Prepare for Math and Science Exams
Math and science exams often require additional—and sometimes different—preparation techniques. Here are some suggestions for doing well on these exams:
- Do your homework regularly even if it is not graded, and do all the assigned problems. As you do your homework, write out your work as carefully and clearly as you will be expected to on your tests. This practice will allow you to use your homework as a review for the test. Figure 9.2 shows a page from a textbook with practice problems.
- Attend each class, always be on time, and stay for the entire class. Many instructors use the first few minutes of class to review homework, and others may end the class by telling you what will be on the test.
- Build a review guide throughout the term. As you begin your homework each day, write out a problem from each homework section in a notebook that you use solely to review material for that course. Then when you need to review for your exam, you can come back to this notebook to make sure you have a representative problem from each section you’ve studied.
- Throughout the term, keep a list of definitions or important formulas and put them on flash cards. Review several of them as part of every study session. Another technique is to post the formulas and definitions in your living space—on the bathroom wall, around your computer work area, or on the door of the microwave. Seeing this information frequently will help you keep it in your mind.
If these strategies don’t seem to help you, ask a tutor to give you a few practice exams so you can review your responses together.
FIGURE 9.2 
Solving Practice Problems
Completing plenty of practice problems, like the ones shown here, is a great way to study for math and science classes. So try your hand at all the problems provided in your textbook—even those that your instructor hasn’t assigned—and check out Web sites offering such problems. Source: Excerpt from page 315, COMAP, For All Practical Purposes: Mathematical Literacy in Today’s World, 9th ed. Copyright © 2013 by W. H. Freeman. Used by permission.