Testing Tactics Two Check Your Answers Then Check Your Answers Again.

As recommended by Planet College you are now intent on taking the entire time alloted for the test. If you have not practiced this approach to test taking you may wonder what to do with the time if you actually finish the test with time left. 

This is what to do. It is always wise to check your answers. And then check your answers again. This is to assure yourself that you have the correct and complete answer to the examination question. Since you are now using all of the time allotted for the test you have time to do this, answer checking.

Answer checking is an essential step toward getting the grade you wish on the test and for the course. Answer checking is particularly useful if your testing involves a Scantron(c) .  Under the pressure of testing, filling in a Scantron(c) often becomes problematic for average students. It is possibly due to the way they are laid out, roughly the equivalent of an eye-chart test. Hurried test takers can easily mark the wrong space. Very frustrating. Which is why this post emphasizes checking your answers and before turning in your test, checking your answers again. There is nothing more frustrating than getting a test back with an answer marked as incorrect, which as far as the grader knew is, but only because you marked the wrong little space.  So, again, before handing in your answer sheet check your answer. And check your answer again.

Testing Tactics One Take The Entire Time

On Planet College mid-terms may be dissapearing in your rearview mirror but that can only mean finals will be arriving soon.

If you are satisfied with your performance on your recent mid-terms then fine, congratulations and good job!

But if you are dis-satisfied with your results, here is an advisory from Planet College. How much time did you spend taking the actual test?  Depending on what type of test it was, by the time a typical student on Planet College actually gets the test which they will be taking they are so anxious that they hurry through the actual examination just to get out of there.

Worse yet, we've all see those whizzes who stand up, walk up and turn in their blue book or scantron or blue book and scantron twenty minutes after the test started.  This often freaks out already shaky students who then begin thinking, " Should I be done?"  "Is this test really that easy?"

No. You should not be done and for you, of course, the test is NOT that easy. Nothing is that easy.  That there may be some championship test takers in your class, well good for them. But that does not help you.

Which leads to the following testing tactic recommended for average students.  Take the entire time. For the test. Use the entire time given to take the test.  Whether it is two hours, one hour or fourty minutes use every minute to take the test. You are not in a race. You are not graded on completion time. You are graded on correct answers.

Deciding you will take the entire time for the test and then doing so will reduce the pressure somewhat and possibly allow for clearer thinking.  And that could only be helpful.

Spell Check May Not Be Your Friend. But It Can Still Be Useful.

Seasoned veterans of Planet College have learned to be wary of running any spelling and grammar checking feature on whatever word processing program they may be using. Planet College has detailed the potential heartbreak of depending on such a program here.

If the pitfall detailed in that post is discouraging read further.

Spelling and grammar checking programs do have a place. Just not as the final this-is-the-print-out- I-will -hand-in.  There are too many opportunities for glaring errors. Mainly this is true because final copies are usually printed out at 2 a.m. just before you pass out from exhaustion. Or, worse, ten minutes before class.  Either way there is no means to do a final real effective check of the work. And for the kind of work you except to complete now a final check is absolutely necessary.

This factor becomes more important as you progress.  Early on, like way back when you were a freshman, you handed in anything because as a freshman you just did not care. You probably figured, " Hey I turned it in. Give me an A." That did not work out and since then you have progressed both in your respect for the difficulties of actually completing a worthwhile paper and in the care you take in your work.

Which is why Planet College counsels students to use the spelling feature of you writing program early and often. As you progress through the writing of the paper pause and run the spell check. Watch it carefully but especially watch it for obvious errors.  These programs are so coldly logical that they will invariably recommend " there " for " they're " and other such simple but useless recommendations. When you are done with your final copy print it out and look at it carefully.  Ideally if you can, print it out the night before. Next morning look it over for errors.  It is likely you will be much more capable of spotting needed corrections after at least a few hour sleep. Then you can run your final print out.

Use Your Diploma As A Down Payment.

An international automobile corporation currently has an advertising campaign which features the statement at the head of this post, Use Your Diploma As A Down Payment . Their wish is that you purchase one of their new models. The offer is that if you have recently graduated you will receive favorable terms on the financing when you buy this car.

       This campaign can tell you something about the status of graduates, those who hold a diploma, in the eyes of merchandisers, sellers and suppliers of products abd services.

        First of all, it does not take a marketing major to recognize that the intended market is those who are new to the full time work force. From this position the automobile company would like the buyers to establish a pattern of buying their brand. By offering what, at least seems to be a  pretty good deal, they feel they have an opportunity to establish a repeat buyer. If they make good cars they probably will.

