By Anna Rule
We all have the best of intentions when it comes to preparing for an exam, am I right? I mean – no one sees a test date on a syllabus and says, “Okay I’m going to wing that one.” We study, we prepare, and we pray to the founding fathers of Eureka College that they grant us some semblance of a working memory to recall the information when we need it. While our intentions may be great, we need to ask the question; are we preparing effectively? While we’re cramming our brains with information, how do we know it will stick?
In my years of studying for tests, it never occurred to me that re-reading my notes wasn’t sufficient. I thought that because I was going through the material, it would be fresh in my mind and “learned.” Some can get by on this wildly common practice. Others (like myself) are not blessed with the good memorization gene. So, what can you do? Test yourself. Of course, this is in conjunction with the wise words of Alan, trusty wolf-pack leader, to ‘check yourself.’ But for the sake of retaining information long-term – stick with the first recommendation and test yourself.
In all seriousness, our academic experiences thus far have allowed us to safely assume that everyone learns in different ways. Some are visual learners, some learn by doing. Some are extremely lucky and skim over a note or two and ace a test (I am extremely envious of those people). One review of how we learn carves out a solid list of 8 effective learning strategies backed by a ton of research (1) which you can view here. We’re going to dive into one of those 8. Let’s see how we can retain more by testing ourselves.
Continue reading “Test Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself (or Your GPA)”
