Exam Help

JoeJester

Joined Apr 26, 2005
4,390
If your waiting hours prior to a test to do something, you've wasted your time. You should have gotten a good night's sleep and stopped thinking about the test as you either know the material or you don't. All the review just prior to the test will cause you to lose your self confidence and cause poor performance on the test itself.
 

WBahn

Joined Mar 31, 2012
30,058
If your waiting hours prior to a test to do something, you've wasted your time. You should have gotten a good night's sleep and stopped thinking about the test as you either know the material or you don't. All the review just prior to the test will cause you to lose your self confidence and cause poor performance on the test itself.
In general I agree with you and have told many students (including myself when I was a student -- it was a hard won lesson that paid off handsomely once I finally learned it) the same thing. Now, if this was a case of needing just a "bit" of help to clarify a couple last minutes questions, that's a different matter. But the fact that the OP didn't bother to post a single question or any follow-up makes one very curious about just what they were expecting to have happen.
 

JoeJester

Joined Apr 26, 2005
4,390
if this was a case of needing just a "bit" of help to clarify a couple last minutes questions, that's a different matter. But the fact that the OP didn't bother to post a single question or any follow-up makes one very curious about just what they were expecting to have happen.
I suspect it wasn't a "clear this one point up" inquiry. I begining to think they consider this a last ditch effort forum.

I too have stated that numerous times. I can remember driving 288 miles to Denver to take the FCC GROL test in 1992 ... when the FCC was still administering them. The other two riding with me wanted to "prepare" for the test during the drive and when we got to the hotel the day before the test. One was asking questions and when they couldn't answer it, I told them the answer. When we got to Denver, I wanted to visit the casino's in the mountains ... playing the one armed bandits is a mindless activity with some decent results at times. I took about 40 minutes to do the test, even pointing out to the proctor that someone had marked my booklet ... with an incorrect answer nevertheless. The other two took the whole three hours. I was the only one of the group with a passing score.

More recently I took the Registered Tax Preparer test, a two and one-half hour test on various tax subjects from the IRS. By rights, I should have failed that test as my study habits wasnt as complete as when I prepared for the FCC test. I know some of the practice exams I've taken, I skirted the passing grade, but never passed. I guess I got frustrated and quit studying because I didn't see any improvement. I focused on my weakness of "reading the question too fast". So on my drive up to the testing center, I thought about my weakness and the necessity of knowing the stem and slowly reading all the answers before deciding on the correct answer and when I failed, I planned to write the "anatomy of failing" outlining how I failed through poor study habits. Well, I passed that test, so once the background test is done and the IRS is satisfied I've done my taxes properly the last three years, I'll be listed in that federal database as well.

I certainly know my test-taking weakness' and what I've done in the past to prepare to pass and what I've done in the past to prepare to fail as there were many failures.

I am a fan of self-assessment tests to build confidence and identify weakness' so one can take corrective action on the weakness'.
 
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vk6zgo

Joined Jul 21, 2012
677
I found that doing test exams "under examination conditions" worked well for me.
That is,no books or other memory aids,answer all questions fully,same time limit,etc.

I did one,like that one time when I was not at all confident,& scored 42%.
Sure enough,when I did the real exam the next day,I again scored 42%!:D

Luckily,I got a reset,& this time scored 77% on the test,& 84% on the real one.

It is very easy to just read through sample questions & say "Yeah,I know that one!",but you don't know it in the depth required.

That said,I'm a bit ambivalent about last minute study,as on occasion,I have picked up questions which I wouldn't have got without "cramming" on the day!
 
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