Motivation and Learning Strategies for College Success : A Self-management Approach

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PREPARING FOR EXAMS 245

Front of Card Back of Card

What were the causes of... The causes were

1)

2)

3)

What are the differences The differences are

between_____and________? 1)

2)

3)

Convert .742 kg to grams .742 kg  1000g/1kg  742g

Learning strategies Techniques or methods students use

to acquire information.

Rehearsal (e.g. underlining)

Elaboration (e.g., analogy)

Organizational (e.g., outline and map)

Certain learning strategies are more

effective in moving information to

LTM.

FIG. 10.1. Examples of different types of study cards.

Figure 10.1 presents different types of study cards students can

develop for different courses. Note that the study cards can include

both lower and higher level questions. A study card can focus on one

major point or can combine a great deal of information about a topic.

In this way, you can reduce the number of cards you need to produce.

When you approach the last evening before an exam, you should

not be rereading the textbook or class notes, but instead use the rep-

resentations you developed along with questions, note cards, and

summaries as your primary review material.

Step 4. Identify the Amount of Time Needed for Each Strategy

Different study strategies involve different amounts of time. For

example, making study cards to review definitions of terms often

requires less time than developing a representation of content in a chap-

ter or summarizing a short story. Therefore, after you determine how

you will study for an exam, it is important to estimate the amount of

time needed. No one can accurately predict the exact time needed for

projected study sessions. Base your projections on previous experience

and modify them as you acquire greater skill in using a strategy.