What are effective ways to predict exam questions from class lectures?

[hackerbot4545]

What are effective ways to predict exam questions from class lectures in university exams? How do I understand the mindset of the lecturer & find out important topics/questions he may give in the exam?​

So I have semester exams nearby. The syllabus is huge & I don't have enough time to study everything. I just want to study the important topics & questions which may come in exam. Is there a way to accurately predict exam questions? Please share your ideas if you know.Thanks in advance.

 

[Dr Transport]

Teachers give hints, but other than that, no.

 

[symbolipoint]

What are effective ways to predict exam questions from class lectures in university exams? How do I understand the mindset of the lecturer & find out important topics/questions he may give in the exam?​

So I have semester exams nearby. The syllabus is huge & I don't have enough time to study everything. I just want to study the important topics & questions which may come in exam. Is there a way to accurately predict exam questions? Please share your ideas if you know.Thanks in advance.

The way to think about the syllabus is that it is the basic key to the course. ALL of it is important. Nearly everything in the syllabus represents what you need to know for the tests and quizes. For more specific indications what could be important, try to find old examination questions which the same instructor used before. IF this instructor has accepted doing so as ethical.

 

[BvU]

What are effective ways to predict exam questions from class lectures in university exams? How do I understand the mindset of the lecturer & find out important topics/questions he may give in the exam?​

So I have semester exams nearby. The syllabus is huge & I don't have enough time to study everything. I just want to study the important topics & questions which may come in exam. Is there a way to accurately predict exam questions? Please share your ideas if you know.Thanks in advance.

I had this experience as a student(*) and I had some kind of deja vu with my daughter when I was called upon to help her prepare for some of her exams. Her full schedule didn't allow her to attend classes, tutoring or any of that. So (after some haggling ) we compromised on working backwards: from trying to work out previous exams we distilled the essentials of the course. It worked.

Nevertheless, I wholly agree with @symbolipoint; if you can find a senior student or tutor to help you: so much the better.

(*) everyone wants to study only the essentials and everyone only wants to buy winning lottery tickets (especially management types ). The only way to find out what is core is to study the lot. And the only way to make certain you buy the winning ticket is to buy all tickets...

$\$

 

[Orodruin]

Doing old exams (not just looking up what questions were asked) and not looking at any solution manual until you’ve come as far as you can was key during my undergraduate. This gives a good overview of your own weaknesses relative to the syllabus and therefore an idea of where to focus your efforts. There is no need to spend a lot of effort on stuff you already master.

IF this instructor has accepted doing so as ethical.

Should be said I studied in a country where most universites are run by the state and are considered state authorities. As such, old exams and solution manuals (and students’ exam solutions!) are considered public documents (yes, you could go to the course office and ask that they give you copies of 10 student solutions that were marked A and they would have to give it to you for a copying fee only). I never understood the idea of professors wanting to keep their old exams secret elsewhere. It just sounds like they want to be lazy and recycle to me to be honest.

 

[Choppy]

1. Start early.
2. Do as many practice problems as you can. Keep doing them until you have a good idea of how to solve them and what variations on each theme are popular.
3. If available, review old exams. As said before, work through those problems, don't just "read" them. Compare your solutions against a reliable solution set.
4. Put yourself in the professor's shoes. Try to come up with a set of questions based on the syllabus. Weight it toward the more recent stuff that may not yet have been covered in quizzes. How could you combine things so you can draw on more than one topic to answer the question?
5. Study with colleagues and see if as a group you can come up with a consensus on what kinds of questions are likely.

 

[mpresic3]

You can mostly determine what the professor is likely going to test on by going to class. This is another reason not to cut classes.

 

[CrysPhys]

Teachers give hints, but other than that, no.

Some of my professors would hold optional evening review sessions a week or so before major exams. Well worth attending.

One of my daughter's teachers would drop not so subtle hints with, "This is important. And I'm not just whistlin' Dixie!"

 

[Dr Transport]

In my course this semester, when I was reviewing for the final, I dropped a hint to the effect: "if I spent more than 20 minutes on a problem in class, it's pretty important, so look for something like that on the final". They still screwed it up.