Study technique - some very useful info from another OU blog

Found this while lurking on the S282 facebook forum, a fellow student had kindly posted their blog with study technique information - some very useful titbits here (which I will go over and fully digest in the next day or so) - the main point is always think about the exam even from day 1 of the course:

Source (By Gloria Paz):-
http://learn.open.ac.uk/mod/oublog/view.php?user=495550

SOME IDEAS ON STUDY, REVISION AND EXAMS

The OU has excellent materials on this subject, which can be found in the “Study skills” section of their website. The following notes are just some ideas I've accumulated during the past few years (from experience and from exchanging points of view with other students and tutors) and which can be of help to those students who find the perspective of taking exams or taking level 2 courses too frightening. They also constitute a reminder to myself for future courses. Whenever I use a third person singular imperative, I'm talking to myself, since I've realized how quickly I forget my good intentions and embark in very unproductive ways of studying.

1. BEFORE THE COURSE STARTS

I've found that, psychologically, starting to focus your mind on your next course as soon as you decide which one to take is a very good tool to develop “friendly” feelings towards it. A couple of ideas in this direction:

Buying books: One thing I've done in the past, specially for courses which look very challenging, is buying a set of (usually second-hand) books for the course in question many months in advance. Starting to read through the course materials at a leisurely pace and without the pressure of TMAs and tutorials can be very soothing, because when the course finally starts you already have a mental picture of what's awaiting you.

Buying past-papers: Again, when I've decided I'm going to take a course, I buy past papers as soon as possible from the OUSA. This has a double importance: first, I've discovered that the oldest past papers disappear from the OUSA website after a while; then, by looking at at least one past paper I can make my mind whether I'm up to the task of taking that particular course. Of course, past papers look very daunting and almost impossible to tackle at first, but it is a rewarding experience to gradually realize during the course that many of the initially obscure points are beginning to get familiar.

Surfing the web for support: Facebook groups for courses are now a very common phenomenon, and searching for them before the course starts or before deciding to take a course can be very useful. You can find out from other students how they are finding their courses, establish useful contacts with other students and experience beforehand what the general atmosphere of that course is. Some courses have open OUSA fora which can also be useful.

Additional material: Another thing that has helped me in the past is start gathering and using additional material for the course during the months prior to it. The web is teeming with wonderful resources in the form of webpages, videolectures, podcasts, which can help you get familiar with the topics related to your course. I find podcasts specially interesting and use them a lot while commuting, working out, cleaning the house, etc. If you get a general knowledge of the subjects relating to your course, once you get to the more detailed information which the course contains you'll feel much more confident with it. For some of my former courses, I've even created a blog where I listed these additional materials according to the blocks and chapters of the OU course.


2.ONCE THE COURSE STARTS

Having the exam in sight from day one
Once the course starts, I've found out one gets very much absorbed with the workload which reading the chapters and working at the TMAs involves. Or, the exam is a very important part of the course, and even with great TMAs scores, a poor exam score will have the result of getting a low grade. Most students do much worse in the exam than in the TMAs. So, without getting obsessed by it, I think a good strategy is to assign from day one part of your study time to exam preparation.

This exam preparation can just consist in organizing your material from day one in a way which can be helpful once the exam approaches. Here are some ideas that I hope I'll apply to my next course (I've realized how effective they are much too late):
ACTIVE READING
Just sitting in front of the books and read does not seem a very productive strategy. Just highlighting them isn't one either. I've found out that combining several approaches makes the time used in reading more useful. Here is the outline of what I do:

• Before starting to read a chapter, I print out the LEARNING OUTCOMES for it. Having before you this list of most important topics in the chapter helps focusing your attention.
  
  

• I then turn on the “read aloud” function in the pdf which is in the “View” menu (after having adjusted the speed and volume to the best levels for me). I then read while listening to the voice and highlight the most important bits with coloured highlighters. (Though writing and highlighting on books may seem a little vandalic, I've found out that pristine books are books you haven't properly studied). I use different colours for different things: glossary terms, equations, important sentences.
  

(I must say the read-aloud function does not always work well; there is a program sometimes provided by the OU called “browse aloud” which has the same function and which I haven't tried out yet)

• I take my notes using a table format:
  
  

• I create a text table with 2 columns and just 1 row. On the right-hand side column, I jot down notes in a very concise format (copying and pasting from the pdf & then trimming down the text can help). On the left-hand side column I then formulate questions about the text on the right. A copy of this file with just the left-hand column can be very useful later for revision.
  

