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
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