Page 351 - Statistics for Dummies

correct all by themselves, but on an exam they lost some (if not all) of the
points, depending on where they originally got stuck.
So how do you avoid yeah-yeah trap #2? By making a test run under “real”
exam conditions where the pressure is on. Here’s how:
1. Study as much as you need to, in whatever manner you need to, until

you are ready to test your knowledge.

2. Sit down with a practice exam, or if one isn’t available, make your
own by choosing some problems from homework, your notes, or the
book and shuffling them up.

Just like at a real exam, you also need a pencil, a calculator, and any
other materials you are allowed to bring to your exam — and nothing
else! Putting your book and notes away may make you feel anxious,
frustrated, or exposed when you do a test run of an exam, but you really
need to find out what you can do on your own before you do the real
thing. Chapter 21: Ten Surefire Exam Score Boosters 335
Some teachers allow you to bring a review sheet (also sometimes called
a memory sheet or — cringe — a cheat sheet), a sheet of paper on which
you can write any helpful information you want, subject to limitations
that your professor may give. If your teacher allows review sheets at
tests, use one for your practice test, too.
3. Turn on the oven timer for however long your exam is scheduled to
last, and then get started.
4. Work as many problems as you can to the best of your ability, and
when you are finished (or time runs out), put your pencil down.
5. When your “exam” is over, get into the lotus position and breathe in,
hold it, and breathe out three times. Then look at the solutions and
grade your paper the way your professor would.
If you couldn’t start a problem, even if you just forgot one little thing
and you immediately recognized it when you saw the solutions — you
can’t say “Yeah-yeah, I knew that; I wouldn’t make that mistake on a real
exam”; you have to say “No, I couldn’t start it on my own. I would have
gotten 0 points for that problem. I need to figure this out.”
You don’t get a second chance on a real exam, so when you’re studying, don’t
be afraid to admit when you can’t do a problem correctly on your own; just be
glad you caught it, and figure out how to fix the problem so you’ll get it right
next time. Go back over it in your notes, read about it in the book, ask your
professor, try more problems of the same type, or ask your study buddy to
quiz you on it. Also, try to see a pattern in the type of problems that you were
missing points on or getting wrong altogether. Figure out why you missed
what you missed. Did you read the questions too fast, which caused you to
answer them incorrectly? Was it a vocabulary or a notation issue? How did
your studying align with what was on the test? And so on.

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