(Before taking any notes from the main text itself, I apply the method explained above to the summary of the chapter, which is a source of very important information).

• I then make my own mp3 recordings of my notes, first reading aloud the notes themselves, then reading them in a question-and-answer format. For this I use the open source program “Audacity” which can be downloaded for free. I use these mp3 recordings daily while commuting, cleaning the house, working out, etc. They are very important resources when the exam approaches.
  

(The last time I installed Audacity in my computer, I was unable to install the program “Lame” which is necessary for converting into mp3. I solved this by downloading a free wma/mp3 converter).

• All of the above I do page by page, because I've found out that tackling difficult tasks in very small chunks is a good strategy for me.
  

_ _ _

• Another thing I do while reading the chapters is trying to identify sentences which sound like probable multiple choice questions in the exam. Being aware of words like “important, key, crucial, note that, don't forget that” can be useful (the pdf search function can be of great help in this regard). Those sentences I store in a text document for more intensive study. For working with this document, I use the “fill-in-the-blanks” technique which is described later.
  

- - -

• THE SUMMARIES:
  

• The summaries of the chapters are a crucial part of the courses; one fellow student suggested once that by studying just them you could already pass the exam, albeit with a low grade. Whether this is true or not, investing time in working with them is a very good idea.
  
  
• Some ideas on how to work with the summaries:
  

• It is a good idea to make a file with all the summaries from the pdf and the Learning Outcomes from the website and print them out. This is rough-and-ready guide to the course one keeps getting back to during the year. Organizing them both chapter by chapter seems the best way to do it.
  
  
• In the kind of notes taken while reading described above, I always copy-paste first the part of the summary relating to that particular section. This, together with the learning outcomes, is a good guide to keep focused while reading.
  
  
• I make a mp3 recording also of each summary, both as plain text and in a question-and-answer format (i.e, I read a part of the summary, formulate questions to myself, and answer them by re-reading the relevant bits).
  
  
• Making a copy of the file containing the summaries, detecting the important bits, highlighting them and selecting the white ink in the font menu of the text processing program to hide them converts this file into a “fill in the blanks” test which can be very useful for revising. When you take the test (wait some days to take it after you have prepared it), fill in the blanks, and then select all and choose the black ink again. You will then be able to check your answers.
  

WORKING WITH PAST-PAPERS
The courses I've taken till now have had a “Past-Papers e-tutorial” where there was a lot of useful discussion between students and tutors, making this a very good opportunity to train for the exam.
What I've discovered about how to use past-papers in a productive way, is following:

• It is a good idea from day one to try and identify which questions of the PP relate to which chapters, and even make a number of files (one for each chapter or topic) in which to copy-paste the questions for each chapter from the pdf files of the past papers, so that you'll end up with a file with exam questions for each chapter. This can also help focus on the most important passages while reading the chapters.
  
• While following the e-Tuts about PP, or working on one's own on them, I've found out that the most productive approach is to try and solve all the questions from the different chapters that relate to the same topic in a row. Even the most difficult problems get much easier once one has done them two or three times in a row. The files I mentioned before where all questions about the same topic have been regrouped are very valuable for this task.
  
• Creating a spreadsheet with the topics of the questions & the years when they've appeared can be very helpful to determine the prevalence of certain types of questions and intensify study on those areas.
  

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OTHER TOOLS WHILE STUDYING

-HUMOUR:

- For those items I find impossible to retain in my memory, I try to concoct little absurd tales and jokes, which I then write in big font and many different colours in pieces of cardboard I hang on the walls. People coming home to visit laugh a lot at this crazy decoration idea.

- COMPUTER "GAMES":

- I use both "Anki" and "Mnemosyne", two open source free downloadable programs, to create electronic flashcards about the most important topics of the books, which I then play like a sort of computer game when I feel too tired or have too little time to do proper study. One can just copy-paste from the pdfs to create the questions & answers.

- MIND MAPS:

When I get too lost in the maze of a chapter, I try to regain distance by creating a mind-map of it all, usually in a very big piece of paper of cardboard, and with many different coloured pencils. Then I realize how each piece related to the whole picture. And of course they go to join my other "wall decoration" stuff.

BEFORE THE EXAM

General considerations

• If you have a look at the success statistics which are published once a year in "Sesame", you'll see that the overwhelming majority of students having passed the TMAs do also pass the exam.
  
