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The best way to study for a test is to test yourself, or have your study buddy test you.

T

ESTING

Y

OURSELF

Creating a test of your own forces you to think like a teacher. As you develop questions, you hone in on what’s most important in what you’re

it for yourself; enjoy the feeling! Writing a test also helps you understand how tests are made. This can make you more comfortable when you take the real test.

T

ESTING WITH A

P

ARTNER

If you’re studying with a partner, make up a test for each other. Be sure to make up answer sheets on separate paper and have proof for every correct answer. If you’re studying from a pamphlet or book, for example, cite the page number on which the answer can be found. When you and your partner have completed each other’s test, swap. Check your partner’s answers with your answer sheet and have him do the same. Go over the answers for both tests together.

C

REATING

Q

UESTIONS

Getting Ready

First, pretend you’re the instructor. Get a piece of paper, and:

1. List what you would want your students to get out of the course

or book. Write as many things as you can think of.

2. Circle three items that are most important to you. These three

items should represent the general idea of the course.

3. Circle two items that fall under each of your three main ideas.

These points should be more specific; they will concern details of the course material.

4. Now you have nine items. Make each one into a question. Questions for Your Study Buddy

If you’re preparing a test for a partner you can make up any of the four types of short-answer questions. Multiple-choice questions may seem difficult to create at first. Follow this formula for choices: make up four possible answers for each question—a correct answer, a nearly correct answer, an answer loosely associated with the right answer, and an answer that is obviously wrong.

Questions for Yourself

Fill-in-the-blank questions can be used to help you learn definitions of new vocabulary you encounter while studying. You can also prepare multiple-choice, true/false, and matching questions to simulate the actual test you’ll be taking. Although you’ll probably be able to answer such questions easily since you made them up, the process of creating the questions will give you new insights into correct answers—and help you predict what tricks you’ll see on the real test.

Get a piece of paper and write the answers to the following questions. If you tested yourself:

• What did you do to make up the test?

• Which was more comfortable for you, making the questions or making the answers?

• Which answers were easiest to come up with? If you worked with a partner:

• Which was more comfortable for you, creating the test or answering your partner’s test?

• What did you do to complete the test?

• Which questions were easiest for you to answer?

P

ROCESS OF

A

SSOCIATION

As you study, try using large index cards for terms and ideas you could be tested on. Write big so key words will stick in your mind. Use a different color for each category. For instance, in a Spanish class, you might use one color for the names of foods, another color for the names of kinds of businesses, and a different color for the names of articles of furniture.

Next, come up with associations between these unfamiliar words and ideas and things that are more familiar to you. Ask yourself, “What does this word remind me of?” It all depends on you; whatever comes to

your mind works. The more unusual the association is, the more likely it

is to stick with you. Maybe it’s an image of something you see every day,

person’s head. Maybe it’s the name of a celebrity or politician. Maybe it’s a configuration of numbers. Whatever your association is, write it on your card with the term or idea you need to learn. Carry the cards with you to review at opportune times—for instance, on the bus, on the exercise bike, and while waiting in line.

• If you learn best by using images: Draw any images that you associate with the information on each card. Use your imagination! • If you learn best by seeing: Tape up your index cards in places

you can’t miss, for example, on the bedroom and bathroom mirrors and by the front door. Use colors to highlight key words.

• If you learn best by hearing: Sing the words on your cards, even if you’re not an opera star. This will make the association more unique, and it will get another part of your brain operating. What you sing stays with you longer than what you say.

There are probably other wacky but effective things you can do; use your imagination. Only you think like you!