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Passing Exams For Dummies®

Table of Contents

Introduction

About This Book

Foolish Assumptions

Icons Used in This Book

Beyond the Book

Where to Go from Here

Part I: Releasing Your Potential to Pass Exams

Chapter 1: Passing Exams: Preparation Is Everything!

Developing Your Exam Performance Mindset

Cultivating the right attitude

Setting your purpose

Clearing roadblocks

Understanding Your Brain’s Capabilities

Looking at Ideal Ways to Learn

Enhancing Your Thinking Processes

Effective Exam Preparation

Factoring in relaxation

Studying with purpose

Boosting your memory with pictures and patterns

Rehearsing for recall and your best on-the-day performance

Chapter 2: Meeting Your Amazing Brain

You Don’t Need to Be a Brain Surgeon

Understanding How Your Brain Functions

The Tripartite Model: How Brain Cells Develop During Learning

Making the Most of Your ASSETs: Some Key Principles for Learning

Paying attention

Getting sensible

Making a solid effort

Engaging your emotions

Minding your timing

Surfing the Waves of Your Brain

Exploring brain frequencies

Training your brainwaves

Exploring neuroplasticity: Why the past doesn’t equal the future

Getting Yourself Firing on All Levels: Brain Maintenance

Maintaining optimum health

Getting physical

Juggling with academic intent

Chapter 3: Discovering How to Learn

Organizing Your Ideal Study Environment

Setting up your study space

Eliminating distractions

Using a distraction scale

Knowing Your Best Times for Learning

Discovering How You Learn Best

Seeing it: Visual learners

Hearing it: Auditory (aural) learners

Feeling it: Kinesthetic (physical) learners

Understanding it: Analytical (logical) learners

Developing your learning styles

Finding Out Whether You’re a Linear or Circular Thinker

Getting Motivated to Study

Finding value in what you’re learning

Beating procrastination

Maintaining your concentration

Managing Your Review Time

Chapter 4: Thinking Strategies for High Performance

Understanding How Your Mind Works

Perceiving with your conscious mind

Delving into your nonconscious mind

Meeting Your Memory

Conceptualizing Your Memory of You

Believing is seeing

Resisting change

Improving Your Self-Talk for Better Exam Results

Exploring your self-efficacy

Enhancing your self-esteem

Modeling Yourself on High-Performance Students

Developing Academic Goals

Setting goals helps you stay on track

Setting goals stimulates your awareness

Setting goals motivates your mind

Writing Affirmations: Declaring Your Intentions

Using Your Mind’s Eye: Visualizing Success

Part II: Relaxing Comes First

Chapter 5: Exploring the Power of Relaxation

Making Time for the Fun Stuff

Accessing Alpha State (Your Ideal Learning Zone)

