studying for a difficult exam in a class that might as well be taught in greek... (master, teachers)

[Naomi Manischewitz]

when you have an exam for a class that is really difficult, do you spend the time reading the book, going over all your notes, and past assignments? or do you just go over what you know you are capable of remembering and doing for the exam?

[FarNorthDallas]

Every time that has happened to me, it was the notes that were most helpful. I remember this because I always concentrated on the textbook only to discover the tests came almost exclusively from the notes. Grrrr....

[Ivorytickler]

Use your notes. Look for things the professor repeated. Anything he/she repeated, you really need to know.

I always made it a point to underline things my professor said twice and highlight them if they said them more than twice.

Reading the book in preparation for an exam is like painting a wall by standing on the other side of the room and throwing sponges loaded with paint. Not very effective use of time. It's better to concentrate on what the prof thought was important enough to reiterate in class if you're feeling lost before an exam.

[okaydorothy]

I read and reread the notes. I hope you made lots of notes.
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[sike0000]

It depends on the teacher. Some of my teachers taught straight from the book, while others only used it for examples. Some, both.

If they work from the book then hopefully they highlighted what they thought was important and you have it in your notes.

If they did not then hopefully you have plenty of notes and can look back at the book to fill in the gaps.

I have had teachers that worked examples from the book, then for the test the teacher would find the hardest example problems from each chapter for the test. It made it really easy to know what to study. But, they were problems never discussed in class. And the teacher couldn't solve them half the time.

The most difficult teachers used the book, their own notes, and then made the test so difficult that you not only had to memorize notes/examples, and most of the chapter, but understand the material thoroughly. Really sucks when it is not a core class

Another test that sucks is when the teacher teaches from memory, the book, and whatever else comes to mind, then the test is not even closely related to the material that was discussed Glad I am done with all that

Maybe thats why I always prefered math tests. All I had to do was drill problems.

[Spazkat9696]

I make flash cards of my notes, and I review them removing the ones from the pile I have mastered. I keep doing this until I have them all mastered. I then repeat the process.

[kaching_03]

Personally I would find the time to both read the book and review notes. I rarely ever found the time to go over past assignments. My reasoning was that I spent a lot of time on completing them, so that information would probably stick with me anyway. I also made it a habit to look over every illustration in a book. I have had teachers who would take questions right from those. No wonder I was so stressed! Ha! Ha! Good luck. Just do the best that you can and know you are not alone. There are probably others having just as hard a time.