So you have exams
So it's that time of year again, the end of January. What does that mean? Exams. Yay! Okay, not really. But at least that means that this semester is over 'cause if you're like me, you are totally getting sick of your current courses and you are waiting for something new. So I have English first period which I totally hate. It's boring. It goes from 8am to 9:20am. I just can't sustain to stay awake. Sure I like reading and all, but there is just so much useless work in it. To me the most annoying part of the English course is when you have to study myths. Really, I don't care about myths. It's useless because it's not true. Myths are worst than theories, at least theories are developed from a reasonable idea, but myths are just inconceivable thoughts that were come up from being intoxicated. So what myths am I talking about in particular? That would have to be the ones relating to Zeus, Perseus, and all those other weird names that have the "eus" in them. Next period I have computer science. First of all, the teacher is terrible. He just sits on his ass and sends us to a website to read an article on something. And then we do a bunch of assignments on it. That I can't stand. He's more of a supervisor than a teacher. Next period. LUNCH! My favourite period of the day. Lunch means I finally have English and computer science finished for the day and that's when I'm in a good mood. Next period. History. Believe it or not, but I absolutely love this course. Firstly, I have an awesome teacher. Albeit a hard marker, he explains everything very well and knows exactly what he's talking about unlike other teachers who write notes on the board based on the notes from a textbook. He knows everything off by heart. Anyway, next period. Civics. By that time of the day, I am just waiting to go home. Nothing really goes on civics, just useless worksheets. Well, I just had an end-of-the-year test in it last friday, considerably an in-class exam. It was really easy. Anyway that's how my days were for the past five months. Yes, it was hell.
So now that we have exams, I suppose I will just mention some studying tips for those who like study. There are different ways to study for every course. So I'll go through some:
- Math: The idea of doing well on a math exam is just knowing HOW to do everything. Forget memorizing everything. The key is to UNDERSTAND everything. So what you should do is go through all your tests and see what you did wrong. Now, re-do the question a few times until you are certain that you know how to do it and you know why you got it wrong the first time. Go through your notes and make sure you can do each formula and know what each formula does and what the purpose of it is.
- Science: For my science exam last year, I just went through each test I did and re-did every question. It was that simple. If I didn't know the answer I went over into my notes and checked for it just as if it were an open book test. So I did that a couple times to assure I understood everything. Also, you should make a "word list" which is basically your personal glossary of all the terms you need to know. That will help you understand what everything means.
- Geography: Geography is quite similar to science. You should study the tests and all the worksheets you have handed in. Like science, make a word list.
- English: English is a tough one. Some teachers just make it an essay for the exam while some like to question you on Shakespeare books and such. So if it's an essay (usually your teacher will tell you what the exam is), then just understand the components of the essay: thesis at the end of introduction paragraph, introductory sentences to each paragraph that introduces the reader to the argument, concluding statements of each argument, and of course a concluding paragraph. For questions on a book, however, I suggest you read summaries of the book on a site like SparkNotes and read the themes, etc. That will refresh your memory of the book.
- History: History is an interesting one. My suggestion is to make a timeline from wherever you started to wherever you ended. In my case, it is from 1867 to present. Make a word list for not just the terms, but for all the people, places, and events. Once you've done that, it's a good idea to brainstorm all the major items. Bismarch, for example, brainstorm everything you know about him. The Treaty of Versailles, again list everything about it: when it was issued, the impact it caused, who wrote it, the thoughts on it (such as David Lloyd George who wanted to keep Germany strong so they wouldn't be conquered by communism), and basically everything about it. So do that on all the major things.
I didn't spend much time on that list above but I hope it helps you a bit. Just remember exams are usually easy. Why? Well if you're in science, you probably had four unit tests throughout the year: chemistry, biology, physics, and astronomy. If those are 75 minutes each and your exam is 120 minutes, that means they need to compress 300 minutes of information into 120. That means that mostly all the important stuff will be on the exam, it shouldn't go too far in detail, from my experience. Well, good luck with your exams.
January 21, 2007 at 4:59 pm
<
>
I am a 17-year-old from Canada. I broadly cover my life and the world around me in my articles.
all done mine!1