Writing skills success - LearningExpress 2009
Appendix A. Studying for success
Posttest
Now that you’ve spent a good deal of time improving your grammar and writing skills, take this posttest to see how much you’ve learned. If you took the pretest at the beginning of this book, you have a good way to compare what you knew when you started the book with what you know now.
When you complete this test, grade yourself, and then compare your score with your score on the pretest. If your score now is much greater, congratulations—you’ve profited noticeably from your hard work. If your score shows little improvement, perhaps you should review certain chapters. Do you notice a pattern to the types of questions you got wrong? Whatever you score on this posttest, keep this book around for review and refer to it when you are unsure of a grammatical rule.
There’s an answer sheet you can use for filling in the correct answers on page 165. Or, if you prefer, simply circle the answer numbers in this book. If the book doesn’t belong to you, write the numbers 1-50 on a piece of paper, and record your answers there. Take as much time as you need to do this short test. When you finish, check your answers against the answer key that follows. Each answer tells you which lesson of this book teaches you about the grammatical rule in that question.
Posttest
1. Which of the following is a sentence fragment (not a complete sentence)?
a. The memo was distributed on Friday.
b. Although the managers and the support staff had been called.
c. The company was being acquired by a large corporation.
d. Be sure to attend the meeting.
2. Which version is correctly capitalized?
a. After we headed west on interstate 70, my uncle Paul informed us that his Ford Taurus was almost out of gas.
b. After we headed west on Interstate 70, my Uncle Paul informed us that his Ford Taurus was almost out of gas.
c. After we headed West on Interstate 70, my Uncle Paul informed us that his Ford Taurus was almost out of gas.
d. After we headed West on interstate 70, my Uncle Paul informed us that his Ford taurus was almost out of gas.
3. Which version is punctuated correctly?
a. That building, with the copper dome is our state capitol.
b. That building with the copper dome, is our state capitol.
c. That building, with the copper dome, is our state capitol.
d. That building with the copper dome is our state capitol.
4. Which version is punctuated correctly?
a. The temperature was 80 degrees at noon; by 6:00 p.m. it had dropped to below 40.
b. The temperature was 80 degrees at noon, by 6:00 p.m. it had dropped to below 40.
c. The temperature was 80 degrees at noon by 6:00 p.m., it had dropped to below 40.
d. The temperature was 80 degrees at noon by 6:00 p.m. it had dropped to below 40.
5. Which version is punctuated correctly?
a. It was one managers’ idea to give us a month’s vacation.
b. It was one manager’s idea to give us a months vacation.
c. It was one manager’s idea to give us a month’s vacation.
d. It was one managers idea to give us a month’s vacation.
6. Which version is punctuated correctly?
a. “Watch out! yelled the police officer. There’s an accident ahead.”
b. “Watch out!” yelled the police officer. “There’s an accident ahead.”
c. “Watch out”! yelled the police officer. “There’s an accident ahead.”
d. “Watch out! yelled the police officer.” “There’s an accident ahead.”
7. Which version used parentheses correctly?
a. We celebrated one wedding anniversary (we’d been married five years at the time), by spending a week in Italy.
b. We celebrated (one wedding anniversary) we’d been married five years at the time, by spending a week in Italy.
c. We celebrated one wedding anniversary we’d been married five years at the time, (by spending a week in Italy).
d. We celebrated one wedding anniversary we’d been married (five years at the time), by spending a week in Italy.
8. Choose the subject that agrees with the verb in the following sentence.
... of the musicians have arrived at the concert.
a. Each
b. Neither
c. One
d. Two
9. Which of the following sentences is most clearly and correctly written?
a. Bart told us all about the fish he caught while waiting in line at the movie theater.
b. At the movie theater, Bart told us about the fish he caught while we waited in line.
c. As we waited in line at the movie theater, Bart told us about the fish he caught.
d. As we waited in line, Bart told us about the fish he caught at the movie theater.
10. Which version is in the active voice?
a. The president of the P.T.A. requested donations for the new auditorium.
b. For the new auditorium, donations had been requested by the P.T.A. president.
c. Donations for the new auditorium were requested by the president of the P.T.A.
d. Donations were requested by the P.T.A. president for the new auditorium.
11. Which version has a consistent point of view?
a. Last Sunday, we went canoeing on the Platte River. You could see bald eagles high in the trees above us.
b. While we were canoeing last Sunday on the Platte River, high in the trees above us, you could see bald eagles.
c. We went canoeing last Sunday on the Platte River, and high in the trees above us, we could see bald eagles.
d. High in the trees above, the bald eagles were looking down at you, as we canoed on the Platte River last Sunday.
