During the year students write me about exams. One of the most frequent questions is "What do I study?" or "How much to I study?". Often a student will say "I'm not expected to read and review the entire text am I?" Sadly, the answer to this question is yes, you must review and study the entire text. Any material from the text can and will often appear on the exam. If a student has not read through the complete text, student can fail the exam because they are unprepared.
The next question we must ask is why does this happen? Frequently, students are so busy when they are taking a module they actually never read the textbook at all. So, when they read the text for the exam this is actually a first read-through. This shouldn't happen, but it does. Students are so busy doing their assignments for all their modules, they never read the texts. Consequently, at exam time reading the text is an onorous, exasperating job. Students decide they would rather skip this task and read selected subjects, assuming that they have prior knowledge of the exam based on previous assignments.
This is a serious mistake. Exams are meant to review comprehensive knowledge of the subject - knowledge that can only be gained by reviewing the text in its entirety. If you have read through the text at least once, it will make this job easier. You can also look for themes in the text and ask yourself questions as you read through the materials. It would, however, be a serious error not to undergo a rigorous review of your text before you study for your exams. In the next posting, we will discuss planning for your exam further.
KB
Friday, July 30, 2010
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Positive Self Talk : Succeeding in your programme
Success is not just a question of doing the 'do' things: studying, getting your assignments in on time, planning and managing your workload and keeping in touch with your tutor and other students through Blackboard, it is also about giving yourself positive messages. This is a facet of the programme that students often neglect. Believing in yourself and your abilities is the most important aspect of academic success. We can do this through positive self talk.
Consider this scenario:
Daphne has failed her first MBA exams. They were written in what Daphne considered difficult circumstances. That is, the classroom in which she wrote her exams had uncomfortable chairs, dirty desks and constant background traffic. What should she do? She knows the next exam will likely be in the same place. She is worried she can't pass when she rewrites the exam in several months. How will positive self talk help her and what should she do?
First, Daphne needs to consider her abilities and the time she has available to organize her studying. She has realized that she had difficulty in writing her exams, not simply because the room was a poor place locale in which to write an exam, but that she didn't know a lot of the information in her textbooks and that meant she was unsure about what to write on the assigned questions. Now, she has organized herself and knows that she will need to study more hours per week than she did during her first try at the exams. In fact, with the help of the Skills Tutor, Daphne has spoken to her boss and realized that she could get extra time off work which will allow her to study at home when no one is there. She has also asked her husband to take the children out every Saturday to allow her to work and he has agreed to do this. This time she will look at the 'whole textbook' and make no assumptions about what material might be on the exam. However, Daphne was puzzled when the Skills Tutor told that she needed to help herself every day with positive self talk.
Daphne asked the tutor what this meant and the tutor asked her what kind of 'messages' she was giving herself everyday when she finished her study. Daphne told the tutor that, everyday when she completed her studies, she looked ahead at all the work she had yet to complete. In fact, she felt pretty discouraged when she looked at all the information that she hadn't covered. This made her feel bad before she began studying at her next study session. The tutor told her this was not a good way to study.
In fact, the tutor told Daphne to make a 'to do' list every day and cross off the items that she had reviewed using the SQ3R model (survey, question, read, recite and review). The tutor also told Daphne that she should actually talk to and tell herself that she was capable, that she was working toward a goal that she had set and that she could and would accomplish this goal.
Daphne thought this was rubbish but she made this list anyway. Dutifully, she crossed off items on the list every time she studied. She put the lists together at the end of the first week and saw how much information she had covered. She saw that she was actually ahead of schedule and that when she went into the exam she would be prepared. She felt less worried about the upcoming exam. She actually told herself out loud, as the tutor had suggested, that she could succeed and that she deserved this success after all the work and organization she'd done. She thought this was a bit silly, but next week she found she'd accomplished still more.
This is, in fact, a true story of a student I knew who was experiencing difficulty in rewriting an exam. It could also be the story of any student who is stuck and believes they cannot do the work. It can be difficult sometimes when you are working online on an MBA or MSc alone. There is no classroom or other students with which to share your difficulties in a social format. You must rely on yourself. You need to believe you can succeed. It is this belief that makes success in this programme easier. All the best until next time.
KB
Consider this scenario:
Daphne has failed her first MBA exams. They were written in what Daphne considered difficult circumstances. That is, the classroom in which she wrote her exams had uncomfortable chairs, dirty desks and constant background traffic. What should she do? She knows the next exam will likely be in the same place. She is worried she can't pass when she rewrites the exam in several months. How will positive self talk help her and what should she do?
First, Daphne needs to consider her abilities and the time she has available to organize her studying. She has realized that she had difficulty in writing her exams, not simply because the room was a poor place locale in which to write an exam, but that she didn't know a lot of the information in her textbooks and that meant she was unsure about what to write on the assigned questions. Now, she has organized herself and knows that she will need to study more hours per week than she did during her first try at the exams. In fact, with the help of the Skills Tutor, Daphne has spoken to her boss and realized that she could get extra time off work which will allow her to study at home when no one is there. She has also asked her husband to take the children out every Saturday to allow her to work and he has agreed to do this. This time she will look at the 'whole textbook' and make no assumptions about what material might be on the exam. However, Daphne was puzzled when the Skills Tutor told that she needed to help herself every day with positive self talk.
Daphne asked the tutor what this meant and the tutor asked her what kind of 'messages' she was giving herself everyday when she finished her study. Daphne told the tutor that, everyday when she completed her studies, she looked ahead at all the work she had yet to complete. In fact, she felt pretty discouraged when she looked at all the information that she hadn't covered. This made her feel bad before she began studying at her next study session. The tutor told her this was not a good way to study.
In fact, the tutor told Daphne to make a 'to do' list every day and cross off the items that she had reviewed using the SQ3R model (survey, question, read, recite and review). The tutor also told Daphne that she should actually talk to and tell herself that she was capable, that she was working toward a goal that she had set and that she could and would accomplish this goal.
Daphne thought this was rubbish but she made this list anyway. Dutifully, she crossed off items on the list every time she studied. She put the lists together at the end of the first week and saw how much information she had covered. She saw that she was actually ahead of schedule and that when she went into the exam she would be prepared. She felt less worried about the upcoming exam. She actually told herself out loud, as the tutor had suggested, that she could succeed and that she deserved this success after all the work and organization she'd done. She thought this was a bit silly, but next week she found she'd accomplished still more.
This is, in fact, a true story of a student I knew who was experiencing difficulty in rewriting an exam. It could also be the story of any student who is stuck and believes they cannot do the work. It can be difficult sometimes when you are working online on an MBA or MSc alone. There is no classroom or other students with which to share your difficulties in a social format. You must rely on yourself. You need to believe you can succeed. It is this belief that makes success in this programme easier. All the best until next time.
KB
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