Developing your own alpha relaxation technique

Exploring self-hypnosis and mental rehearsal

Using Personal Development Programs

Chapter 6: Finding Ways to Relax

Exercising for Relaxation

Exploring Sound and Music

Stretching Out, Breathing Out

Mindful breathing

Body balance

The five-minute morning stretch

Meditation

Releasing Unwanted Emotions

Blissing out with professional relaxation sessions

Juggling

Managing Time

Enriching Your Life

Part III: Reviewing and Rewriting Your Notes

Chapter 7: Knowing Your Academic Purpose

Developing the Power of Intention

Setting Your Intention for Each Study Session

Focusing on what you want

Telling your brain what should get through

Staying on target

Setting Your Intention for Long-Term Goals

Setting weekly intentions

Setting monthly or yearly intentions

Setting a time limit

Preparing a time planner

Chapter 8: Reviewing Your Notes

Sourcing Information

Deciding what you need to review

Paying attention at a review class

Questioning your former knowledge

Finding Additional Information

Chapter 9: Improving Your Reading Techniques

Reading for Different Purposes

Dipping into Your Text: Skim Reading

Digging Deeper into Content: Study Reading

Getting ready to do study reading

Taking in the facts

Going over class notes

Testing your comprehension

Going Faster: Speed Reading

Going beyond Speed Reading: Photoreading

Chapter 10: Preparing Your Study Notes

Condensing Your Notes

Diagramming a Mind Map

Connecting Ideas with Concept Maps

Spreading out a spider map

Ranking information with a hierarchy map

Organizing a flowchart

Circling around a systems map

Planning Literary Pathways: Essay Route Maps

Applying Visual Formats: A Practical Guide

Part IV: Remembering with Pictures and Patterns

Chapter 11: Making the Most of Memorizing Skills

Use It or Lose It

Six Keys to Good Memory

Focusing on one thing at a time

Using vivid pictures or patterns

Adding emotion

Incorporating movement

Pegging memory into place

Practicing to strengthen memory

Chapter 12: Using Mnemonics: Simple Memory Techniques

Learning by Rote

Memorizing with Mnemonics

Grouping first letters: Acronyms

Rhyming with acrostics

Remembering with maps

Using music for memory

Making voice recordings

Creating flashcards

Acting out

Using spreadsheets

Chapter 13: Fine-Tuning Your Memory: Advanced Visual Techniques

Developing Visual Association Techniques

Storing pictures by location

Linking pictures in your mind

Creating a memory peg list

Creating Symbolic Pictures

Remembering unusual, foreign, or large words

Remembering numbers using visual association

Remembering science formulas

Remembering Exam Essay Content for Easy Recall

Applying Memory-Enhancement Techniques

Part V: Rehearsing for Recall and Performance

Chapter 14: Rehearsing Your Recall

Working with Your Learning Styles

Setting Recall Times

Counting down the days

Applying the three Ps

Chapter 15: Rehearsing Your Performance

Using Your Imagination

Mentally rehearsing to improve your test performance

Expanding your comfort zone

Dealing with Exam Anxiety

Thinking through the mental approach

Taking a physical approach

Unblocking mentally and physically

Part VI: The Part of Tens

Chapter 16: Ten T ips for Exam Day: Before the Event

Organize Your Equipment

Know Your Exam Time and Venue

Get a Good Night’s Rest

Eat Healthy, Energizing Food

Use Positive Self-Talk

Practice Your Mental Rehearsal

Practice Relaxation Techniques

Turn Nervousness into Excitement

Keep to Yourself

Go For It!

Chapter 17: Ten Tips for the Exam — No Going Back Now!

Recall Your Study Notes First

Read Exam Questions Carefully

Determine which Questions to Answer

Pace Yourself

Identify and Answer Easy Questions First

Make all Multiple-Choice Answers Count

Plan Essays before You Begin Writing

Take Regular, Quick Breaks

Ask for Divine Help

Review Your Answers — Don’t Leave Early!

Chapter 18: Ten Ways to Maintain Momentum between Exams

Staying Balanced

Being Relaxed

Planning Rewards After Each Exam

Keeping Your Eye on Upcoming Exams

Ensuring Comparisons Don’t Erode Your Confidence

Reorganizing Your Preparation Time

Going to Bed Early

Maintaining Your Mental Rehearsal

Celebrating Your Completed Exam(s)

Getting Your Life Back!

Part VII: Appendixes

Appendix A: Planners

Appendix B: Relaxation and Visualization Scripts

Relax first

Ideal process script

Ideal outcome script

Appendix C: Learning Style Quiz and Motivational Reminder

About the Author

Introduction

In school, I under-achieved and my exam grades showed it. As a teenager I didn’t really know what I wanted to do when I left school. I knew what I didn’t want to do — go to a university! My parents didn’t go; my older brother and sister didn’t go, so going to college never really entered my head. With no clear goals, I floated through school doing enough to get through, but never aiming to excel. A decade later, standing in the unemployment line because the company I’d been working for had gone bust, I realized that I needed to go back to school.

As an adult student in college, I wanted to do well academically. I studied psychology and education, and in the process of taking a lot of tests, became interested in finding out how examinations measure learning. As I researched and applied how to improve learning and how to prepare for exams, I started to do very well in school. For the first time in my life, I was getting As and Bs. One year, I won an award for excellence. My confidence soared and my academic self-image improved — I was smarter than I once thought.

Are you taking an exam soon? Let me assure you: After you discover how your brain functions; how your thinking influences your learning; how your memory works; and then synthesize this kind of meta-cognitive knowledge into a practical step-by-step approach to preparing for exams, you can make huge improvements to your exam results. I did, and I’m convinced that doing well isn’t necessarily about how naturally smart you are academically, but about how smart you are in your preparation techniques.

So why are you holding this book? Are you a senior wanting to get through high school, or a college or university student going for a degree? Perhaps you’re in a life transition and returning to education to gain new skills, or you’re about to take a career exam to improve your chances of a promotion? Whatever your reason for picking up this book on passing exams, achieving academic success is possible when you know how.

Be aware. Words don’t teach; experience teaches. The information contained in this book is absolutely meaningless unless you’re prepared to incorporate it into your current exam preparation.

So, you have a decision to make. How badly do you want to pass your exams? Are you prepared to do the work and apply the ideas in this book? If not, put this book down right now and walk away. You’ll find no value here unless you’re willing to explore different parts of this book and use the exercises to improve your exam preparation skills.

About This Book

I’ve devoted a lot of time and effort over the years to implementing different learning strategies for students, based on my Masters in Education research and personal trial and error. In this book, my intention is to connect with students like you, and give you the best ways I know to improve your exam preparation and ultimately your performance. You can avoid making the same mistake I made in high school; you can take advantage of my years of research and exam experiences and apply these ideas immediately.

