We are rapidly approaching final exams right now,
so hopefully you are aspiring to greatness
because greatness is what precedes
the growing of a great beard,
so if you feel a little bit of prickly stubble coming in,
well, you know your aspirations are in the right place.
Anyway, today we are gonna talk about
how to not make dumb mistakes on exams.
I've been emailed about this question a lot,
and I wanna tackle 10 ways that you can
stop making those stupid mistakes.
But first, a quick recap.
- [Voiceover] Just last week, Thomas released
a video on test anxiety.
As you may be aware, stress and anxiety
are two of the leading causes of stupid mistakes on exams.
Therefore, if you have not yet seen that video,
it is highly recommended that you click the card right now
and glue your eyeballs to it.
Also, this is not Thomas, it is obviously
the announcer guy from The Legend of Korra.
Would I lie to you?
- All right, so that out of the way,
let's get into our first tip, and just to warn ya,
some of these might seem a little bit obvious,
but as is my M.O., I wanna be pretty comprehensive
in addition to brief, so even if you've heard these before,
try to put them into practice.
So number one, be aware of the time you have
for your test, and aim to finish early.
Put some time pressure on yourself.
Just like with your homework assignments,
time pressure can help you in the context of an exam.
So if you've got 50 minutes, prepare to finish in 45.
That way you've got time to double check later.
Speaking of double checking, that is tip number two,
so put the kabash on the "I don't feel like it" mindset
when it comes to doing it because I know
it's a pain in the butt, but five extra minutes
in the testing room going over your answers
can mean the difference between an A and a B,
and what were you gonna do with that
extra five minutes anyway, like, go on Reddit
back at your dorm or something?
So double check those answers.
Tip number three has to do with tests
that use Scantron bubble sheets,
and it's something that I used to do in my own tests.
So basically when you've read a question on the test
and if you've figured out the answer,
then you're about to transfer it over to that bubble sheet,
first either lightly touch your pencil or your finger
to the letter of the answer, and then
say the letter in your head.
That will drastically cut down the chance that you'll
bubble in the wrong answer on your Scantron sheet,
which is an incredibly common error on that test format.
Tip number four has to do with the work
you do on scratch paper, and it's simply to draw
a box around each problem's work.
That way when you're looking at your scratch paper
to fill in an answer, you don't accidentally
pull data from a different problem.
Tip number five is to slow down and read the questions fully
and watch out for trick wording.
A lot of questions might say, "Which of these is not?"
instead of, "Which of these is?"
So if you tend to read questions too quickly
and you're making mistakes, then use
a pacing device like your finger.
Simply move it along the text of the problem
and let your eyes be paced by that finger.
I do this every single week when I'm proofreading
the emails I write for the College Info Geek
newsletter subscribers because if I'm sending out
an email to 17,000 people, I don't wanna make a mistake,
and it's pretty easy for me to put typos.
Tip number six has to do with your essays,
and it is to, no matter how easy the essay seems at first,
create an outline for that essay before you start writing.
Yes, it's good for organization,
but the big thing it helps with is staying on topic.
A lot of students immediately take the prompt
and then start writing from scratch,
and the stream-of-consciousness style writing
often ends up with their essay going into territory
that the professor didn't want them to write about.
Now, while I'm all for freedom of expression
and creativity in your writing,
if you're not really staying on topic with the essay,
you're not gonna get a good grade.
So make sure you're staying on topic,
and use an outline.
Tip number seven, seriously, cut down on your test anxiety.
Tip number eight is to check your spelling
and grammar on essay-style exams.
Wait, did I really put that on my list?
That is way too obvious.
Anyway, moving on, tip number nine is to do a sanity check
after you get your answers on math problems.
Before you go through the actual work of solving a problem,
you probably have a general ballpark idea in your head
of what the answer should be, so when you actually
get that answer, compare it to that ballpark number.
If it's way off the mark, it doesn't mean your answer
is necessarily wrong, but you should probably
double check your work just to make sure.
And finally, tip number 10 is to simply
know your own brain.
Do you have specific mistakes that you tend to make a lot?
Maybe you get the order of operations wrong,
or maybe you tend to multiply things together
that should be added.
Whatever they are, do your best to notice them
when they happen, and then when you're taking
your next test, pay special attention on those areas.
So, now that we've gone through those 10 tips,
and you've got some ways to combat
making stupid mistakes on your next exam,
here's a big related question.
If you've already written down an answer,
and now you have the compulsion to change it,
should you actually change it?
Well, there's actually research on that topic,
and we'll be covering it in next week's video,
so subscribe to this channel if you haven't already,
and hey, thanks for watching this one.
(techno music)
Hey guys, thanks so much for watching this video
on how to combat making stupid mistakes on your tests.
If you liked this video, you can support it
by leaving a like here on YouTube,
and also if you want to get new videos every week
on being a more effective student,
you can hit that big red subscribe button right there.
If you wanna improve your grades,
I also wrote a free book on the subject,
and if you wanna get a free copy,
just click the picture of it.
You can find links to anything I've mentioned
in this video at the companion blog post,
which you'll find by clicking the orange logo right there.
Last week's video covered test anxiety,
and it's really related to this topic,
so if you missed it, click the thumbnail and check it out.
Lastly if you have questions or ideas for new videos
or just wanna connect, you can follow me
on Twitter @TomFrankly or leave a comment below.
See you in the next video.
(techno music)