I can tell you a foolproof scheme for college. I’ve used it and so have many thousands.
I went to each class and wrote down whatever the professor said and wrote on the board. Then I took those and distilled them down to simple notes. Then I wrote those on index cards. I would review the index cards, and had the answers on the back of the index cards. I continued to drill using this testing method right up until taking the exam. I also came up with good mnemonics.
As soon as the exam was handed out, I would put my name on it and quickly write out the mnemonics using them as a key. Since I then had my notes memorized I would scan the exam for things I could answer immediately I knew were 100% correct. Then I would take a few minutes break, relax and then concentrate on the other problems which I didn’t know immediately or took more effort. Then check the time to see if I could review my answers to make sure I didn’t make any mistakes.
This worked every time for me without failure and I graduated college.
It was seventh grade, and we had to memorize the square roots of the numbers 2 through 12, out to six decimal places. Now, I’m great at tests- I was good with concepts, and could ace any multiple choice test. But rote memorization? Screw that. I studied for a week, but couldn’t keep the number straight. I knew I was going to fail the test, so I knew I had to cheat… but how would I write the numbers down in such a way that I could access them easily, but not get caught?
Heh. I wrote the numbers down… on my pencil. All I had to do whenever the teacher came by was tighten up my grip on the pencil and the numbers would just look like chew marks.
This is what I do. One index card, back and front, handwritten, allowed with the test. Since majority of the questions are application, having a few concrete facts with you doesn’t sway the outcome very much.
The only tests I’ve sat through that were long enough that bathroom breaks were allowed were for nursing school. If you had to go to the bathroom, a proctor went with you. Any paper rustling or overlong lingering in the stall would have been a dead giveaway.
In the Big Test for licensure, they required photo ID and scanned our hands for the vein pattern before we went in, and again if we returned after going to the bathroom (with a proctor). So you couldn’t hide your identical twin sister in the stall and have her go finish the test for you.
Besides that, if it’s only a couple of questions, getting them wrong is not enough to fail you on the test anyhow. If it’s more than a couple questions, your method is unlikely to work. If you’re smart enough to remember more than a couple of questions you don’t know the answer to for the time it takes you to get to the bathroom and read your notes, and smart enough to remember all the answers in the time it takes you to walk back to the testing room, you’re smart enough to remember the answers from studying the night before.
A student comes to a young professor’s office hours. She glances down the hall, closes his door, kneels pleadingly.
“I would do anything to pass this exam.” She leans closer to him, flips back her hair, gazes meaningfully into his eyes. “I mean …” she whispers, “… I would do … anything.”
He returns her gaze. “Anything?”
“Anything.”
His voice softens. “Anything??”
“Absolutely anything.”
His voice turns to a whisper. “Would you … study?”
No, he crammed. If you truly want to learn the subject thoroughly for future applications/work, cramming isn’t any better than cheating, really. You may not be hosing anyone else in said case, but you are still hosing yourself.
My chemistry professor did the same thing. I still have it, 25 years later. It was a great study/exam prep tool. I don’t remember really needing it but it gave me some security to be sure my formulas were correct.
This sounds like the honor code at Rice University, where I went to school for my undergraduate degree.
All exams were self-proctored; indeed, professors were actually forbidden to proctor exams. For an in-class exam, professors would return periodically in case anyone had a question, but could not linger in the room for any length of time during the exam.
Several of my exams (especially in upper-level classes) were timed, take-home, closed-book exams. You recorded the time you started and stopped the exam. For instance, I took my Physical Chemistry final exam in an all-night coffee shop from 11 pm to 1 am. (I told the waitress to please keep the coffee coming, and not to bother me.)
You had to physically write out and sign the honor pledge for every exam, which I still remember after nearly 25 years: “On my honor, I have neither given nor received any unauthorized aid on this exam.”
Cheating was possible, I expect, but reported violations were strictly investigated, with hearings, witnesses, etc. Penalties could be severe. For example, the typical penalty for cheating on a take-home exam was an “F” in the course and a one-semester suspension.
I honestly think there was less cheating than occurs at many universities. Strict proctoring simply creates an arms race between the proctors and cheaters.
Besides, at Rice, you either knew the material or you didn’t. The exams were so difficult that if you felt like you had to cheat, you were probably going to fail anyway.
I dunno. I think that depends on your learning style. I tend to learn and work best in highly concentrated spurts with time pressures. Not for every subject, but for many for me, one extended twelve hour study session works better for me than twelve one-hour study sessions a day apart. Same with learning things that are not “for credit,” just day-to-day skills. I tend to learn in highly concentrated, almost obsessive, doses rather than spreading things out.
> It was seventh grade, and we had to memorize the square roots of the numbers 2
> through 12, out to six decimal places.
Luxury! In third grade we had to memorize the 11-th roots of the numbers between 3087 and 7822 to the 580,329-th decimal place. But you tell that to kids today and will they believe you? Noooooo.
usedtobe writes:
> Pass your hand over the test and get the answers in minutes from a cohort with
> google and/or real knowledge.
You trust a cohort? You want to depend on a weak program like Google? You should steal Watson from IBM and redesign it to the point that it can answer the questions on any test you will take in the future.
I can picture it now… Buy 7 or 8 of the exact same cardigan sweater wear it every day to class from the first day on. On exam day, dress Watson in the cardigan and no one will be the wiser!
If this is indeed true for you, then you are abnormal. The typical human brain just doesn’t work that way when we’re talking about long-term retention and application of new knowledge.
This is true for me, mostly because I’ve never learned how to study. I read stuff, and/or I write about it, and either I remember it or I don’t. Reading it again doesn’t make it go into my head if it didn’t go in the first time. So 12 days in a row, and I’m bored, and I’m checking Facebook, and I’m on the Dope, I’m not really doing any studying at all. The sheer panic and terror born of procrastination and a looming deadline is what motivates me to actually get something done, and that only works at the last minute.
