by Kevin J. Browne

Created on: July 13, 2007

For many of you this is your first encounter with an essay exam. So, here's some helpful advice about preparing for the exam. First, and foremost, you must read the assigned text in your class. If you find the text difficult to read, you may have to re-read and consult a dictionary from time to time to look up new and unfamiliar words. Please note that textbook authors do not use such words to confuse you. Rather, they use a particular word because that is the best word to describe to concept they are explaining. Also, college textbook writers assume their readers have a college level vocabulary. So, look upon the reading as a chance to improve your reading skills and build up your vocabulary!

As you read the text be sure to underline the points you find confusing. If you do this as you read the text, pay attention to whether your professor's class lectures help clarify these points. If they do not, then you MUST ask questions! It is important that you do this as soon as you are confused. Do not wait until a lot of material has gone by. Also, the point of underlining things you find confusing is that you will know what to ask about. Many students say they do not ask questions because they do not know what questions to ask. You have to identify what specific things you find confusing and underlining as you read is a good way to do this.

The most important thing to do in studying for essay exams is to learn things as you go. While it is tempting to put things off until just before the exam, especially in an online class, this is not the best way to prepare and learn the material. Since one concept builds on the previous one, you should be familiar with each concept before moving on to the next one.

Another temptation when studying for exams is to focus on memorizing things instead of understanding them. This is a huge mistake in general and will lead to problems in studying for essay exams in particular. You must make an effort to understand the concepts and not simply memorize jargon and catch phrases. There are several reasons for this. First, the point of taking a class is to learn something not simply to memorize bullet point facts. Memorizing lists of facts is not learning. You paid for an education and you should work to achieve this by gaining something from the class besides a letter grade. You need to think in terms of gaining useful knowledge. A second problem with memorizing is simply this: What if you forget a word or two in your script? Then you will

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