12. Which version uses punctuation correctly?
a. Help! Do you know where I can find a babysitter on such short notice.
b. Help! Do you know where I can find a babysitter on such short notice?
c. Help? Do you know where I can find a babysitter on such short notice!
d. Help: Do you know where I can find a babysitter on such short notice?
13. Which of the underlined words in the following sentence should be capitalized?
My brother has been teaching history at the university of California since last fall.
a. Brother
b. History
c. University
d. Fall
For questions 14 and 15, choose the correct verb form.
14. When she was asked which employee should be promoted, Ms. Garcia ... Caroline Martin.
a. has chosen
b. choosed
c. choose
d. chose
15. The snow ... to fall late yesterday afternoon.
a. began
b. begun
c. had began
d. begins
16. Which version is most clearly and correctly written?
a. Jeff told Nathan that his car battery was dead. b. When Jeff spoke to Nathan, he said his car battery was dead.
c. Jeff told Nathan about his dead car battery.
d. Jeff told Nathan that the battery in Nathan’s car was dead.
For questions 17-19, choose the option that correctly completes the sentence.
17. The cat ... in a patch of sun on the front porch.
a. is laying
b. is lying
c. lays
d. laid
18. When I heard the unusual sound, I ... walked through the house and searched each room very ... .
a. calmly, carefully
b. calmly, careful
c. calm, careful
d. calm, carefully
19. I have ... idea how these ... got in my sweater.
a. know, wholes
b. know, holes
c. no, holes
d. no, wholes
20. Which of the following sentences contains a redundancy? (It repeats words that express the same idea.)
a. Del shouted as loudly as he could, but no one heard him.
b. Twenty minutes had passed before the fire trucks arrived.
c. Yesterday, the senator made the same speech at three different locations.
d. For a wide variety of different reasons, more people are using computers.
21. Which version has a parallel structure?
a. He is a man of many talents. He repairs small machines, he cooks gourmet meals, and you should see his lilies and orchids.
b. He is a man of many talents. There’s a talent for repairing small machines, he cooks gourmet meals, and then there are the lilies and orchids.
c. He is a man of many talents. He repairs small machines, he cooks gourmet meals, and he grows lilies and orchids.
d. He is a man of many talents: repairing small machines, cooking gourmet meals, and he grows lilies and orchids.
22. Which of the following sentences contains a cliche'?
a. Looking for Harriet’s ring was like searching for a needle in a haystack.
b. The reason I can’t have lunch with you is because I have a dentist appointment.
c. The crooked fence looked like a row of teeth in need of braces.
d. As costs go up, so do prices.
23. Which version uses periods correctly?
a. T.J. McCloud and Dr Sheila Brown will represent the U.S. at the 3 pm ceremony.
b. T.J. McCloud and Dr. Sheila Brown will represent the U.S. at the 3 p.m. ceremony.
c. T.J. McCloud and Dr. Sheila Brown will represent the US at the 3 p.m. ceremony.
d. TJ McCloud and Dr Sheila Brown will represent the U.S. at the 3 pm ceremony.
24. Which version is correctly capitalized?
a. Many Meteorologists are predicting that the West will have the wettest winter on record.
b. Many meteorologists are predicting that the west will have the wettest winter on record.
c. Many Meteorologists are predicting that the West will have the wettest Winter on record.
d. Many meteorologists are predicting that the West will have the wettest winter on record.
25. Three of the following sentences are either run- ons or comma splices. Which one is NOT?
a. A group of lions is called a pride a group of elephants is called a herd.
b. Josh told me he would meet us at the zoo at noon, he never showed up.
c. We waited three hours, finally, Karen decided to give him a call.
d. A young sheep is known as a lamb, but a young goat is known as a kid.
26. Which version is punctuated correctly?
a. There are many reasons—aside from the obvious ones—why she is not the right person for this job.
b. There are many reasons: aside from the obvious ones—why she is not the right person for this job.
c. There are many reasons—aside from the obvious ones, why she is not the right person for this job.
d. There are many reasons aside from the obvious ones—why she is not the right person for this job.
27. Which is the correct punctuation for the underlined portion?
The explosion broke several windows in the factory however no one was injured.
a. factory, however
b. factory however;
c. factory; however,
d. factory, however;
28. Which version uses hyphens correctly?
a. My soft-spoken brother-in-law did not raise his voice when he saw that his car had been damaged in the parking-lot.
b. My soft spoken brother-in-law did not raise his voice when he saw that his car had been damaged in the parking-lot.
c. My soft-spoken brother-in-law did not raise his voice when he saw that his car had been damaged in the parking lot.
d. My soft-spoken brother in-law did not raise his voice when he saw that his car had been damaged in the parking lot.
