Not all study advice and exam prep is equal.
One of the biggest myths about test prep is you need to simulate the exam to optimize your performance.
This is not true.
Here’s what you need to do instead.
If you’re taking an exam that covers multiple topics in random fashion here’s what the so called academic advisors will tell you to do.
You need to study all the various topics and constantly switch back and forth because that’s how you are going to be tested.
If you’re a struggling student this will actually hurt you.
What you need to do is focus on one topic at a time and gain complete mastery of it.
I can assure you that on the exam the test writers will have answer choices that all sound fairly plausible, similar and to the point where you can narrow down to two but struggle to pick the best answer choice.
Studying randomly and covering all the topics will not give you the depth of knowledge you need to answer the question correctly.
What is required is knowing the nuances and subtle takeaways of a topic that will help you get to the correct answer.
As I’m sure you’re aware that many of your exams are not about recognition but do you know the key differentiating factor that makes one answer choice correct and another wrong.
Once you gain mastery of your exam topics only then do you move into test taking mode.
Test taking mode is when you want to mimic and simulate the test as much as possible and build up your stamina for exam day.
This would be doing more problems/questions under timed conditions along in the randomness/categories you will see on exam day.
Test taking mode is all about optimizing and tweaking everything to be able to perform at your best.
Whereas everything else is learning mode and the goal is to expand your knowledge base as efficiently as possible.
This is why you can study in tutor mode, take your time, look things up and avoid worrying about how you are scoring as the goal is maximize how much you learn and are storing away in your long term memory.
Trust me if you begin to study like this you are going to amaze yourself at how fast and how far you can go academically.
There’s a lot more I have to share about studying and test taking so stay tuned!
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