OCEANOGRAPHY EXAM STUDY TIPS!
I urge you to do 4 things in studying for the Oceanography exams:
1. Know the vocabulary/glossary/terms in each study guide chapter. Many exam questions test your understanding of these terms. Each chapter of your study guide has a “Focus Your Learning” section that tells you what to concentrate on from each lesson. You should know and understand the Learning Objectives, the Video Focus Points and the Text Focus Points as well as the Key Terms and Concepts from each lesson. These are ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL to helping you study and be successful on the exams!
2. When you study a term, don't just look at your notes or cards - get a pile of scratch paper and write out the definitions or meanings on the scratch paper until you know them by heart. I've discovered that many students do better (including myself) when you write out repeatedly what you are studying. It takes time, but it seems to help retention for many!
3. Take the sample quizzes at the end of each study guide chapter. But, cover the answers when you read the question. Then, write out what you know on a piece of paper about the question from what you've studied and answer the question before you look at the multiple choice answers. That will give you confidence that you know the answer before looking at the choices.
4. When taking the exam, pretend that it is a multiple choice math exam. In other words, figure out all the words and terms in the question that is being asked and figure out the correct answer from what you’ve studied before looking at the answers. For example, if the question asked, “what is 8 x 4 – 2”? You would solve the problem first: 8 x 4 is 32. 32 – 2 is 30. So 30 must be the answer you look for in the 5 multiple choices you have.
Most students do very well on their research paper. A good research paper can balance a poor exam score. Many students also improve their exam scores after the first exam or two - they always seem to be the toughest because you're not quite sure what to expect on the exam. Once you've taken a few exams, you get a better "feel" for how I'm going to ask questions.
I know that many students take this class to finish up the AAS degree and are not going to be science majors or oceanographers, so keep a light of hope going! IF your scores improve on subsequent exams, I won't let one poor score stop you from passing the class.
Hope this gives you some guidance and help! Let me know if you have any further questions!
I wish each of you the very best of success!
Rob