29. Which version is punctuated correctly?
a. Ms. Jeffers who is my physics teacher, coaches the girls’ basketball team.
b. Ms. Jeffers, who is my physics teacher, coaches the girls’ basketball team.
c. Ms. Jeffers who is my physics teacher coaches the girls’ basketball team.
d. Ms. Jeffers who, is my physics teacher, coaches the girls’ basketball team.
For questions 30-34, choose the option that correctly completes the sentence.
30. Several manuals, each with detailed instructions, ... with your new computer.
a. were sent
b. was sent
c. has been sent
d. sent
31. Jessica and ... are looking in the grass for one of her earrings; ... will be hard to find.
a. me, it
b. me, they
c. I, they
d. I, it
32. Yesterday, I ... my watch on this table, but now ... gone.
a. set, it’s
b. set, its
c. sat, its
d. sat, it’s
33. I didn’t want Lisa’s ... because I knew she would tell me not to … the job.
a. advice, except
b. advice, accept
c. advise, accept
d. advise, except
34. Carlos ... the basketball team because he had ... many sports-related injuries.
a. quite, too
b. quite, to
c. quit, to
d. quit, too
35. Which version is punctuated correctly?
a. The recreation center will show the following movies: Charlotte’s Web, Jungle Book, and Annie, the cost will be $2.50 per ticket.
b. The recreation center will show the following movies; Charlotte’s Web, Jungle Book, and Annie; the cost will be $2.50 per ticket.
c. The recreation center will show the following movies: Charlotte’s Web, Jungle Book, and Annie. The cost will be $2.50 per ticket.
d. The recreation center will show the following movies—Charlotte’s Web, Jungle Book, and Annie. The cost will be $2.50 per ticket.
36. Which version is punctuated correctly?
a. Excited about her European vacation Eva spent hours in the bookstore looking at travel guides.
b. Excited about her European vacation, Eva, spent hours in the bookstore looking at travel guides.
c. Excited about her European vacation, Eva spent hours in the bookstore looking at travel guides.
d. Excited about her European vacation Eva spent, hours in the bookstore looking at travel guides.
37. Which version is punctuated correctly?
a. The woman who lives across the street was born on July 4, 1922, in Washington, D.C.
b. The woman, who lives across the street, was born on July 4, 1922, in Washington, D.C.
c. The woman who lives across the street, was born on July 4, 1922 in Washington, D.C.
d. The woman who lives across the street was born on July 4, 1922 in Washington D.C.
For question 38, choose the correct verb tense.
38. By next fall, I ... to all fifty of the United States.
a. would be
b. should have been
c. will have been
d. had been
39. Three of the following sentences are punctuated correctly. Which one is punctuated incorrectly?
a. My son’s baseball game was postponed; it was raining too hard.
b. Because it was raining too hard; my son’s baseball game was postponed.
c. My son’s baseball game was postponed because it was raining too hard.
d. It was raining too hard, and my son’s baseball game was postponed.
40. Which of the following should NOT be hyphenated?
a. one-fifteen in the morning
b. the sixteenth-president of the United States
c. a thirty-second commercial
d. a thousand-dollar profit
41. In which of the following sentences is the underlined verb NOT in agreement with the subject of the sentence?
a. There is only one store that sells that brand.
b. Why are the girls on the team so excited?
c. Here are the shoes I wanted to show you.
d. What is the causes of her constant complaints?
42. In which of the following sentences is the underlined pronoun incorrectl?
a. The teacher who won the award was her.
b. He and I plan to visit you tomorrow.
c. When can she come over for dinner?
d. Both Michael and Steven will finish their homework early.
43. Which version is punctuated correctly?
a. Dianes’ completed forms aren’t in our files.
b. Diane’s completed forms are’nt in our files.
c. Diane’s completed forms’ aren’t in our files.
d. Diane’s completed forms aren’t in our files.
44. Which version is written correctly?
a. Friends’ was one of the most popular shows ever on television.
b. Friends was one of the most popular shows ever on television.
c. “Friends” was one of the most popular shows ever on television.
d. FRIENDS was one of the most popular shows ever on television.
45. Which of the following sentences is in the passive voice?
a. Every morning this week, Zeke brought bagels to work.
b. Each day, he selected several different kinds.
c. Generally, more than half of the bagels were eaten before 9:00.
d. We’ve asked him to stop because we’ve all gained a few pounds.
46. We noticed the ... of his cologne when he ... in front of us.
a. scent, past
b. scent, passed
c. sent, passed
d. sent, past
47. Ian is the ... of the triplets, but ... all the members of his family, he is the only one with a talent for music.
a. smallest, among
b. smallest, between
c. smaller, between
d. smaller, among
48. ... the person ... found my wallet.
a. Your, who
b. Your, which
c. You’re, that
d. You’re, who
49. I ... you thought he would be much older ... I am.
a. supposed, then
b. suppose, then
c. suppose, than
d. supposed, than
50. Evan doesn’t like chocolate; he ... away his ... of cake.
a. through, piece
b. through, peace
c. threw, peace
d. threw, piece
Answers
If you miss any of the answers, you can find help for that kind of question in the lesson shown to the right of the answer.
