Time To Study

This week I used two Exam Preparation strategies in my Transmedia Colloquium Course. The two strategies I used were the Anticipating Exam Questions strategy and the Source and Topic Outlines strategy. For my Anticipating Exam Questions strategy, I created a word document in which I labeled four sections; Syllabus, Professors Questions, Study Aids, and My Questions. I left out the recommended fifth section entitled “Previous Exams” because I haven’t had any exams up until this point. That was my only adaption, the rest of the strategy worked fine. In the syllabus section, I wrote down parts of the course description, overview, and any other information if found useful for predicting exam questions in the syllabus. I noticed that since most of the course is run through lectures and group discussions, it was necessary to take good notes for class. I think this was very helpful because I realized that most of the exam questions would probably be based off the discussions we had and will be more focused on our development of our own perspectives, rather than purely factual information. I noted this in the course description. My Next section was titled “Professors Questions” and this is where I put examples of the types of questions my professor would ask, for example “What is modernism?” and “What do you guys think are examples of types of Other’s in our Society?” I noticed that most of the questions were open ended, and designed more for initiating a discussion amongst students rather than one student giving a one word or one definition answer. It seems the professor is much more interested in our idea’s and conceptualization of the information from the lectures. This is good to know for the exam as I realized a lot of the questions would probably be written responses or open ended questions. I think she has a stronger focus on how we can express our perspectives, rather than define basic facts. The next section I made was titled “Study Aids”. In this sections I wrote down all the different ways I’d study or review information from a lecture or discussion. For example, after viewing a film or having an Artist come in a present their work to us, I would go online and view the film and second time, and search up the artist that presented to learn more about their work. I think this gave me a better understand of the material presented in class and kept my ideas developing while outside of class. The final section I created was called “My Questions” and it’s here that I wrote down all of the questions I predicted that would be on the exam, for example I wrote, “What does Art do for an Artist?” And “What is the role of Modernism in today’s society?” I brought these questions to my professor and she seemed to suggest I was definitely on the right track. Overall, this strategy helped me feel prepared for the next exam and made me feel less anxious about wondering if I knew the information that was going to be on the exam. I think this was a very helpful strategy and one I’d recommend to my friends who have heavily lecture-based courses.

The other strategy I used was the Topic Outline and Source Outline strategy. After creating both a topic and a source outline in a word document, I found it very tedious to maneuver back and forth between both outlines in order to know what to study and look at first. So, instead of having the trouble of reviewing two different outlines, I adapted them and combined them into one outline that was as efficient as it was useful. What I did is I first created a source outline in which I titled the various sources of my information such as Lecture notes, power points, films, readings, and speakers. Then under each source I wrote the topic of each film or lecture or power point until I had a complete list of where to find all the topics of information for each class. Now here comes the fun part. To combine my Topic outline with my source outline I simply organized the topics under each source from what was most important to review, to what was the least important to review. For example, under “Power Points” the first topic, and most important, was “What is Art”. The last topic in this section, and the least important, was “Modern art today”. Oh, I know, I’m so creative! But! I’m not done! After organizing what was the most important in each source section, I then organized the source sections from what contained the most important information, to what contained the least important information to study for the exam. So, for example, the at the top of my outline is my “Lecture Notes” (organized from top to bottom of importance) source section with a number 1 next to it, to signify it’s the most important source section. At the bottom of my Outline is my “Speaker” source section, which has a number 5 next to it, signifying it is the least important source section to study. This adaption was extremely helpful for me as a visual learner; I could actually see what I needed to focus my studying on and what I could put off for last. Plus, instead of reviewing two separate outlines, now I can pick and choose topics to study from just one. This was a very helpful and efficient way for me to study, and also organize the topics of my course and where to look to study them, Wow!

Since I found both these strategies beneficial to my success in my Transmedia Colloquium class, I decided it was not necessary to contrast their effectiveness, as they we both very helpful to me. I originally chose these strategies because I am a visual learner and I need Organizers in order to visually see what I need to work on and or study. This means that any power points or films I view in Transmedia, will be of the most benefit, especially if I view them more than once. Although I prefer to learn from Power points and films, we don’t always have that luxury in my class, but I’ve learned that if I keep up with creating graphic organizers during a lecture, I can make note taking a much more visually appealing and helpful process. Since the course grade is a combination of only four exams throughout the semester, it is vital that I make it to all lectures and presentations in order to engage in the in class discussions and have a better understanding of what will be on the exam. Since the exam questions are typically based on our in class discussions, I’ve learned to participate and always voice my perspective during a discussion so I can do my best. Both the Anticipating Exam Questions and the Source/Topic Outline are great strategies that helped me prepare myself for the exam. I’d recommend these strategies to anyone that wants to have a more visually appealing way to study for a course.