Do you feel the pressure to succeed on your upcoming exam? Do you feel like studying is a fruitless task that only makes things worse for yourself? If so, then it sounds like you have been making some mistakes in your approach to learning. These are a few of the most common mistakes that students make, and I hope my article can help prevent them from happening in yours!
-Not setting goals for yourself: Having big goals are essential to success. Without big goals to work towards, you won’t be able to stay motivated and make it through the hard times.
-Not preparing for exams: There are four types of questions that can appear on an exam; let’s consider each one in more detail.
1) Multiple choice questions: These are the simplest type of question you can come across, and they are a lot easier to study for than any of the rest of them. The reason why these are so simple is because there is no right or wrong answer. The correct answers will be among the many presented options that most people pick. So the key thing to remember for these is to simply eliminate the ones you know are wrong and then guess from the rest.
2) Short answer questions: These are a lot trickier than multiple choice questions, because they require more effort to answer. In order to study for these questions, use a 3-step approach:
a) Read over all of your notes and textbooks before answering. Write down all of the information you need using mind maps or diagrams.
b) Answer each question by using your notes and mind maps. You will be able to identify which information is helpful and which isn’t, so that you won’t spend too much time on what’s not important.
c) Read over your notes and textbooks thoroughly once more to double-check that you didn’t miss anything.
3) Essay questions: These are a lot more time-consuming than the other two types of questions, but they are also more important in the long run. First of all, they require a lot more effort to answer because they require you to write a longer essay (usually 1-2 pages). Secondly, they make you think in ways that multiple choice and short answer questions don’t do. You need to think about what’s being asked and write down your thoughts on paper.