1. b. Lesson 3
2. b. Lesson 1
3. d. Lesson 4
4. a. Lesson 5
5. c. Lesson 7
6. b. Lesson 8
7. a. Lesson 9
8. d. Lesson 12
9. c. Lesson 15
10. a. Lesson 11
11. c. Lesson 19
12. b. Lesson 2
13. c. Lesson 1
14. d. Lesson 10
15. a. Lesson 10
16. d. Lesson 13
17. b. Lesson 14
18. a. Lesson 15
19. c. Lesson 17
20. d. Lesson 18
21. c. Lesson 19
22. a. Lesson 18
23. b. Lesson 2
24. d. Lesson 1
25. d. Lesson 3
26. a. Lesson 7
27. c. Lesson 6
28. c. Lesson 9
29. b. Lesson 4
30. a. Lesson 12
31. d. Lesson 13
32. a. Lesson 14
33. b. Lesson 17
34. d. Lesson 16
35. c. Lesson 6
36. c. Lesson 4
37. a. Lesson 5
38. c. Lesson 10
39. b. Lesson 6
40. b. Lesson 9
41. d. Lesson 12
42. a. Lesson 13
43. d. Lesson 7
44. b. Lesson 8
45. c. Lesson 11
46. b. Lesson 16
47. a. Lesson 15
48. d. Lesson 14
49. c. Lesson 17
50. d. Lesson 16
Appendix A. Studying for success
How successful you are at studying has less to do with how much time you put into it than with how you do it. That’s because some ways of studying are much more effective than others, and some environments are much more conducive to studying than others. Another reason is that not everyone retains information in the same way. On the following pages, you will discover how to adapt your studying strategies to the ways you learn best. You will probably pick up some new techniques for studying, and will also gain insight on how to prepare for standardized tests.
Learning Styles
Think for a minute about what you know about how you learn. For example, if you need directions to a new restaurant, would you
■ ask to see a map showing how to get there.
■ ask someone to tell you how to get there.
■ copy someone’s written directions.
Most people learn in a variety of ways: seeing, touching, hearing, and experiencing the world around them. Many people find, however, that they are more likely to absorb information better from one learning source than from others. The source that works best for you is called your dominant learning method.
There are three basic learning methods: visual, auditory, and kinesthetic (also known as tactile).
■ Visual learners understand and retain information best when they can see the map, the picture, the text, the word, or the math example.
■ Auditory learners learn best when they can hear the directions, the poem, the math theorem, or the spelling of a word.
■ Kinesthetic learners need to do—they must write the directions, draw the diagram, or copy down the phone number.
Visual Learners
If you are a visual learner, you learn best by seeing. Pay special attention to illustrations and graphic material when you study. If you color code your notes with colorful inks or highlighters, you may find that you absorb information better. Visual learners can learn to map or diagram information later in this appendix.
Auditory Learners
If you are an auditory learner, you learn best by listening. Read material aloud to yourself, or talk about what you are learning with a study partner or a study group. Hearing the information will help you to remember it. Some people like to tape-record notes and play them back on the tape player. If you commute to work or school by car or listen to a personal tape player, you can gain extra preparation time by playing the notes to yourself on tape.
Kinesthetic Learners
If you are a kinesthetic learner, you learn best by doing. Interact a lot with your print material by underlining and making margin notes in your textbooks and handouts. Rewrite your notes onto index cards. Recopying material helps you remember it.
How to Study Most Effectively
If studying efficiently is second nature to you, you’re very lucky. Most people have to work at it. Try some of these helpful study methods to make studying easier and more effective for you.
Make an Outline
After collecting all the materials you need to review or prepare for the test, the first step for studying any subject is to reduce a large body of information into smaller, more manageable units. One approach to studying this way is to make an outline of text information, handout materials, and class notes.
The important information in print material is often surrounded by lots of extra words and ideas. If you can highlight just the important information, or at least the information you need to know for your test, you can help yourself narrow your focus so that you can study more effectively. There are several ways to make an outline of print material. They include annotating, outlining, and mapping. The point of all three of these strategies is that they allow you to pull out just the important information that you need to prepare for the test.
Annotating
Annotations help you pull out main ideas from the surrounding text to make them more visible and accessible to you. Annotation means that you underline or highlight important information that appears in print material. It also involves responding to the material by engaging yourself with the writer by making margin notes. Margin notes are phrases or sentences in the
margins of print material that summarize the content of those passages. Your margin notes leave footprints for you to follow as you review the text.