  - My experience last year in my 1st OU exam (S283) showed me that the psychological preparation is at least as important as the academical one. A couple of ideas in this direction:
  

• Rehearsing the exam situation is, in my opinion, one of the most important things you can do during the revision process. For the rehearsal, all the conditions of the exam must be mimicked: time limitations, material (rough and definitive work leaflets, computer marked form, calculator), complete isolation, etc. The specimen paper provided in many courses can be very useful for this, because it allows to do some marking afterwards, although the most important part of this exercise is the physical and psychological preparation of the exam, not the academical part.
  
  
• Sleeping, eating, and exercising properly in the days prior to the exam is also very important.
  

Last year, I decided that the day before the exam would be completely free from study, and in the evening I went for a long walk and to the cinema.

On the day of the exam itself, I took a walk prior to the exam and brought a bit of food and water with me which were very useful, as well as earplugs and lots of pens, pencils, a slide rule (useful if you have to trace a graph, which we did) and batteries for the calculator.

DURING THE EXAM (this refers mainly to Science exams)

• Multiple Choice part: Make sure whether they are asking for wrong or right questions and how many of them.
  
  Discard asap the more absurd ones.
  Have a first general glimpse of all of them and have a look at the longer questions in the second & third part of the exam just to see if some of the subjects overlap. Make a first general round of "attack" by writing short schematic answers in the rough work booklet.
  

Leave enough time aside for the numerical ones and review them after having left them rest for a bit while doing something else.

• I would distribute the MC ones along the 3 hours as a way to rest from the longer ones.
  
  - Long questions Have a good look at them to decide which ones to choose.

• A tutor at a exam preparation workshop suggested using the left-hand side sheet of the exam workbook (not the rough work booklet) for jotting down the preliminary skeleton of the answer: this would have 2 practical effects. One, having in front of you all the time your answer plan while you write; second, maybe the examinator will have a look at the rough work after all (even if you cross it out), which could earn you a couple of marks in case you don't have enough time to finish that answer.

• This same tutor also suggested copying the text of the question on top of the sheet where you'll be writing the answer and keep checking back after writing each paragraph whether you are still answering what's been asked (in order not to get lost in your prose). It seems one of the major causes of loss of marks in exams is not answering what you've been asked, but something else instead.

• Write all calculations in very big, tidy font in spare paper and check powers of ten, units, etc a couple of times at least. Using the rough paper work horizontally allows more space for calculations, and this is quite useful, since many times data get confused or lost when transferring from one line to another.
  Make a rough calculation of probable results before starting the question and check that the results look plausible.
  Pay good attention to the number of significant units required
  Always check that you've included the units and that they make sense
  For graphs: use slide rule, coloured pencils, eraser, make them as tidy as possible and label all axa.
  
  

PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS
I've taken a considerable number of exams during my life, and I do think psychological preparation is one of the most important things you can do. I've read somewhere that elite athletes make visualization exercises during the period leading to the competition in question, where they relax, breath deeply and imagine themselves calm, prepared and ready to yield a positive result. This has worked for me many times in many different situations in life, and I'll try to apply this technique to exams too. Recording these visualizations as mp3 and listening to them after having attained a state of deep relaxation can be very useful.

Funnily enough, one thing that works for me is lowering my expectations. If I repeat to myself that the world will go on whatever my score will be and that I'm studying just to improve my mind and have nothing really important to lose, I can approach the exam situation in a much calmer mind-frame and the results are much better.

With the OU, I keep reminding myself I'm doing this just because I like it, and I don't have to prove anything to anyone, and that even if I fail, nothing too bad would happen. This makes me relaxed and improves my results.

During the exam, whenever panic or anxiety arises, following can be useful: remembering to take a few deep breaths, find the points of tension in the body (usually in the neck, shoulders, hands and stomach), direct the deep breathing towards them, stretch, drink some water and maybe repeat a little calming mantra.
If one gets too anxious about one particular question, just abandon it and follow on with something else. One can get back to that question later, or just change one's mind and choose something else instead.
Having something to eat & drink at the exam, like some chocolate or nuts giving energy very quickly, water or an isotopic drink, can also help to overcome moments of panic or blanks that can be due to low levels of sugar in the blood or dehydration.
AND AFTER THE EXAM....
Forget about it, don't fret, and congratulate yourself on all the work you've accomplished during the year....
Enjoy life, enjoy the people in your life which you may have neglected in the last few weeks, and don't get obsessed by the result; as a Spanish poet says: “the important thing is the path you walk down, not where it gets you to; you make your own path as you walk” (Antonio Machado)....
And 2 months later, you may get an unexpected present in the form of a much higher grade you thought you'd get... or maybe not... who cares anyhow? Your life will be filled with quite different things by then.......