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MSBKyle
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17 Sep 2014, 4:33 pm

Does anyone struggle on here struggle with taking quizzes and exams? I have had this problem most of my school life. I am so disappointed right now. I just took a quiz and failed miserably. I read the chapters, looked over my notes, and still failed it. I don't take good notes in class because the professor goes too fast or I don't understand what I am writing down. My current grade point average in college is currently a 2.0. I am in my third year and I have failed some courses. When I fail something it is not done on purpose. In high school, it took me 3 times to pass the OGT (Ohio Graduation Test). I still graduated with my class. I did pretty well throughout middle school and high school, but college has been more difficult for me. Whenever I fail a test or a course, my family gets upset with me. It is not like I am ditching class or anything, I just don't test well. I failed the ACT twice and I was only accepted into a community college which I still go to. Part of my problem is that it is hard for me to multitask. You can't expect me to learn 5 chapters in one class, and another 5 in other classes. I can only do one thing at a time, and that goes for everything. I can't do more than what I can handle.



progaspie
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17 Sep 2014, 5:14 pm

You've answered your own question. Can you reduce the number of classes you do at college and stretch the time to complete the course over a longer time. Also when you take notes try to come prepared for the class by reading up the class material beforehand (just a few minutes while having breakfast). Don't write down complete sentences during class. Just a word here or a word there that catches your attention and acts as a trigger when you review the class material afterwards. Spend time after class reviewing your work and if there was anything you didn't understand seek help from one of the other students, or go back and ask the teacher. Never put yourself down. You are there because you deserve to be there and there's no need to place pressure on yourself, because one way or another, you will get through.



eric76
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17 Sep 2014, 6:51 pm

I always hated exams that tested one's ability to memorize random garbage.

I did my best in Math where it wasn't what I could memorize but what I could do.



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17 Sep 2014, 7:52 pm

I never tested well on any standardized test like the SAT, or GRE. Tests like the Miller Analogies Test I could breeze through with little problem. Even the ADOS and the Weschler, with the exception of the visual components, weren't much of a problem, when it came to the verbal portions. When it came to some of the word definitions, I was asking the clinician, which definition did he want? It's no wonder I never got very far with Stanford-Binet when I was younger, but had no problems with the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, unless it involved algebra, geometry, trig or the Calculus.



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17 Sep 2014, 7:59 pm

MSBKyle wrote:
Does anyone struggle on here struggle with taking quizzes and exams? I have had this problem most of my school life. I am so disappointed right now. I just took a quiz and failed miserably. I read the chapters, looked over my notes, and still failed it. I don't take good notes in class because the professor goes too fast or I don't understand what I am writing down. My current grade point average in college is currently a 2.0. I am in my third year and I have failed some courses. When I fail something it is not done on purpose. In high school, it took me 3 times to pass the OGT (Ohio Graduation Test). I still graduated with my class. I did pretty well throughout middle school and high school, but college has been more difficult for me. Whenever I fail a test or a course, my family gets upset with me. It is not like I am ditching class or anything, I just don't test well. I failed the ACT twice and I was only accepted into a community college which I still go to. Part of my problem is that it is hard for me to multitask. You can't expect me to learn 5 chapters in one class, and another 5 in other classes. I can only do one thing at a time, and that goes for everything. I can't do more than what I can handle.


What happens if you ask the prof to slow down? What happens if you ask the prof to clarify what you don't understand? Have you even talked to your prof about your disability? Have you tried recording lectures on your smartphone or tablet so you can review after class?



eric76
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17 Sep 2014, 9:08 pm

I firmly believe that a test-taker should have however long he needs to finish a test, within reason.

When I was a grad student in Math, once during summer school a prof had me proctor a math test for an engineering calculus course. The class was like an hour and fifteen minutes but the classroom wasn't occupied again for another hour after that.

After the hour and fifteen minutes, nobody was finished with the test. Since I had nothing better to do and nobody needed the classroom for a while, I let them keep taking the test. After about another half hour, people started to finish. The last finished after almost an entire extra hour.

Later I was asked to proctor another test for that prof. He made a point of letting me know that they were not allowed to stay past the end of the class time. On that occasion, though, the test was shorter and everyone finished on time, anyway.



andrethemoogle
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17 Sep 2014, 10:21 pm

I never studied for tests that much to be honest, couldn't concentrate on reading the same stuff over and over. I passed pretty much any subject with either 80% or higher, except for math and French. I did terrible with those two subjects



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18 Sep 2014, 6:17 am

Tests are easy, especially those ABCD ones. Describe type are much harder since you have to actually know something. But ABCD? All you need to do is using your head and you are going to pass.

I can take an ABCD test of any subject even if I never attended the classes (I used to do homework tests for my friend of another course. Me - IT, he - Administration laws... xD) and pass it over 60% (over 80% if I actually know anything about the subject).

The trick is to read the question carefully and think about each of the answers. Soon you are going to figure out some of the answers are impossible to be true, other seem possible. Then you choose the one most possible out of the possible ones. Thats it.
Just watch out for tricky questions and pay attention to grammar. Some questions ask you "which answer is true" and others "which answer is not true". That can be confusing.
BTW. Some tests got answers in them. Pay attention. Sometimes one question might tell you the answer to other question.

About learning before an important exam - I used to write down everything teacher says (I am a fast hand writer, I could work as a scribe) without actually understanding although something always stayed in my head - subconscious learning. Then, before the exam I worked with my notes and was making a computer presentation of the wall of text in my notebook. I was choosing the most important infos and making slides of it (for example changing text to diagram) - I am visual learner and got photographic memory so slides are the best method for me. Then I printed the presentation and was looking at the slides one by one, remembering them. I never got less than 85% of any test I prepared for this way. Even the description type ones.



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18 Sep 2014, 2:29 pm

Its the same for me in tests too even concentration i cant even concentrate or memorize i get a headache or sometimes without noticing i start thinking about something forgetting that im studying or listening in class