GEO 101 World Human Geography
Spring 2011
General Advice on Studying for Exams

The format for the midterm and final exams will be multiple choice, map identification, and short essay questions. (Sample Exam Questions). These exams will cover material from all aspects of the class: lectures, readings, and discussion. Therefore, in order to do well on the exam, it is critical that you review all the course materials. This section provides some guidelines as to how to do this both efficiently and effectively. In addition, the course web site provides links to some excellent resources on study skills. 

Many people are surprised by exams in this course and in other college level courses because they think that all taking a multiple choice exam requires is memorization.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Multiple choice exams require, first, a quick familiarity with the terms and concepts, but then you must be able to think through the logic of those terms and concepts. That is, you must be able to go a step or two beyond simple definitions.  That is where the online glossary is helpful.  In almost all cases, the definitions are accompanied by explanation and logical development.  Similar development for terms in your textbook glossary is provided when the terms are introduced, so you will need to go back to the text and see how the term is introduced in context. 

1.      Carefully review your notes and the outlines provided for each day to remind yourself of the topics covered.  Then put your notes aside and attempt to reconstruct in your head the main points covered—and what they mean.

2.      Make sure you have carefully read each of the assigned discussion readings and can adequately answer the questions provided in each discussion.

3.      Make a list of key concepts using your text, discussion manual, and notes.

4.      Write down your own definition of these concepts, not simply the definition from the book.

5.      Think of an example or application for each of these concepts.

6.      Make a list of any concepts that are unclear.

7.      Bring this list to this discussion session or to office hours, I am here to help.

8.      Try to answer the questions from the practice exam that apply to the first part of the semester. 

9.      Study what you don’t know, not what you do!!!

Map Identification: A list of places that you will need to know for each of the exams will be provided in lecture. This list will be drawn from lecture and discussion material, the textbook, and current events. There are atlases in the library, online, or you can purchase a good inexpensive atlas from almost any bookstore. The easiest way to learn the location of places is to look through an atlas when places you are unfamiliar with are mentioned on a regular basis and to quiz yourself using the practice maps provided to you and online. The maps you receive at the exams will look exactly the same as the ones provided to you.

The following questions will be helpful in getting the studying process started but you will have to do a bit more studying than suggested by the questions below to adequately review for the test. 

1.     Review your notes from lecture and discussion.  What basic concepts and ideas have been emphasized as being important throughout the semester so far? (These are going to be the concepts that you must know to do well on the exam; scale for example.) List them here and provide a definition in your own words. 

2.     What are the major topics that we have discussed to this point in the course? List them below. What are some of the most important concepts and ideas within these major topical areas? (At this point don’t worry about defining them in your own words, but be sure to do so at a later point—preferably before the exam.)

3.     Even if you are able to define the various concepts that we have talked about during this course, you need to be able to think through the logic of concepts you have learned and be able to apply them to new situations.  To see what is meant by this pick a concept you have identified from above and answer the following questions.  In what context of the course was this concept introduced?  What examples were given to illustrate the use of the concept? In what other contexts might the concept be used?

4.  List below any questions about the material from the first half of the semester that you would like to discuss during class.