Is it Sunday Already?

So, bad luck all the way right now. Started my post an hour and a half ago, and it had potential to be a pretty kick ass blog post. Oh wait, then the bad luck kicks in. As I try to upload my first picture of my Topic Outline, my computer freezes and shuts down. Lucky me right? So here I am starting all over again. Let's hope it is as good the second time.

Alright well, it is Sunday already. Sunday sneaks up on me every week, and every week I wake up and think to myself, "Oh crap, it's Sunday already, I need to be at Bird right now." I have been here, Bird, since about ten this morning, I look like a mess, literally like I rolled out of bed and came here. But hey, I have work to do! Yet I probably should have started earlier, but of course I didn't, and now I am re doing my blog and it is already 4 pm and it is due at 5 pm. Awesome. For some reason, even though I'll admit I am getting better at doing my work in advance, thank you CLS! Still I leave it until kind of last minute. This weekend I was tempted to go home, since most students did actually go home this weekend for Jewish holidays mostly. Yet I knew that if I headed home I would do absolutely nothing over the weekend, so I stayed, and managed to do absolutely nothing at school instead! Silly me.

So to move this blog along, I tried out the Topic Outline for my Astronomy class since we have a test coming up in about two weeks. Dr. Blumin showed us step by step how to do it in class last week because most of the students in class did it wrong, including me. Take two of Topic Outline was a success this time. Second time is the charm perhaps? Anyways, after doing it I realized that not only does it help

me visualize and see each topic I should pay attention to, but exactly where/how I can study each topic, which for me is helpful. Now, I have every important topic lined out along with where

it is in the textbook as well as where it is in my notes.

This strategy, once it was done correctly, was a smart way to organize how I should go about studying, when I start to. I also tried the Topic Outline for my Philosophy class and it didn't work as well because Philosophy is not as fact based as Astronomy. It is based of off understanding more so than Astronomy so it was more difficult to create a Topic Outline because the topics were wishy-washy. I still managed to create one, but it didn't help me as much as it did for my Astronomy class.

Next I tried out Anticipating Test Questions. For me I thought going into it that I wouldn't be able to anticipate test questions, I never know how professors come up with test questions. But I gave it a try because it doesn't hurt and it could benefit me in the end. Of course it did benefit me. I realized that if I go home or to the library after class and review my notes and actually anticipate test questions, I would probably wind up seeing some version of that question on the next test! I plan on testing this out and following through too! I did give it a try though, and it also was a good way to study and review your

notes, like we should be doing after every class anyways. I did like this, but I'll admit it was tough to think of questions! I can't even imagine being a teacher and thinking of 50 questions to use.

As Dr. Blumin always says, "If you continue to do what you've always done, you'll continue to get what you have always gotten!" That quote will linger in my brain for the rest of my life, and now I am not doing what I have always done, I am slowly getting better and will continue to do my work earlier and use these useful strategies to help me succeed. Sunday's will no longer be a surprise to me!

Best Intentions

This weekend I went home to celebrate Yom Kippur with my family and to have a little time to myself and relax. As I was packing my bag of things I would need while I was home, I thought back to my IC meeting I had just a half hour before and remembered that I needed to start working on my Exam Experiment. While I had already done "Anticipating Test Questions" during the week as part of my CLS homework, I figured that I could do a "Source and Topic Outline" over the weekend and use it for both my Tech Assignment and Exam Experiment. After all, who doesn't love making life a little easier? Unfortunately, as I was already halfway home to Connecticut my mind began to wonder back to CLS (it's a 4 1/2 hour drive, you have a lot of time to think) and all of a sudden Dr. Blumin's voice popped into my head and I heard "Always study by topic, NEVER by source."And that's when it hit me, I had left my Dynamics of Addiction textbook at school. I originally had thought that all I would need was my class notebook and syllabus since it lists the chapters I would need to study right there, but clearly I forgot about Wednesday's class and my mindwas already on Noodle Kugel (only after I fast, of course). So, despite my best intentions this week's blog will focus on the "Anticipating Test Questions" I made during the week.

The first class I applied the test-prep strategy to was my Nutrition course. During each class Professor Short reveals a few test questions that will be on the next exam. While this is extremely beneficial, the handful of questions she has given us by the time the exam comes around isn't enough to study off of. Therefore, by anticipating test questions I am able to provide myself with 60 potential test questions as opposed to 15.

To Create these test questions I thought back to our first exam and noted that since all of the questions were multiple choice, and the pattern of the course information is by definition, that the majority of the questions were, and will be, defining terms and fact based. As a result, a lot of the questions I wrote are based on one or two word answers, since that is how it will look on the actual exam.

I've learned that by studying by asking myself questions in the format that I will be tested on, rather than simply memorizing information off of a flashcard, I am learning the material but in a way that is much more effective since I have basically created my own mock-exam.

The second course I applied the test-prep strategy to was my HTW318- Dynamics of Addiction class. Similar to my Nutrition class, in HTW318 the Professor asks the students a few questions each class, to which we have to answer by using our "clickers". Although Dr. Bergen-Cico isn't blatantly saying "these are the questions that will be on your next exam" I've learned through CLS that the chances that those questions, or ones very similar to them, will be on the exam are very high.

As well, when the Professor asks these questions I am able to see the way in which she is asking them, therefore giving me insight on how the questions will most likely be phrased on the exam. I also created five questions on my "Anticipating Test Questions" sheet based off of the syllabus. When I looked at the calendar I was able to see that a lot of focus was placed on "Uppers" and especially "Downers". From this I was able to look back at my notes from class, find information on these subjects, and then write potential test questions based on the way the Professor had phrased the questions in class.

When I can remember to do so, I also use the "20 Minute Test Prep" that I had first tried out on my first blog. While this technique and "Anticipating Test Questions" are similar because they both involve creating potential test questions, I found that this new test-prep strategy opened my eyes to a new way of creating questions and studying. Now, instead of just relying on my class notes to anticipate questions, I can refer back to my syllabus or listen for questions the professor is asking in class.

Even though I wasn't able to get a head start on my Exam Experiment like I had planned, this new strategy will help me in the future and even with the exam I will be using for the Exam Experiment. Now I have 10 potential questions to study off of! Wohooo!!