What's the point of taking practice exams? Forum

[polycom01]

Admittedly, that subject title was worded to get your attention.

What I want to know is if there is any value in writing out practice exams for my classes if I don't have access to sample answers. I figure that my professors will only be willing to look over a couple (at most) exams that I write, and I plan on maxing that out. I have heard that some people get together in groups and go over the answers, but I mostly work alone.

So if the professor isn't looking over your answer, is there much benefit to writing out exam answers if I don't have a model answer?

I could just see myself looking at my answer and thinking, "Well, this seems to look good, I think I spotted the issues....." and just shrugging my shoulders.

Anyway, I'm interested in any feedback people have. There are a ton of exams on the internet but it seems to be hard to find model answers to go with them.

[vanwinkle]

If you can get a professor to look it over and give feedback, it's most definitely worth it. If not... maybe find classmates who are interested in doing the same thing, and try going over each other's? That way you can see what your classmate noticed that you didn't... The more classmates you get to do this the more you get to see.

[rayiner]

The biggest help for me writing out practice exams is actually typing the words. I will usually take only one or two practice exams for each class, but I'll write the answers out for one of them several times. Really exams in any given subject are all the same. The facts will change, but you'll be discussing the same things. If you can internalize a "model answer" you can kind of go on auto-pilot during the final.

[polycom01]

The biggest help for me writing out practice exams is actually typing the words. I will usually take only one or two practice exams for each class, but I'll write the answers out for one of them several times. Really exams in any given subject are all the same. The facts will change, but you'll be discussing the same things. If you can internalize a "model answer" you can kind of go on auto-pilot during the final.

Thanks, this seems helpful. My goal is to internalize the exam writing process much like I did for the LSAT, so I guess writing an exam several times could help with that.

[zeth006]

The biggest help for me writing out practice exams is actually typing the words. I will usually take only one or two practice exams for each class, but I'll write the answers out for one of them several times. Really exams in any given subject are all the same. The facts will change, but you'll be discussing the same things. If you can internalize a "model answer" you can kind of go on auto-pilot during the final.

Well said.