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| What You Need to Know for Tests
How does this relate to tests? Many students know they have a test, but they don't know how to prepare for it because they don't know what the test will be like. They don't know how to "dress." Just as a thoughtful friend will make sure you know how to dress for a party, we want to make sure you know what to expect on the tests. As you already know, all questions are multiple choice. What you probably don't know is that there are 4 types of questions. They are:
Below, we will
ACID Principles Whenever you answer a test question you need two things in order to get it right:
We will describe both of these ideas and how they relate to the four different types of questions. Question type # 1: Application—when you apply information you take it out of the situation in which you learned it and use it somewhere else. Doctors do this all the time. They read about and study the symptoms of a concussion, but when a person comes through the door complaining of a headache and blurred vision the doctor must apply his or her knowledge to the actual patient. Example of Application Question Some test questions will be set-up as an example and you’ll need to select the concept the example describes. Here is an example:
In order to get the answer, (a. self-fulfilling prophecy), you must understand the definition so well you can think of examples of it. That way you will be able to apply it to situations you haven’t seen before—such as Norman. Think of it This Way . . . . Because you see your parents in clothes ranging from pajamas to formal dresses and suits, you are likely to recognize them anywhere. You know them so well that you have learned the essential things about them, such as how they gesture or walk, that allow you to recognize them regardless of what they wear. This is a type of application. You are so familiar with them that you are able to apply your knowledge of their appearance to any situation.
When you learn new terms and concepts in class you need to know them as well as you know your parents. . . in other words, you need to know terms and concepts so well that you can "recognize" them anywhere. How to Prepare for Application Questions when you study at home 1. Define Terms in Your Own Words: Always remember this when you study: You know definitions, but but your understand meanings. In other words, simply memorizing the definition does not mean you understand it. If you can describe the basic, general meaning of each term in your own words you are much more likely to recognize them when they show up in an application question. 2. Make up your own examples: Another way to practice for application questions is to think of examples that will illustrate their meanings. Ask yourself, “do I tend to self-fulfilling prophecies?” “What is an example I can think of from work or school where someone’s attitude affected the outcome of something?” If you can do that, you are more likely to remember the term since you have put more thought into what it means. Question Type # 2 Compare / Contrast—Some questions will be easier to answer if you can not only tell what the answer is, but why it isn’t one of the others. In some cases, all of the answers could be right to one degree or another, so your job is to choose the best answer, not just the correct answer. We call thse questions compare / contrast because you have to be able to compare and contrast all the answers until you come up with the one that makes the most sense. Example of a Compare / Contrast Question:
In order to select the correct answer (d. Freud’s psychosexual stages), you need to understand what each of these theories say, how they may relate to Erickson’s views, but you also need to be able to explain to yourself why the other answers are wrong. From what ideas are each theory based (both Erickson and Freud base theirs on how people have resolved internal conflicts)? Of course, you should be familiar with what each theorist said, but can you explain why Piaget’s, Ainsworth’s, and Kohlberg’s are less related to Erickson’s views than Freud’s theory is? Think of It This Way. . . You are baby sitting you 8 year old cousin. The two of you decide to go to the local park, where your cousin wants to swing and slide. On the way there, she comments to you that there are a lot of bees buzzing around the park, and she shares with you that last week, a girl she knows from school got stung by a bee and had to go to the hospital because of an alergic reaction. You sit down on a bench while your cousin runs to the top of the biggest slide. Just as she is getting ready to slide down it for the fifth time, she begins to scream and cry. At this point, the burning question is "What is making her cry?" A number of possibilities jump into your head. They are 1) she somehow hurt herself 2) she is afraid of heights and doesn't want to go down the slide 3) She saw a bee up on the slide and is afraid of it 4) She just remembered a terrible nightmare she had the night before.
The important idea here is that it is your knowledge of your cousin that enabled you to figure out what the trouble was. When you study, your knowledge of the material will help you sort out so-so answers from the best ones.
How to Prepare for Compare / Contrast Questions When you Study at Home 1. Think About Differences: When you are studying, look consciously for distinctions between terms, particularly if they are closely related. For example, if you learn about five psychological perspectives, different personality theories, or the Big Five personality traits, immediately begin to look for similarities and differences in those terms. Doing this will help you eliminate wrong answers and strengthen your understanding of the relationships between the terms. 2. Make it Visual: Many students are visual learners and benefit from making tables and charts to learn information (see p. 67 of your textbook for an example of a table the authors used to do this). 3. Look at Relationships: Each time you learn a new term or concept, ask yourself how does this term / concept relate to the other terms and concepts I’m reading about? The relationships can be: A.one of equals: which means each term has the same level of significance. The 5 perspectives on personality is a good example of a relationship of equals because no one theory is more important than another. B. an umbrella relationship: Which means that one term, or a series of terms, fits “underneath” another. The Big Five Elements of Personality is a good example of an umbrella relationship. Introversion vs. extroversion, agreeableness, neuroticism, conscientiousness and openness to experience are all part of the larger concept “The Big Five.” 4. Act it Out: If you are reading about two psychologists who have different theories of personality development, get a friend to pretend to be one psychologist while you take the other. Disucss where you would agree and disagree.
