School

[diddykong]

Hello everyone, this topic has been killing me ever since I can remember, hopefully I can get something good out of this thread


Alright so pretty much, I beat myself over bad test scores. I study for hours on end for a test, and sometimes, all that studying just don't seem to shine at the end. It's kind of like, "all that hard work for no reason". I get realllllly bummed out when this happens. Every time I see that test score I don't want, it's so demoralizing, and it gets me angry too. I'm struggling to persevere. Struggling.

So my questions are:
1.) How do you get yourself to get over this? any scriptures you would like to recommend?
2.) How can I get myself to NOT feel SO SCARED before taking a test? (I think feeling scared signifies doubt... but I'm not totally sure, but nonetheless, I need to get over this fear somehow).

 

[bunced]

Hmm, sorry to hear that

Maybe look at changing your study methods, because if you are studying for so long but not showing any improvement, it suggests something is wrong in the way you study. How are you studying at the moment? Consider making spider diagrams, flash cards, writing out notes from memory . . something active that engages your brain - just reading through your notes isn't going to cut it, I'm afraid

Also, make sure every time you get a test back, you understand exactly where you went wrong and what you should have done. Then you can learn from that and get things right in the future. If you don't understand anything - ask a teacher, it's what they're there for.

 

[rocklife]

for some classes, I had to copy my notes 5 times each, that really got me to memorize the small details. it turns into almost hundreds of pages of notes and your hands hurt, but studying like that has always improved my scores. the vocabulary work, same thing, write them out 5 times each. sometimes I went down to repeating only 3 times each (hands hurt, other things to do), and that works too, but with 5 times, I knew it was really stuck in my brain word-for-word.

that's the biggest practical tip I got that helped me personally through college. oh yeah, getting a tutor is also a great help if you just don't get some of the concepts. even just one time can really help.

 

[Onlythingavailable]

Prayer. It really helps me calm down when I worry about a test. Not only do I share my worries with God, I also pray that God's will be done.

 

[Solidlyhere]

Test anxiety.

The OP asks: "How can I get myself to NOT feel SO SCARED before taking a test?"

The most effective means is see a therapist who uses Behavior Modification.
A few sessions will release your fear, so you can actually be remembering the facts in the books.

I have known several people who completely Let Go of their anxiety.

Another method which can help is:
1) Study for a few minutes, until the fear visits;
2) Do something entertaining, until that fear subsides;
3) Study for another few minutes.

Doing this can break your obsession with feeling fear while studying.
And, with all problems: Make progress on it ... don't demand instant perfection.

 

[Robinsegg]

Romans 8:1-2
Ok, maybe you need to figure out your learning style . . . visual, auditory, or hands-on (kinesthetic). Then, you could figure out the best way to study.

Also, it kinda sounds like you get your worth from your test grades. If this is the case, you need to realize that your worth comes from Jesus and what He did for you on the Cross . . . no one and nothing can take that away from you.

Do you ask God to help you in your studies? Anything we do in our own strength is like filthy rags to God . . . ask Him for help, then give Him the glory

Rachel

 

[Lenora56]

If you don't mind my asking, when you talk about a test score you don't want, what would that score be? In other words, what is the lowest you're willing to accept? I ask this because when I went back to college, a 95 on a test or essay would disappoint me.. I'm just wondering if you might be the same way.
Edit: Don't get me wrong; I realize a 95 is good; I finally did learn to put that in perspective.

 

[diddykong]

If you don't mind my asking, when you talk about a test score you don't want, what would that score be? In other words, what is the lowest you're willing to accept? I ask this because when I went back to college, a 95 on a test or essay would disappoint me.. I'm just wondering if you might be the same way.
Edit: Don't get me wrong; I realize a 95 is good; I finally did learn to put that in perspective.

Well, I find anything over a 90 to be awsome. Sometimes it's just those B's and MOSTLY the C's that wear me down.

Also, thanks to everyone whose replied

 

[BigNorsk]

Well, it's hard to know what problems are really affecting your test scores the most. It could be an organization problem, that while you spend hours studying you aren't really getting that much studying done.

Or it could be that your problem is in distinguishing the important points. It might be that you are just basically trying to memorize everything, and it's all just going in as a huge quantity of equal facts. And with that huge quantity of things, it just become impossible to memorize them all.

Or you might be leaving things too long. You might not be a person that can just study for a test. You might be much better served with a steady diet than a cramming.

Here's what I would suggest. Before you cover an area in class, read the textbook for that area. Read carefully, but don't worry too much about trying to retain everything. Then when you attend the lecture, hopefully things will seem somewhat familiar, you will be thinking, yeah, I read that. Some people are helped if they take the area of the book and build an outline while they read. Books are already kind of organized that way, using chapters, topics, and so on. It's surprising how helpful just writing something down like

Class: Zoology
Division: Invertebrates
Chapter: Insects
Topic: Coleaoptera (Beetles)
Important facts. Name means shield wing
Largest number of species, 40% of all described insects are beetls
holometabolous lifecycle
hard exoskelton and hard forwings called elytra

And so on

Then go back through the book reading again. When you come to something mentioned in the lecture, highlight it and read that area a couple of times.

Now maybe you just aren't good at picking out important points. In that case I would pick up a couple commercial notes like the famous CliffNotes series. The thing is you need it for something you have. You read what you have and look at how the CliffNote picks out what to include.

Big thing in all this is to work at it every day. Don't get behind or let things slide. If you are really learning a discipline, a test isn't really a big thing, you know the subject and along comes a test to show the instructor you know the subject. Just passing tests when you don't really know the subject is just a temporary thing, if you learn the subject it will stay with you.