Here is an example of a passage that has been annotated and underlined.
Outlining
You are probably familiar with the basic format of the traditional outline:
I. Main idea 1
A. Major detail
B. Major detail
1. Minor detail
2. Minor detail
II. Main idea 2
A. Major detail
B. Major detail
You may have used an outline in school to help you organize a writing assignment or take notes. When you outline print material, you’re looking for the basic ideas that make up the framework of the text. When you are taking out the important information for a test, then you are looking for the basic ideas that the author wants to convey to you.
Mapping
Mapping is a more visual kind of outline. Instead of making a linear outline of the main ideas of a text, when you map, you make a diagram of the main points in the text that you want to remember. The following diagrams show the same information in a map form.
Make Study Notes
The next step after you have pulled out all the key ideas is to make notes from which you will study. You will use these notes for the intensive and ongoing study you’ll do over the period of time before the test. They’re the specific items that you targeted as important to know for the test. Your notes should help you understand the information you need to know and, in many cases, commit it to memory. You should be sure to include
■ the main ideas you underlined or highlighted in the text
■ the main ideas and important details you outlined or mapped from the text
■ specific terms, words, dates, formulas, names, facts, or procedures that you need to memorize
How Do You Make Study Notes?
Some people like to write study notes in the back pages of their notebooks or on paper folded lengthwise so that it can be tucked between the pages of a text or review book. This format is good to use for notes that can be written as questions and answers, cause and effect, or definition and examples. You can also make notes on index cards.
Using Index Cards
It can be very helpful to write your study notes— especially those that contain material to be memorized—on index cards. Vocabulary words are significantly easier to learn using index cards.
Advantages of making notes on index cards are:
■ The information on each card is visually separated from other information. Therefore, it’s easier to concentrate on just that one item, separate from the surrounding text. You remember the look of a vocabulary word or a math equation more clearly when it is set off by itself.
■ Cards are small and portable. They can be carried in a purse or a pocket and pulled out at any time during the day for review.
■ Study cards can help you with the necessary task of memorizing. If you write the key word or topic you are trying to learn on one side, and the information you must know on the other side, you have an easy way to quiz yourself on the material. This method is especially good for kinesthetic learners, who learn by doing.
Making Memorizing Easier
There are many ways to take the drudgery out of memorizing information.
Take Small Bites of Time
Most people memorize information best when they study in small periods over a long period of time.
Memorizing facts from index cards that can be carried with you and pulled out for a few 10-minute sessions each day will yield better results than sitting down with a textbook for an hour straight. Index card notes can be pulled out in odd moments: while you are sitting in the car waiting to pick up your friend, during the 15 minutes you spend on the bus in the morning, while you wait to be picked up from school or work, and so on.
You’ll find that these short but regular practices will greatly aid your recall of lots of information. They’re a great way to add more study time to your schedule.
Break It Up
When you have a list to memorize, break the list into groups of seven or any other odd number. People seem to remember best when they divide long lists into shorter ones—and, for some reason, shorter ones that have an odd number of items in them. So instead of trying to memorize 10 vocabulary or spelling words, split your list into smaller lists of seven and three, or five and five, to help you remember them.
Create Visual Aids
Give yourself visual assistance in memorizing. If there’s a tricky combination of letters in a word you need to spell, for example, circle or underline it in red or highlight it in the text. Your eye will recall what the word looks like. With some information, you can even draw a map or picture to help you remember.
Do It Out Loud
Give yourself auditory assistance in memorizing. Many people learn best if they hear the information. Sit by yourself in a quiet room and say aloud what you need to learn. Or give your notes to someone else and let that person ask you or quiz you on the material.
Use Mnemonics
Mnemonics, or memory tricks, are things that help you remember what you need to know.
The most common type of mnemonic is the acronym. One acronym you may already know is HOMES, for the names of the Great Lakes (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior). ROY G. BIV reminds people of the colors in the spectrum (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet).
You can make a mnemonic out of anything. In a psychology course, for example, you might memorize the stages in death and dying by the nonsense word DABDA (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.) Another kind of mnemonic is a silly sentence made out of words that each begin with the letter or letters that start each item in a series. You may remember “Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally” as a device for remembering the order of operations in math (Parentheses, Exponents, Multiply, Divide, Add, and Subtract).
Sleep on It
When you study right before sleep and don’t allow any interference—such as conversation, radio, television, or music—to come between study and sleep, you
remember material better. This is especially true if you review first thing after waking as well. A rested and relaxed brain seems to hang on to information better than a tired and stressed-out brain.
On the following pages, try out some of the learning strategies you discovered in this lesson. Then check your answers.
