- Do practice problems, especially the test review
- Redo all the problems correctly without notes
Jeff's Math Exam Preparation Tips
1. Time Management
- Schedule all exam dates by the second in-class meeting.
- Create a "Master Calendar" with all important dates.
- Schedule personal life.
- ! Try to not plan any major events 10 days before an exam. Ideally, the TWO weekends before an exam should be completely free.
2. Build Understanding Daily
- Create well written lecture notes.
- Create full solutions that are easy to understand and follow along.
- @ The more detailed and easy to follow along your work is, the less work you will have to do when preparing for the exam.
3. Use Effective Learning Strategies
- Retrieval practice: recalling facts, techniques, and concepts from memory
- Distributed practice: space out study sessions over multiple weeks
- Interleaved practice: mix different ideas together as you practice retrieval, in varying orders
- ! Don't focus on singular theorems/concepts for extended periods of time
- Mix skills together: an example would be testing yourself on a definition, solving a problem, and then stating the theorem used to solve that problem. Repeat the cycle in a different order.
- Mix materials from previous classes!
- Interleave practice so you have to think critically about what you are doing and not studying on autopilot.
- Varied practice: frequently change the tasks you are working on
- Change tasks frequently so you don't miss any information
- Example: Instead of focusing on a single problem to study a theorem, try many different problems that involve that theorem.
- Embrace difficulty: when learning is harder, it tends to stick longer
Avoid Ineffective Strategies
- Avoid block practice
- Avoid rereading text
- Avoid one-off problems
- ! AVOID CRAMMING!!!