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What Psychologists Don’t Talk About?

What Psychologists Don’t Talk About Exam Warmup?

CONTENTS

Athletes have been trained to do a warmup before they participate in the events. So do musicians, dancers, sportspersons, and many other professionals. However, the same training is absent for students who take up examinations. Some students study till the nth minute without realizing that they are doing more damage to their memory functions. Exam Warmup differs from subject to subject and this awareness and training is necessary for every student facing the exams. This is What Psychologists Don’t Talk About Exam Warmup?

Introduction

Runners practice throughout the year, almost every day, and when they participate in a race, just before it starts, they warm up for the event. They don’t start practicing only when the event is announced!

On the other hand, students while away throughout the year, don’t bother every day, and when the exam dates are announced, they start studying. No warm-up is present just before the exam. This is the reason why their anxiety level during the exams is so high.

So, what is it that the students have to do so that they will have ample time before the exams?

Study Aids

They just have to practice studying so that they can perform well in the exams.

Time and again I have said that reading a textbook is not the same as studying it. You can read a novel but not a textbook. Studying a textbook involves culling out specific information from the book and reorganizing it so that it becomes easily accessible.

Their studying should be restricted to preparing materials for the warm-up.

Every day, when students study either at school/college or elsewhere, should keep in mind that whatever information they come across should be included in at least one of the six Study Aids: Lists, Charts, Maps, Cues, Tags, and Links.

1. Lists

This is the first thing you can start with. Whenever you find new information, try to include it under some list.

If you are studying social sciences, for instance, you can prepare lists of Dates, Wars, Events, Names, Rulers, Places, Rivers, Minerals, Islands, Maps, etc.

If you have completed attending a science class, for instance, you can prepare lists of Concepts, Definitions, Meanings, Examples, Formulas, Tables, Equations, Chemicals, Diagrams, Cycles, Divisions, Circuits, etc.

If you have been introduced to a maths problem, for instance, you can prepare lists of Rules, Symbols, Formulas, etc.

If you are attempting competitive exams, for instance, you can build lists to remember general knowledge too. You can obtain information from several sources like Newspapers, Magazines, Periodicals, Short Stories, Comics, Radio, Novels, Television, Videos, the internet, social media, etc.

In languages, you can make a list of authors, characters, events, etc.

Whenever you have to remember it as a complete list, you can use the chunking method (See ‘What Psychologists Don’t Talk About Chunking?’).

2. Charts

Once you have these lists, whenever appropriate you can convert them into charts so that it helps as a ready reckoner for warmup.

For instance, once you have several dates elicited from your History subject, you can reorder them chronologically and against each date write down the event that is associated with it.

Suppose you have a list of important concepts, you can rearrange them alphabetically, and against each term write down its definition as given in the textbook.

The greatest advantage of converting information into charts is, that it provides easier and faster access to information. If you are searching for the same information in a textbook, it may take a lot of time and effort, and sometimes you may not even find it if you are in a hurry.

You can use the technique of “topographic memory” to remember the charts (See ‘What Psychologists Don’t Talk About Textbooks?’). If you have already gone through my article on the textbooks, the three columns you create using “connective imagery” also serve as charts during warmup.

3. Maps

Apart from the maps that you study in geography and history subjects, you can create mind maps in other subjects, too. Also, diagrams you are required to remember come under this category. Chemical structures, equations, etc., can also be mapped.

Use your ingenuity to create as many maps as you can and try to remember them using the “topographic memory” technique.

Maps are the best tools for summarizing a lot of information and are very helpful for warmups before examinations.

4. Cues

Retrieval cues are essential to access the information you have already stored.

To elicit cues, go through the old question papers after each chapter is completed in the class. Choose the most important word, term, concept, phrase, or question stem that indicates the answer. That will be your cue.

The advantage of listing such cues is that questions in the examinations will always contain the cue you have picked. As soon as you see the cue, you can easily get at the answer as you have associated the two together.

It could be a simple one-mark multiple-choice question or a twenty-mark question with a lengthy answer. Always try to associate the answer with the cue from the question so that you don’t have to remember both the question and the answer. As soon as you see the question, you will recall the answer with little effort. (I have already explained how to remember a lengthy answer using the Chunking method).

5. Tags

In every subject you study, you will have hundreds of retrieval cues. If you leave them as they are, there are chances that they will get lost in the ocean of information. Hence, you must learn to combine the cues systematically and tag them together. This will help you to search for the information specifically.

Chapters, sections, subsections, headings, and sub-headings can become tags, depending on the context.

6. Links

Links will be helpful especially when analytical answers are expected for the questions. You may have to bring in the information from different sources to answer the question and linking these sources together will help in remembering during exams.

Links are helpful in redintegration (See ‘What Psychologists Don’t Talk About Remembering?’).

For example, you can’t answer the following problem correctly without linking your train of thought to the rule of BODMAS.

7(3+15/3*4) =?

Almost all lengthy answers are trying to test your ability to link each piece of information with several others. For details on application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation questions refer to ‘Pass any exam equipped with these Questions”.

Stop Studying

It pains me to think that though all students of psychology, all over the world, have come across interference in their curriculum, don’t ever communicate about its detrimental effects on human memory. The result is there is see. Every student pours over either a textbook or notes till the last minute as if they are going to learn something great! Let me be the bad person to tell them they are doing a disservice to their memory process.

All your studies should happen earlier. The nearer the exams are, the less you should study. This is because any amount of learning at the nth minute will destroy your memory process and cause unnecessary interference. Two types of interference occur when you study repeatedly: Proactive and Retroactive Interference. Old and new information interferes during retrieval and this can be avoided by using the last couple of days to “warm up” rather than to repeat your study.

Watch the video below to find out about the interference.

Recapitulation

Let me simplify the whole process with an example.

Suppose someone asks you, “Where did you buy this toothbrush?”

Out of several Departmental Stores, you will LINK this to one store where you bought it, under the TAG toiletries, with the brand name as a CUE. Upon more prodding, you will MAP-it to its location, CHART it to the left side, second shelf, third row, and finally LIST it to the type in terms of hard, medium, or soft.

We may use these every day effectively, but we rarely do so when we study. Try this with one section of a chapter, and you will see a world of difference in your retention process.

This way of studying will also facilitate your concentration (See ‘What Psychologists Don’t Talk About Concentration?’).

Just glance through the lists, charts, maps, cues, tags, and links before the exams and you will be ready to face them with this warmup. You have spent enough time studying. There is no use in studying more. This is What Psychologists Don’t Talk About Exam Warmup?

Know why I am doing a series on this?

What Psychologists Don’t Talk About?

Let me know if I am wrong. I have started this series because there are hundreds of things psychologists don’t talk about. I feel that it would benefit everyone if they did so. I hope at least now, they will make a beginning.

This is an attempt to bring to the fore what has been hidden for a very long time.