue, the most expensive property, close to Go.
Example: answers
×
√
a. Is the least expensive property and is coloured blue
×
Answer 2
√
×
b. Is the most expensive property and is coloured
green. ×
Answer 3
c. Is neither the least expensive property nor
green.
-make this negative answer positive (easier to
understand)
√
√
c. Is the most expensive property and blue. √
Answer 4
×
√
d. Is both red and the most expensive property. ×
So:
The answer is c:
In the game of Monopoly, Boardwalk is neither the
least expensive property nor green.
Be Careful of Absolute Terms
Absolute terms tend to make the answer wrong; qualifying
terms tend to make the answer right.
In determining whether a patient has a cold or a flu, nurses
should keep in mind that:
a) Colds always come on more gradually than does the flu.
b) Colds never include a fever.
c) The flu often involves high fever.
d) The flu can lead to complications in the young and the
elderly. (Eliminate c and d as they contain absolutes)
Essay and Short Answer Exam Steps
Steps 1. Understand and underline key
words in question
2. Brainstorm
3. Plan your answer
4. Write your answer
5. Review your work
The Key:
Answer the question that
is asked,
not the question you want
to answer.
Underline and Understand the
Verbs in your Questions
1.Identify-type verbs: Identify, Define, Describe, Review, List, Summarize
Ask you to provide a detailed description, saying what something or
someone is, providing a definition, description and list of most
important points
2.Explain-type verbs: Explain, Account for, Analyze, Discuss, Trace, or
Outline
Ask you to say why, how, or in what order a set of events occur.
Account for also asks you to give reasons for something.
3.Compare-type verbs: Compare, Contrast, Distinguish between
Ask you to identify and discuss the the similarities and differences;
to investigate the relationship between two things etc.
Underline and Understand the Verbs
in your questions
4.Argue type verbs: Argue, Agree, Disagree, Debate,
Defend, Justify, Prove
Ask you to take a position and defend it considering
how someone who disagreed might argue with you
5.Assess-type verbs: Assess, Criticize, Evaluate, Interpret
Ask you to judge: to make an assessment based on
criteria and give reasons for the judgement,
assessment or evaluation
Underline Key Words (Verbs and Nouns)
in Question
Do women experience terror,
both as victims and perpetrators,
in the same way and to the same
extent men do? Discuss with
relation to at least two (2)
modules.
Brainstorm on paper
Scribble notes on the top of the page.
•DIFFERENT—Crimes against women: rape, “honour” etc. /
different epochs = different roles & reactions
•SAME—transhistorical? Be careful… psychology of fear
and terror, panic / violence
•Victims– Bosnia, witches (Salem / Europe)
•Perpetrators—Chechnyans, Ulrike Meinhof
Plan Your Answer
 Write a scratch outline with main
points and examples. For an
essay question, include a thesis
 This will help keep you focused
and help to ensure that you
don’t forget points that you
want to make.
In Your Answer, Make Sure To:
 •Answer exactly what was asked. If asked to
identify and evaluate, do that; don’t compare
and contrast. This is key to doing well on short
answer and essay questions.
 Focus on demonstrating your knowledge of
the course – not lots of outside info. The
better grasp you have of course content, the
better the answer.
In Your Answer Make Sure To:

–GIVE EXAMPLES!!!!!

Be as clear as possible given time constraints. Begin
paragraphs with clear topic sentences.
Prof Pet Peeve…
Avoid generalizations. Be specific.
For example:
Not “people” but….workers or aristocrats
If you make a broad, big statement, give an
example, if you can.
Prof Pet Peeve…
Know facts. But AVOID facts if you are not sure.
Being wrong is a big error
“Hitler came into power in 1903”
sinks it.
Go around it if unsure: “When Hitler
came to power…”
Don’t run! Take the time to review
Good Luck!
Great online resources for support:
http://www.trentu.ca/academicskills/resources/exa
mprep.php
These slides will be posted here:
http://www.trentu.ca/academicskills/workshops.ph
p