We all have come across a point in our lives when we did not know how to study for a test. It is overwhelming to know that you have a test coming up and have a few chapters to study. It is even more stressful when you know that the questions will not be multiple choice. It is scary not knowing how to study hundreds of pages for an upcoming test, which is why it is important that we design a studying plan, even if we do not use it all of the time.
One of the most important things we need to know as students is how to study for a test. If we do not know how to study for a test we could fail a course that we are good at. In the book Multiple Voices, Multiple Texts: Reading in the Secondary Content Areas, Dornan, Rosen, and Wilson (1997) talk about how to study for tests. One of the most important things to know is how to make study guides. The authors of these texts books discuss formulas that can be used to study. One of the formulas that they discuss is called SQ3R, Dornan et al. discuss what this stands for. The following is directly from the book.
1. Survey the material before reading.
2. Ask Questions based on the headings and subheadings, and about what is already known regarding the subject.
3. Read the material to answer the questions.
4. Recite a short summary of what was read.
5. Review the ideas by periodically retuning to the material.
(p. 154)
This formula is very simple to remember and it allows us to better prepare ourselves for an exam. The authors also discuss a similar formula, PORPE. The following comes directly out of the text book.
1. Predict potential questions.
2. Organize the information.
3. Rehearse through recitation and self-testing.
4. Practice through writing.
5. Evaluate for accuracy.
(p.154)
I personally like the second formula better, it is more hands on. I cannot learn without writing something. Just reading and reciting is not enough for me to learn. It does not matter which of these formulas students are good at, or if you use a different one, what matters is that we teach them how to study. Most of students that I come across with, that do bad on exams, claim that they were never taught how to study for an exam. We need to teach students how to study for tests even though they might not use that formula forever or at all. It is always easier to come up with a formula that works bests for us when we already have a template in our heads.
This is something that every students goes through at one point or another. Learning how to study is one of the hardest things I had to learn. It was so hard for me because I felt that all the information was important. It wasn't until I made it to college that I finally learned how to pick out important information and not pay attention to unnecessary details. Great Post!
ReplyDeleteI agree that we need to spend some time on teaching students how to study for tests. I didn't have any instruction in that area and it was extremely stressful. We forget that students don't start out knowing how to do these things probably because it has become second nature to most of us.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that our kids need to learn something about taking tests. Sometimes, they don't work well on a test, not because they haven't grasped the knowledge, but because they misunderstood the requirement or didn't care about the format of answering the questions. I treat test as a way to understand my students. So I also need to let my students know how well they can make their teacher know them better.
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