In Passing Exams For Dummies, 2nd Edition, you can start reading anywhere you want to. The book’s modular format means that instead of reading from cover to cover, you can dip in and get the how-to information you need. This is a great time-saving feature — and believe me, I know all about saving time. When you have a mountain of reading to do for exams, the last thing you want to read is another book!

Consider this book a study guide waiting to offer you some well-researched, good advice on how to better prepare for your next exam. Do this and you’ll ultimately save time!

I deliberately tried to make this book easy to read by using simple language. I use the following conventions to help information stand out:

check.png When I introduce a new concept, I italicize the term, then provide a definition.

check.png I show website addresses in a different font so they’re easy to identify — just type the address as it appears in the book and you’ll go straight to the site. And, if the URL breaks to the next line, I don’t add a hyphen, so type in exactly what you see.

If you’re interested in saving time (like me), you can bypass some information in this book, which I put in simply to please the publisher, otherwise the book looks too thin (just kidding!). For example, occasionally I explain a technical term, especially when covering how your brain works. These paragraphs are accompanied by a Technical Stuff icon, and you can skip them if you want. Similarly, the Patrick Says icon highlights paragraphs that offer personal experiences you may find interesting, but they’re not vital reading.

I’ve also thrown in some fun exercises in the sidebars — those shaded boxes you see in many chapters. You can skip these too; however, I’m hoping you find them intriguing.

Foolish Assumptions

Exams are not something people do for fun, but they’re necessary as long as education systems use the current assessment paradigm. (Although many people believe exams should be done away with, I would be out of a job if that were the case.) So, I assume you have a genuine purpose for reading this book, which may be any one of the following — or a combination of several:

check.png You’ll be undertaking exams in the near future and you’re looking for some basic guidelines and quick tips to help you improve your chances of passing them or doing better than before.

check.png You’re interested in the how-to of good exam preparation but want the minimum amount of theory.

check.png You want to feel confident that you’re making the best use of your study time because your time is precious.

check.png You may have not done so well on exams in the past and want to improve your overall performance.

check.png A long time has passed since you last studied and you want to ensure your success.

check.png Passing these exams is really important to you and you’re serious about applying these ideas to maximize your results.

Icons Used in This Book

Use the icons in the margins of this book to pinpoint the information you desire. The meaning for each icon is explained here:

geni001.ai Where to find interesting information on a website that puts you in touch with further resources on preparing for exams.

geni002.ai Although not vital reading, this icon highlights interesting stories from my own and other people’s experiences.

geni003.ai This icon indicates important stuff to store away in your memory. You could circle these icons as you read chapters in this book.

geni004.ai This icon marks extra technical information that you don’t need as such, but provides interesting details. Read and enjoy, or give the information a miss if you like.

geni005.ai This handy little icon flags special things that can help you to improve your exam preparation. They’re little gems of information that can help you make the most of the time you spend studying.

geni006.ai Stop! Watch out! This icon flags common mistakes students make — or what you need to be wary of when you’re preparing for and taking exams.

Beyond the Book

In addition to the material in the print or ebook you're reading right now, Passing Exams For Dummies, 2nd Edition, also comes with some access-anywhere goodies on the Web. Check out the free Cheat Sheet at www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/passingexams for some quick action steps you can use to turn your preparation into improved results. The online Cheat Sheet will help you feel confident in knowing that the time you do spend preparing for your exams is used in the best possible way. For the latest updates on other companion material for this book, visit www.dummies.com/go/passingexamsfd.

Where to Go from Here

I have absolutely no doubt the information in this book can help you improve your exam performance! If you’re facing your first exam, check out the chapters in Part I for ways to develop your exam performance mindset. If you have trouble remembering pertinent information, go to Part IV for some tips. Or, if you want to cover all the bases, read this book in sequence, especially the practical steps included in Parts II to V.

After your exams are over, that’s it. You can place this book on the shelf to gather dust until your next exams. It’s simply a tool to help you improve a certain aspect of your academic life. In the meantime, use the tool wisely. Write in it, scribble in it, tag or dog-ear pages for future reference — do whatever you can to get the best use out of this book.

Finally, I wish you well through your examination process and sincerely hope you can apply these powerful ideas to help you prepare and pass your exams with ease. Go well.

Part I

Releasing Your Potential to Pass Exams

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pt_webextra_bw_fmt.psd Visit www.dummies.com for great (and free!) Dummies content online.

In this part . . .

check.png Find out how your brain works and explore the mechanics of what happens in your brain when you are learning and studying for exams.

check.png Discover key principles to get your brain switched on and working to improve how you review, retain, and recall information.

check.png Explore your ideal learning states and styles to help make learning and study easier.

check.png Get essential tips on how to keep motivated, manage your study time, and concentrate effectively.

check.png Understand how your mind works and how to harness the power of an exam performance mindset to improve your preparation and ultimately your results.