Page 252 - Keys to College Success

As you plan and write, remember that neatness is crucial. No matter how good
your ideas are, if your instructor can’t read them, your grade will suffer. Most essay
tests are taken in blue books—small blank paper booklets available at the bookstore or
provided by your instructor on test day. If your handwriting is a problem, try printing
or skipping every other line, and write on only one side of the page in your blue book.
Use an extra blue book if you need it. Students with documented learning disabilities
may be able to get permission to take the test on a computer.
The purpose of a test is to see how much you know, not merely to get a grade.
Embrace this attitude to learn from your mistakes.

WHAT IS THE UPSIDE OF
poor performance?

You’ve finished the exam, handed it in, gone home to a well-deserved night of
sleep. At the next class meeting you’ve returned refreshed, rejuvenated, and ready to
accept a great score. As you receive the test back from your instructor, you look wide-
eyed at your grade. How could that be?
No one aces every test or understands every piece of material perfectly. Making
mistakes on tests and learning from them is an essential part of the academic
experience. Instead of beating yourself up about a bad grade, take the risk of looking
realistically at what you could have done better. Identify what you can correct, and
you may be rewarded with better study choices and an improved performance on
your next exam.

Ask yourself global questions that may help you identify correctable patterns.
Honest answers can help you change the way you study for the next exam.

■ What were your biggest problems? Did you get nervous, misread the question, fail
to study enough, study incorrectly, neglect to go beyond recall to analysis?
■ Did your instructor’s comments clarify where you slipped up? Did your answer lack
specificity? Did you fail to support your thesis well? Was your analysis weak?
■ Were you surprised by the questions? For example, did you expect them all to be
from the lecture notes and text instead of from
your notes and text and supplemental readings?
■ Did you make careless errors? Did you misread the
question or directions, blacken the wrong box on
the answer sheet, skip a question, write illegibly?
■ Did you make conceptual or factual errors? Did
you misunderstand a concept? Did you fail to master
facts or concepts?

Rework the questions you got wrong. Based on
instructor feedback, try to rewrite an essay, recalculate
a math problem from the original question, or redo
questions following a reading selection. If you discover
a pattern of careless errors, redouble your efforts to be
more careful, and save time to double-check your work.

After reviewing your mistakes, fill in your knowl-
edge gaps. If you made mistakes because you didn’t Examining test results will help these students evaluate their
understand important concepts, develop a plan to learn performance, as well as learn from their mistakes.
the material.

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