The following is a passage from this text to underline and annotate. Make margin summaries of the key points in each paragraph. Then, make a mnemonic based on your margin notes.
Take Small Bites of Time
Most people memorize information best when they study in small periods over a long period of time Memorizing facts from index cards that can be carried with you and pulled out for a few 10-minute sessions each day will yield better results than sitting down with a textbook for an hour straight. You’ll find that these short but regular practices will greatly aid your recall of lots of information. They’re a great way to add more study time to your schedule.
Break It Up
When you have a list to memorize, break the list into groups of seven or any other odd number. People seem to remember best when they divide long lists into shorter ones—and, for some reason, shorter ones that have an odd number of items in them. So instead of trying to memorize ten vocabulary or spelling words, split your list into smaller lists of seven and three, or five and five, to help you remember them.
Create Visual Aids
Give yourself visual assistance in memorizing. If there’s a tricky combination of letters in a word you need to spell, for example, circle or underline it in red or highlight it in the text. Your eye will recall what the word looks like.
Do It Out Loud
Give yourself auditory assistance in memorizing. Many people learn best if they hear the information. Sit by yourself in a quiet room and say aloud what you need to learn. Or give your notes to someone else and let that person quiz you on the material.
Use Mnemonics
Mnemonics, or memory tricks, are things that help you remember what you need to know.
The most common type of mnemonic is the acronym. One acronym you may already know is HOMES, for the names of the Great Lakes (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior). ROY G. BIV reminds people of the colors in the spectrum (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet).
Note Cards
Make note cards with definitions for each kind of learning modality:
■ visual
■ auditory
■ kinesthetic
Mapping
Here is an outline of the learning strategies covered in this chapter. Using the same information, make a map or diagram of the same material.
I. How to study most effectively
A. Annotating
B. Outlining
C. Mapping
II. How to make study notes
A. Notebook pages
B. Index cards
1. Reasons for using index cards
III. Memory methods
Sample Mnemonics
DDVAA
Note Cards
Here are samples of how your note cards might look:
Mapping
Here is an example of how your map or diagram might look:
Preparing for a Standarized Test
Most of us get nervous about tests, especially standardized tests, where our scores can have a significant impact on our future. Nervousness is natural—and it can even be an advantage if you know how to channel it into positive energy.
The following pages provide suggestions for overcoming test anxiety, both in the days and weeks before the test and during the test itself.
Two to Three Months before the Test The number one best way to combat test anxiety is to be prepared. That means two things: Know what to expect on the test, and review the material and skills on which you will be tested.
Review the Material and Skills You’ll Be Tested On
The fact that you are reading this book means that you’ve already taken this step. Now, are there other steps you can take? Are there other subject areas you need to review? Can you make more improvement in this or other areas? If you are really nervous or if it has been a long time since you reviewed these subjects and skills, you may want to buy a second study guide, sign up for a class in your neighborhood, or work with a tutor.
The more you know about what to expect on test day and the more comfortable you are with the material and skills to be tested, the less anxious you will be and the better you will do on the test itself.
The Days before the Test
Review, Don’t Cram
If you have been preparing and reviewing in the weeks before the exam, there’s no need to cram a few days beforehand. Cramming is likely to confuse you and
make you nervous. Instead, schedule a relaxed review of all you have learned.
Physical Activity
Get some exercise in the days preceding the test. You’ll send some extra oxygen to your brain and allow your thinking performance to peak on the day you take the test. Moderation is the key here. Don’t exercise so much that you feel exhausted, but a little physical activity will invigorate your body and brain. Walking is a terrific, low-impact, energy-building form of exercise.
Balanced Diet
Like your body, your brain needs proper nutrients to function well. Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables in the days before the test. Foods high in lecithin, such as fish and beans, are especially good choices. Lecithin is a protein your brain needs for peak performance. You may even consider a visit to your local pharmacy to buy a bottle of lecithin tablets several weeks before your test.
Rest
Get plenty of sleep the nights before the test. Don’t overdo it, though, or you’ll make yourself as groggy as if you were overtired. Go to bed at a reasonable time, early enough to get the hours of rest you need to function effectively. You’ll feel relaxed and rested if you’ve gotten plenty of sleep in the days before you take the test.
Trial Run
At some point before the test, make a trial run to the testing center to see how long it takes to get there. Rushing raises your emotional energy and lowers your intellectual capacity, so you want to allow plenty of time on test day to get to the testing center. Arriving 10 or 15 minutes early gives you time to relax and get situated.
Motivation
Plan some sort of celebration—with family or friends, or just by yourself—for after the test. Make sure it’s something you’ll really look forward to and enjoy. If you have something planned for after the test, you may find it easier to prepare and keep moving during the test.
