REVIEWING AND FORGETTING AND THE VALUE OF SPACED REVIEW
OBJECTIVE TESTS:
True-False Questions Multiple Choice Questions
Matching Questions Sentence Completion Questions
All of these are testing your ability to recognize information that you have seen before. In some ways, they do not expect as much of you as do essay tests, which test your ability to recall and organize information. In other ways, they are harder, especially when you don’t remember ALL of the information. Therefore, NOTHING can replace the value of studying, studying, and more studying. Maybe the thing that we know best about research on studying and learning is:
Reviewing of previously learned material leads to increased learning and decreases the amount of forgetting. (Lott)
Some research has found that we forget 46% of what we read in one day unless we review it, 79% after 14 days, and 81% after 28 days (Pauk 95). A good rule to follow is to review your class notes and your reading within 24 hours of the initial hearing or reading. Some general tips to remember include:
- Make study sheets as you review the material.
- Recite – or repeat to yourself – the things you want to remember. Just as you remember your best friend’s phone number because you’ve called it each day, so too will you remember material you have reviewed often.
- Set up some notation of marking potential test questions as you hear them in lecture.
- Create test questions (fill-in-the-blank questions are great) and practice answering them as a part of your on-going review strategies.
However, having said that, there are tips you can use to help you by the tough spots in multiple choice tests when you aren’t quite sure of the correct answer.
First is understanding the different types of multiple choice questions – understanding them can help you conquer them!
TRUE-FALSE QUESTIONS
- Since instructors would rather leave correct information in your mind, statements on a true-false exam are more likely to be true (and they are easier to write). So, if you must absolutely guess, guess true.
- However, for you to mark a statement as true, it must be always and 100% true. If one word in the statement is not true, the entire statement is not true. For example:
T F George Washington, Jimmy Carter, and Thomas Edison were all presidents of the United States.
- True/false statements that provide reasons are more likely to be false, since there may be other reasons, or there may be additional reasons. True/false statements assume the idea that “This is always true." For example:
T F Children today get lower grades because they watch too much television. (Hopper 170)
- Simplify the question by getting rid of any double negatives, and be sure to understand the impact of a single negative on the statement. Examples:
- T F Most students are unwilling to leave class early.
- T F Most students are not unwilling to leave class early.
- T F Most students would not be satisfied with an F on an exam.
- T F Most students would not be dissatisfied with an F on an exam.
- T F The cost of a BMW is usually inexpensive in comparison to a DeLorean.
- T F The cost of a BMW is not usually inexpensive in comparison to a DeLorean. (Hopper 171)
MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS
Multiple-choice questions usually begin with a “stem” and are then followed by a series of possible answers, known as “options”. It is sometimes easiest to treat the stem as a “fill-in-the-blank” question, but that doesn’t always work for all people. Actually, your task is to pick the best option from the ones that are given. This means that there might not always be a perfect answer. Cross out what you know are incorrect answers (known as “distracters” or “decoys”, read all possible responses (don’t pick the first “right” one you see), and pick the most correct answer. For example:
The best reason for a parent to read to a child is:
- it makes reading a fun activity
- it helps teach morals
- it keeps them quiet
- it helps increase fine motor skills and imagination
Another way to do this is to read the stem and option #1 as a true-false question and decide if it is true or false. Then do the same thing for the stem and option #2, #3, and so on. Yet another “trick of the trade” is to play the “which of the following doesn’t belong” game with the options. This is particularly useful for stems that read, “Which of the following is not. . .” For example:
Which of the following is not a secondary color?
- blue
- orange
- purple
- green
Occasionally, you will also be able to choose answers based on test flaws. Although these may be more prevalent in teacher-made tests, they can also appear in questions from a test bank. In general, an option is not the correct option if it contains an absolute qualifier (always, all, never, no, none), if it has a term not in the book or lecture notes, if it is a joke or insult, and if it is the highest or lowest number option (except on math quizzes).
If you want to loose weight, you should
- never eat cake
- watch you intake of potassium and monosodium glutimate
- starve yourself until you reach the weight you want
- begin moderate exercise and a sensible diet
In general, options tend to be true if it reads “all of the above” (especially if you judge two of the above options to be true), options with one of two similar-looking answers, options with “sometimes” qualifiers (most, some, usually, sometimes often) or options that are more complete or more inclusive.
1. Physical attractiveness is likely to vary among
- Europeans
- Athletes
- Men over thirty
- All of the above (adapted from Hopper)
2. The head of a kettle drum is
- struck only with wooden mallets
- always made of sheepskin
- often made of calfskin
- tightened once a day ( Pauk 340)
Matching Questions
Matching tests are actually harder than multiple choice or true-false tests, because if you get one item wrong, you will probably get at least one other item wrong. Wrong items come in pairs – you get a chain result. Some tips are:
- Match by reading the long half of the stem first and then searching the short list for the matching answer. You’ll save time this way.
- Find out whether an answer can be used more than once, and if there are extra items on one side of the list.
- Answer only the items you are sure of on the first time through the list. One answer may remind you of another as you go along.
- Cross off, lightly, the options as you use them so you won’t have to read them again, and so you won’t inadvertently choose the same answer twice.
- More than in other tests, look for grammatical and logic clues. Is the option looking for a person? Animal? Start with a vowel (and so need “an”, not “a”?)
- If you come down to the last two and you really aren’t sure, choose the same answer for both. You’ll get one wrong, for sure, but you won’t get two wrong!
Sentence Completion And Short Answer Tests
Clues here are:
- Read the sentence stem carefully. Be sure you know what it says. Ask if you are unsure! Read the question to yourself so you are sure of what it is asking.
- Answer only what the question is asking for, not “everything you know about the topic.”
- Remember that your answer may require more than one word.
- Never leave a question unanswered. Often, you may get partial credit for it, and that is better than nothing!
Predicting Test Questions
Some guidelines to remember from lecture/class here include:
- If it’s on the blackboard, it will be on the test.
- If it’s on the review sheet, there’s a 90% chance it will be on the test.
- If the instructor slows down or repeats something, it will be on the test.
- If the instructor says anything like “I want you to know this.”, “I want you to remember this.”, “This is important.”, “Be sure to write this down.” – it will be on the test.
- If the material matches the objectives on the syllabus, it will be on the test.
Some guidelines to remember while reading include:
- If it is in bold print, it is “important”. Important = 85% chance it will show up in some way on the test.
- If it is mentioned in the objectives at the start of the chapter, there is an 85% chance it will be on the test.
- If it is included in a summary or review questions at the end of a chapter, there is a 90% chance it will be on the test.
- If it shows up in the text AND in the lecture, there is a 100% chance it will be on the test.
Works Consulted
Ellis, Dave. Becoming a Master Student, Eighth Edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1997.
Hopper, Carolyn H. Practicing College Study Skills: Strategies for Success. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1998.
Lott, Jesse. “Workshop in Test-Taking”. Cazenovia College, 1996.
Stowers, John C. Jr., M.D. Straight A’s: If I Can Do It, So Can You. New York McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1996.
Materniak, Georgine. LRNASST@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU 3 October 1997.
Pauk, Walter. How To Study in College, Sixth Edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1997.
Other places to visit:
http://www.mtsu.edu/~studsk/
http://www.campuslife.utoronto.ca/Handbook/learning.html
http://www.marist.edu/slcuin
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