Oh, and one more comment. A lot of young people have learned to kind of turn off their mind when someone with a position of authority is speaking such as their parents. It's like they really don't want to hear it. And I'm convinced that gets transferred into a lot of college classes by young people even when they don't want to, it's become a habit. Try to really critically listen, which will of course bring questions and such into your mind. If you are going through lectures just madly scibbling notes and questions and such aren't coming to you, you aren't really listening, you are just taking dictation, which you won't retain. If you are listening in a way that's going to be retained, you are mentally involved.

That's the reason some instructors grade in part on class participation. Involved thinking results in better learning. If they have to use a whip to get you involved so be it. Tests are really the same sort of thing. If you had a good instructor and good students, tests, grades and such are really just a waste of time that takes away from learing time. Though the tests of some good educators can be pretty instructional themselves.

And when you have questions, ask them, it will improve your learning if you are involved in the class. If you can't because the class is too large, you might be better off in a smaller class at a smaller institution.

Lots to think of there, just general comments about common problems and some solutions.

The most common thing I saw when in college was people wouldn't do much of anything unless there was a test. If you take the hours of class time and work twice that many hours outside of class on a regular basis you shouldn't have much problem.

Note that let's say you are taking 15 credits of class, that means 30 hours of studying every day. A total of 45 hours a week or 9 hours a day.

That means if you start at 8 am and you take 3 one hour breaks during the day, you are all done at 8 pm. In other words 5 12 hour days with weekends off. Most people would do way better that way, than cramming for 4 to 6 hours usually fairly late at night, for whatever is the next test. By then they are tired.

Spend any extra time you have in your area of interest.

If it's too much, get by in the classes you have to take but aren't really applicable to your area. If you are studying to be an engineer, Calculus is more important that the Sociology of bullfighting in Mexico.

Marv

 

[CShephard53]

Hello everyone, this topic has been killing me ever since I can remember, hopefully I can get something good out of this thread


Alright so pretty much, I beat myself over bad test scores. I study for hours on end for a test, and sometimes, all that studying just don't seem to shine at the end. It's kind of like, "all that hard work for no reason". I get realllllly bummed out when this happens. Every time I see that test score I don't want, it's so demoralizing, and it gets me angry too. I'm struggling to persevere. Struggling.

So my questions are:
1.) How do you get yourself to get over this? any scriptures you would like to recommend?
2.) How can I get myself to NOT feel SO SCARED before taking a test? (I think feeling scared signifies doubt... but I'm not totally sure, but nonetheless, I need to get over this fear somehow).

How People Grow, Henry Cloud and John Townsend. It's about 10-15$.

 

[TexasSky]

I agree with the person who suggested that you pray before a test, (and pray before you study too), asking God to keep you calm, to help you remember what you do know, to help you understand what may confuse you during times of stress, and to guide you as you study.

As to helping calm yourself before a test.....

I once had a professor I greatly admire tell me.
"Remember, a grade is not a measure of you. A grade is a measure of how well you and an instructor communicate. It is their job to teach you material. A test is an opportunity for you to communicate back to them what they have tried to communicate to you. So whatever you earn on a test, 1/2 of that grade belongs to the professor."

That said:
I have found that often students who really work hard and still can't quite get that grade they were aiming for are either having mild panic attacks that make it harder to think on the test, or - they have not learned to tune into what that particular teacher is like.

Are you losing points for not showing your work? Are you losing points for spelling or grammar errors? Are you looking at the "broad picture" with a teacher who is looking at the tiny details?

DO pay attention to any "pre-test test reviews".
DO read any reading assignments.

Exchange notes with a friend. "I'll show you mine if you show me yours." If you are zeroing in on the wrong material to study, you may catch it there.

Study with a friend.

Look for gimmicks to help it stick in your mind.

Music students almost always learn, "Every good boy does fine" and "FACE" to learn the lines and spaces of a treble clef. It is much easier to look at five lines and think, "Every Good Boy Does Fine equals the line" and "FACE equals the space" that it is to remember "E, G, B, D, F and F, A, C, E" .

"I, before E, except after C, or when sounded like "A" as in Neighbor," is easier to remember than "Always put an I before an E, unless you the earlier letter was a C or....."

"In 1400 and 92, Columbus sailed the ocean blue..."....

"Dessert is what you always want more of," or "there is more sugar in dessert than there is in the desert," helps you remember which word is hot land and which word is food.


These little "tricks" help your mind grab onto something.

Are you artistic? "Draw" what you are studying somehow. Your artistic mind will wrap around it more easily when you try to recall it.

Set it to music.

Make a joke of it.

Ask parents and friends about shortcuts they know about some things.

I way a straight A student in almost all subjects, but I struggled with math. Then a friend taught me some "tricks" like rounding numbers to add them quickly.

To ad 79 + 63 + 34 most people would be going 9 + 3 + 4, carry the one, so 1 + 7 + 6 + 3.......

He would round to the easiest numbers for him to deal with then "adjust" that number by however he rounded.
So instead of trying to go, "79 + 63 = 142 and 142 + 34 = 176, he would think 80 + 60 + 30 = 80 + 90 = 170.
But I rounded up one, and down 7, so I really rounded down 6, so the answer I need to add 6 back in. 170 + 6 is 176."

He also looked for "pairs."

To add:

18
25
12
32
53

He would ad the 8 from 18, and the 2 from 12, and get a "10"

He would add 2 from 32 + 3 from 53 to get a 5, then add that 5 to 25 to get another ten.

Now he was really adding
10
10
10 (He already used the 8 above in one of the new tens)
20 (He already used the 5)
10 (He used the 2)
30 (He used that 2 also)
50 (He used that 3 already)

And voila: 140

Ask around. Someone in that class you struggle with always making an A? Ask them how THEY study.