Test Day
It’s finally here, the day of the big test. Set your alarm early enough to allow plenty of time to get to the testing center. Eat a good breakfast. Avoid anything that’s really high in sugar, such as doughnuts. A sugar high turns into a sugar low after an hour or so. Cereal and toast or anything with complex carbohydrates is a good choice. Eat only moderate amounts. You don’t want to take a test feeling stuffed! Your body will channel its energy to your digestive system instead of your brain.
Pack a high-energy snack to take with you. You may have a break sometime during the test when you can grab a quick snack. Bananas are great. They have a moderate amount of sugar and plenty of brain nutrients, such as potassium. Most proctors won’t allow you to eat a snack while you’re testing, but a peppermint shouldn’t pose a problem. Peppermints are like smelling salts for your brain. If you lose your concentration or suffer from a momentary mental block, a peppermint can get you back on track. Don’t forget the earlier advice about relaxing and taking a few deep breaths.
Leave early enough so you have plenty of time to get to the test center. Allow a few minutes for unexpected traffic. When you arrive, locate the restroom and use it. Few things interfere with concentration as much as a full bladder. Then, find your seat and make sure it’s comfortable. If it isn’t, tell the proctor and ask to move to something more suitable.
Now relax and think positively! Before you know it, the test will be over, and you’ll walk away knowing you’ve done as well as you can.
Combating Test Anxiety
Okay—you know what the test will be on. You’ve reviewed the subjects and practiced the skills on which you will be tested. So why do you still have that sinking feeling in your stomach? Why are your palms sweaty and your hands shaking?
Even the brightest, most well-prepared test takers sometimes suffer bouts of test anxiety. But don’t worry; you can overcome it. Here are some specific strategies to help you.
Take the Test One Question at a Time
Focus all your attention on the one question you’re answering. Avoid thoughts about questions you’ve already read or concerns about what’s coming next. Concentrate your thinking where it will do the most good—on the question you’re answering now.
Develop a Positive Attitude
Keep reminding yourself that you’re prepared. In fact, if you’ve read this book, you’re probably better prepared than most other test takers. Remember, it’s only a test, and you will do your best. That’s all anyone can ask of you. If that nagging voice inside your head starts sending negative messages, combat them with positive ones of your own. Tell yourself:
■ “I’m doing just fine.”
■ “I’ve prepared for this test.”
■ “I know exactly what to do.”
■ “I know I can get the score I’m shooting for.”
You get the idea. Remember to drown out negative messages with positive ones of your own.
If You Lose Your Concentration
Don’t worry about it! It’s normal. During a long test, it happens to everyone. When your mind is stressed or overexerted, it takes a break whether you want it to or not. It’s easy to get your concentration back if you simply acknowledge the fact that you’ve lost it and take a quick break. You brain needs very little time (seconds, really) to rest.
Put your pencil down and close your eyes. Take a deep breath, hold it for a moment, and let it out slowly. Listen to the sound of your breathing as you repeat this two more times. The few seconds this takes is really all the time your brain needs to relax and refocus. This exercise also helps you control your heart rate, so you can keep anxiety at bay.
Try this technique several times before the test when you feel stressed. The more you practice, the better it will work for you on test day.
If You Freeze
Don’t worry about a question that stumps you even though you’re sure you know the answer. Mark it and go on to the next question. You can come back to the “stumper” later. Try to put it out of your mind completely until you come back to it. Just let your subconscious mind chew on the question while your conscious mind focuses on the other items (one at a time—of course). Chances are, the memory block will be gone by the time you return to the question.
If you freeze before you ever begin the test, here’s what to do:
1. Do some deep breathing to help yourself relax and focus.
2. Remind yourself that you’re prepared.
3. Take some time to look over the test.
4. Read a few of the questions.
5. Decide which ones are the easiest, and start there.
Before long, you’ll be “in the groove.”
Time Strategies
One of the most important—and nerve-wracking— elements of a standardized test is time. You’ll be allowed only a certain number of minutes for each section, so it is very important that you use your time wisely.
Pace Yourself
The most important time strategy is pacing yourself. Before you begin, take just a few seconds to survey the test, noting the number of questions and the sections that look easier than the rest. Then, make a rough time schedule based on the amount of time available to you. Mark the halfway point on your test and make a note beside that mark of the time when the testing period is half over.
Keep Moving
Once you begin the test, keep moving. If you work slowly in an attempt to make fewer mistakes, your mind will become bored and begin to wander. You’ll end up making far more mistakes if you’re not concentrating. Worse, if you take too long to answer questions that stump you, you may end up running out of time before you finish.
