Ok... let's get down to the real poop now. You want to get better grades on exams. I have some suggestions, most of which don't take working yourself up into a lather. Most of these are ideas about "attitude" and "approach" rather than specific "methodology." I'll leave the "heavy duty ideas" like devising a new more effective note-taking system to the experts.

Suggestion wooooooONE!!! Try to get the highest score you can on the exam.

Sound obvious?? Well, I find that a lot of students have either no strategy to get the highest score possible or who pursue some other objective. The purpose of taking any exam should be to get the highest score possible. It is NOT to "show the professor what you know!!" You can earn the professor's respect and admiration another time. Focus on getting the highest score possible. Make every minute or every exam count toward reaching that goal. Make every action count toward reaching that goal. Look for every way possible to raise your score while taking the exam.

For example: Do you get partial credit on problems? Have you thought about what your particular professor or teacher gives the most partial credit for? Will a "barebones outline" of your solution method be sufficient to get 50% partial credit or will you have to cite more specific information? Each teacher is different and it's worth asking her/him about their grading policies.

Another example: Press down hard on your pencil when you write and use a soft lead. Why??? Professors ALL have failing eyesight and what they can't read, they can't give credit for. And (speaking from personal experience) they get steamed and a little reluctant to give points if they have had to arm-wrestle with your paper to find the answers. Label things clearly!!!

Suggestion TWOooooo....!!! Do not waste time.

In Suggestion One, we identified that pursuing the highest score is your goal. Now everyone would do better if they just had more time. But you never will, so the best you can do is to use your time wisely.

For example: If you are stuck on a problem or find yourself moving through it too slowly, give it up for the time being. Come back to it later if time permits. Time is the most precious thing you have during the exam.

Another example: Make sure everything you will need is available...in duplicate if necessary. More paper, extra pens and pencils, rulers, calculators.

And another example: If you are allowed to use your book during the exam, don't waste your time paging through it looking for items you need. Instead, it should be "marked" using Post-It tabs to allow you to instantly locate reference materials.

Here's another idea: After every exam, write out on a sheet of paper anything you did that wasted time. Did you page madly through a book looking for a chart? Did your lead break and you had to go begging for a pencil? Did your get to the exam five minutes late (and out of breath without eating breakfast) because your alarm-clock didn't wake you up? Write down ANYTHING you can remember and before the NEXT EXAM, vow to not repeat the problem. Keep this sheet of paper and add to it after each exam. Perhaps someday you can email it to me and I'll post it here!

Suggestion THREEeeeeee....!!! Never ever change an answer once you have marked it.

For some unknown reason, student's will lose confidence in their first solutions and change an answer to something wrong. I don't why!! But student's are always coming up after the exam and saying "I had that... I should have left it." They never come up and say, "Boy, I'm glad I didn't trust my first instincts on that. I had it wrong and at the last moment, changed my answer to the right one." Now I can't guarentee that you won't later in the exam "come to your senses" and recognize a wrong answer. My suggestion is don't change it UNLESS you are ABSOLUTELY CONVINCED it's wrong and you are right.

Suggestion FOURrrrrrrrr....!!! Don't cram. Start studying several days before the exam.

If you put off "learning" until the night before the exam, you will only be adding to your test anxiety. Learn to learn. If you learned the material when it was being taught, and committed it to memory, you will have it at your fingertips when you take the exam. If you skipped class or got behind in your mastering the material, pouring hours into last minute studying won't accomplish much. Besides, crammed "learning" will be quickly forgotten (perhaps even before the exam comes) and certainly before you need it on the final exam. So don't put off the "learning" part of your course. Each day, master what was covered in lecture and on the night before the exam, go have a pizza. It won't be crowded because most of your friends will be force feeding their brains instead of having enjoyed the savory spices of education at a more leisurely pace.

Suggestion ffffffFIVE....!!! Work the whole exam.

Many times I have to count off significantly because a student doesn't answer the whole question asked or even misses a part of the exam. Don't waste your time reading the whole exam through at the beginning. That's just another form of cramming and you'll forget whatever you read before you get back to actually work the problem.

But DO note the structure of the exam... How many problems are there? Do some problems have multiple parts? It's very easy on an exam to get caught up working a problem, finish a part of it and forget there was more to work on in that problem. I guess it's natural to feel a sense of relief in finishing a part of a task, but don't let it go to your head.

It wouldn't be a bad idea to take a yellow highlighting pen and mark the questions being asked, especially if the problem is in the form of a word problem. The highlighting will focus your attention on the issues you need to address. Then when you finish answering each part of a complex question, you might want to put a big checkmark on the appropriate highlighted area.

Suggestion sssssSIXxxxxxxxx....!!! Don't work the first problem first.

Call me superstitious. Call me weird. Call me Ah-Clem. But I know that students are weird too, and sometimes when you read the first problem and you don't know how to work it, it spooks you. It makes you feel like you are going to fail the whole exam and then panic sets in.

So if you instead always work the last problem first, or the second one, you will never have that sense of "doom". You might not know how to work the last problem, but there are lots of others!

Ahhhh, but there are scoffers out there. I hear people whispering, "What if I go to work the last problem and it scares me to pieces?" Well, then go to the first problem and read it and see if you are still scared. Remember, there's really no magic here. If you aren't properly prepared to do well on the exam, you probably won't do very well no matter which problem you start on. But if you suspect your teacher is the type to put a difficult question first, don't give her or him the satisfaction. Work the first problem LAST and have the last laugh.

Suggestion SEVENuuuuuuuuun....!!! Send me some suggestions!!

I want to share with others what you find works. You probably have a whole bunch of tricks you use that don't require studying and all that pain. So just write me, use the link below to "Send Ah-Clem Email" and let me know what you have learned about learning and know about knowing things. If your suggestion is fantasic or even just awesome, I'll put it here for the multitude to read.