         Secondly, it is generally believed and backed up by numerous research studies that college graduates earn more than those who don't have a diploma.  Another good reason to seek out graduates as customers.

          Further reflection will show you that you are valued not only as a consumer but also as a trend setter. If the car company can get enough college graduates as regular customers that elevates their status with the general car buying population.

          These simple observations may promote an equally simple but profound realization about you and your pending status as a college graduate, a degree holder.

          You have value. You have earned it. You have value not only to marketers but also to employers and the general population. You are putting the work in, day to day, to improve your effectiveness as a contributing member of society and the human race.  Your diploma represents far more than a down payment. It is recognition of your continuing value. And no one can take that away from you.

How Am I Doing? Ask, Just Ask

By now the daily grind of this term on Planet College has settled into - OK, yes, a daily grind.  The daily aspect for your college career as a grind has one advantage. It is regular and reliable; class, work, friends, party, class, work and so on.  The reliability of this can lead to a kind of sleepwalk and this sleepwalk may produce regrettable results.

In order to assure that you are working toward, even sleepwalking, toward graduation it is important to occasionally get a fix on your real progress. The best source, immediate source, of your real progress is your instructor for any class but in particular a class which is unusually challenging.

To make this determination find a time when the instructor is free. Clearly, just before or just after class session is workable.  At this time, approach her and ask if she has time to talk.  If she says, 'Yes." then identify yourself and the section of her courses you are enrolled in.  Tell her you are checking on your progress in her course and you would like to know if you are up to date or if there are any assignments due. She may take a moment to check or she may say, "I'll let you know.'  What ever she says pay careful attention.

Then do it. Follow through on exactly what she says.

This contact has two advantages.  First, you get first hand knowledge of your real status in a class which may be more difficult and require more attention than you have been providing.  Second, and this is a significant point, you have established yourself in the mind of the instructor as a student who cares about this course and their progress.  Instructors often view favorably students who have demonstrated care about their course.  Come grading time this can be a distinction which works to your advantage.

Right now, go find out how you're doing.

Do I Still Have To Pay The Money Back?

Dana is a student worker on campus who is working part time in the financial aid office this term, mostly answering calls from students. Most of those calls are about money, as you might guess, specifically; Where is it.? Where is my money? That is what most students want to know.

Dana is used to these calls by now and due to having been trained for this position has learned the procedure for informing the student if or when their money will be released.  While searching the student's record she can further determine if the student is lacking anything in their file which could be causing a delay. After a few weeks Dana has gotten used to these calls and, being a student her self, she appreciates the concerns of the caller.

But, Dana was not entirely prepared for the call that came to her one afternoon recently. The caller was a student who had received a letter informing her she had been dis-enrolled by the university due to failing grades.  At Dana's school dis-enrolled means kicked out. The student now had one thing on her mind.  She asked Dana, " Do I still have to pay the money back?"  By this the student meant the loans she had received to pay for her schooling while she had been attending.  After checking the record Dana's reply was, "Yes."  Yes, that caller ,who had completed three semesters, did owe the money.

This incident illustrates one basic, simple and critical factor about your higher education. Whether you complete your schooling or not, if you have accepted loans for college you will have to pay those loans back. You will.  They are loans and loans must be repaid.

Quit, kicked out, didn't go back, just forgot about it. For whatever reason you cease to attend college you will be responsible for your school loans until you have paid them back.

If college attendance has become no longer possible ,before you leave, stop by the financial aid office on your campus. Have the worker ( it probably won't be Dana) go over your file with you. Learn for your elf, first hand, how much you actually owe.  There are now in place, Planet College can assure your, tools to manage your debt while you become financially stable. But ignoring it or pretending it's OK is not one of them.  It is NOT  OK. They won't go away until you pay, so sooner or later you got to do something.  Make it sooner.

Studying Abroad? Get your Gillman On.

Planet College has endorsed and encouraged studying abroad for students since this site was founded.  Planet College is always eager to share resources for students to allow them to pursue overseas studies. If you are an undergraduate foreign language major who has been considering studying abroad but has found the cost prohibitive there may be help. As noted in the posts linked above The Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship, is a scholarship intended to assist students from the USA who are studying a foreign language and wish to further their studies in another country outside of the United States.  According to their site the requirements are fairly simple.  To be eligible you must be enrolled in higher education in the USA. You must be studying one of the languages listed on their site and also you must have received a Pell Grant.   Applications are still available for Spring, 2014, and will be, according to their site, until October 1, 2013. The complete deadline list is here.  Give their site a look. You could end up studying overseas for hardly more money than you are paying to study in the USA. Pretty Cool.