Question Type # 3 Integration—The textbook will often present parts of an idea one-by-one, but some questions on the tests will ask you about the idea as a whole or how ideas relate. Because of this, it is important in this class not just to learn words and concepts on their own, but to pay attention to how understanding one enhances your understanding of another. Example of an Integration Question:
Here the question asks about several pieces of information that were initially presented in the text individually. You would need to know what it means to have a “strong locus of control,” but you’d also need to know enough about each of the types of cultures to be able to relate those to locus of control. In other words, your knowledge about the cultures would need to be integrated with your knowledge about locus of control. Think of It This Way. . . You use integration all the time in “real life.” Cooking, for example, requires the skill of integrating individual, related pieces into a whole. When you are eating a chocolate chip cookie and someone asks you what you are eating, you don’t say, “A little bit of flour, and some butter and with some chocolate and a dash of baking soda.” You say you are eating a chocolate chip cookie because you perceive the relationship between those ingredients as more important than the ingredients themselves. (This is exactly what the Gestalt school of psychology—described in lecture—said about the way we perceive the world!) Think of each chapter as a huge academic cookie. Terms, conepts, questions, graphs, photos and the chapter review are all ingredients that work together to form a "whole." While it is possible to separate all the ingredients and look at them individually, it is much better to see them at the parts that make up a whole. There is another type of integration as well that requires that you know how separate ideas relate. Returning to the cooking example, let’s say you are going to have three friends over for dinner. You know you need to provide enough food for them to satisfy themselves. That is one bit of information that you have. Let’s say you also know that one friend is allergic to shellfish, one tends to eat a great deal and the other is a vegetarian. Each of those three truths are other bits of information you have.
If you can see studying the way you see preparing a dinner that may help you. All the little facts that you are learning will work together to create a whole body of information that you can use to help you decide what is important and what you should focus on when you study. How to Prepare for Integration Questions on the Exam 1). Give a lecture: The best way to practice the skills of integration at home is to pretend you are giving a lecture of the material. If you can give a smooth, coherent lecture then you understand the connections between materials. If you simply begin to recite definitions of terms, then you aren't integrating. (The relationship between these ideas is actually noted in lecture. However, if you didn’t write that piece of information down—or haven’t memorized 100% of your notes and textbook!—integrating information as you study will make it more likely you’ll come to the same conclusion on the test.) 2). Assume things relate: All the terms, ideas and conepts in a particular chapter relate, otherwise they wouldn't be in the same chapter. One way to work with this idea is to look at the chapter headings and subheadings and think about how information is organized into the chapter. Question Type #4 Distillation—this is arguably the most important skill you will need to develop, because nearly all the questions require you to have done it before you even set foot in the testing room. When you distill something, that means you take away what is not essential and retain what is. If you Distill what you read then you can summarize, in your own words, what it is that the authors really want you to “get out” of what they have written. Example Distillation Question:
Your book has a fairly lengthy section on menopause and each one of the potential answers is referred to in the section. If you didn’t truly understand what the authors were trying to say about menopause, you would find it very difficult if not impossible to answer the questions. While the answer is C, some women do experience the problems described in the other three answers, and many other women fear that they will have a negative experience. As a result, unless you read carefully, it could easily seem like all the answers were correct. Think of It This Way. . . Distillation is a skill you probably practiced recently when you moved into your dorm room. When you move into a room, you first decide where the big pieces of furniture go (no sense hanging up your favorite poster only to put the loft over it.)
Here is another way to see it: the first time you see a landscape painting, you generally take in the overall effect. You will notice that the painting is of a sunset, or a beach or a mountain. It is a little later that you will notice the eagle flying over the mountain cliff, or the loon swimming through the reeds in the lake. How to Prepare for Distillation Questions on the Exam 1). Learn to summarize: THIS IS AN ESSENTIAL SKILL! The best way to practice it is to stop after each short segment (or paragraph) and either write down or say what you remember (writing is more effective for most people). If you can get the basic idea of what the section is saying without having to go back over and over again to the section, you are doing well. Don't worry right away if you can't remember all the specifics-- at first, you are just worried about the "big furniture." Some people refer to this process as getting the “Big Picture.” 2). Be conscious of Main Ideas. Learn to stop frequently and ask yourself "What is the main idea here?" or "What does the author really want me to get out of what I just read?" Expect this to be difficult but don't give up. 3). Go back and learn the specifics: such as particular terms, names of psychologists and dates important experiments took place. The details always fall into place more easily if you already understand the main idea first. The important idea here is details and specifics always enhance your understanding of the main ideas. Learn to ask yourself, "How does this term / concept / person relate to the main idea? Many students perceive reading a textbook as a word hunt—they focus on bolded words and their definitions but little else. |
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August 26, 2002 "The views and opinions expressed in this page are strictly those of the page author. The contents of this page have not been reviewed or approved by the University of Minnesota." |