So don’t stop for difficult questions. Skip them and move on. You can come back to them later if you have time. A question that takes you five seconds to answer counts as much as one that takes you several minutes, so pick up the easy points first. Besides, answering the easier questions first helps build your confidence and gets you in the testing groove. Who knows? As you go through the test, you may even stumble across some relevant information to help you answer those tough questions.
Don’t Rush
Keep moving, but don’t rush. Think of your mind as a seesaw. On one side is your emotional energy; on the other side, your intellectual energy. When your emotional energy is high, your intellectual capacity is low. Remember how difficult it is to reason with someone when you’re angry? On the other hand, when your intellectual energy is high, your emotional energy is low. Rushing raises your emotional energy and reduces your intellectual capacity. Remember the last time you were late for work? All that rushing around probably caused you to forget important things—like your lunch. Move quickly to keep your mind from wandering, but don’t rush and get yourself flustered.
Check Yourself
Check yourself at the halfway mark. If you’re a little ahead, you know you’re on track and may even have a little time left to check your work. If you’re a little behind, you have several choices. You can pick up the pace a little, but do this only if you can do it comfortably. Remember—don’t rush! You can also skip around in the remaining portion of the test to pick up as many easy points as possible.
Avoiding Errors
When you take the test, you want to make as few errors as possible in the questions you answer. Here are a few tactics to keep in mind.
Control Yourself
Remember that comparison between your mind and a seesaw? Keeping your emotional energy low and your intellectual energy high is the best way to avoid mistakes. If you feel stressed or worried, stop for a few seconds. Acknowledge the feeling (“Hmmm! I’m feeling a little pressure here!”), take a few deep breaths, and send yourself a few positive messages. This relieves your emotional anxiety and boosts your intellectual capacity.
Directions
In many standardized testing situations, a proctor reads the instructions aloud. Make certain you understand what is expected. If you don’t, ask. Listen carefully for instructions about how to answer the questions and make certain you know how much time you have to complete the task. Write the time on your test if you don’t already know how long you have to take the test. If you miss this vital information, ask for it. You need it to do well on your test.
Answers
This may seem like a silly warning, but it is important. Place your answers in the right blanks or the corresponding ovals on the answer sheet. Right answers in the wrong place earn no points—depending on the test, you may even lose points for incorrect answers. It’s a good idea to check every five to 10 questions to make sure you’re in the right spot. That way, you won’t need much time to correct your answer sheet if you have made an error.
Choosing the Right Answers by Process of Elimination
Make sure you understand what the question is asking. If you’re not sure of what’s being asked, you’ll never know whether you’ve chosen the right answer. So determine what the question is asking. If the answer isn’t readily apparent, look for clues in the answer choices. Notice the similarities and differences in the answer choices. Sometimes, this helps to put the question in a new perspective, making it easier to answer. If you’re still not sure of the answer, use the process of elimination. First, eliminate any answer choices that are obviously wrong. Then, reason your way through the remaining choices. You may be able to use relevant information from other parts of the test. If you can’t eliminate any of the answer choices, you might be better off to skip the question and come back to it later. If you can’t eliminate any answer choices to improve your odds when you return, make a guess and move on.
If You’re Penalized for Wrong Answers
You must know whether there’s a penalty for wrong answers before you begin the test. If you don’t, ask the proctor before the test begins. Whether you make a guess depends on the penalty. Some standardized tests are scored in such a way that every wrong answer reduces your score by one-fourth or one-half of a point. Whatever the penalty, if you can eliminate enough choices to make the odds of answering the question better than the penalty for getting it wrong, make a guess.
Let’s imagine you are taking a test in which each answer has four choices and you are penalized one- fourth of a point for each wrong answer. If you have no clue and cannot eliminate any of the answer choices, you’re better off leaving the question blank because the odds of answering correctly are one in four. This makes the penalty and the odds equal. However, if you can eliminate one of the choices, the odds are now in your favor. You have a one-in-three chance of answering the question correctly. Fortunately, few tests are scored using such elaborate means, but if your test is one of them, know the penalties and calculate your odds before you take a guess on a question.
If You Finish Early
Use any time you have left at the end of the test or test section to check your work. First, make certain you’ve put the answers in the right places. As you’re doing this, make sure you’ve answered each question only once. Most standardized tests are scored in such a way that questions with more than one answer are marked wrong. If you’ve erased an answer, make sure you’ve done a good job. Check for stray marks on your answer sheet that could distort your score.
After you’ve checked for these obvious errors, take a second look at the more difficult questions. You’ve probably heard the folk wisdom about never changing an answer. It’s not always good advice. If you have a good reason for thinking a response is wrong, change it.
After the Test
Once you’ve finished, congratulate yourself. You’ve worked hard to prepare; now it’s time to enjoy yourself and relax. Remember that celebration you planned before the test? Go to it!