20 Minute Test Prep.

This week I used the 20 Minute Test Preparation strategy. I chose to use this strategy because after reviewing all of the strategies, this one was seemed to be the simplest and most useful. For example I can see myself using this strategy beyond this semester, unlike the fritter finder strategy. Also, I believed that focusing and utilizing one strategy for two courses rather than two strategies for one course will help me better grasp and understand the strategy I like most.


This week I experimented with this strategy in the economics and accounting course. I was the learner. After both of my courses (Action) I would go to the library and spend 20 minutes reviewing my notes, creating outlines, and highlighting key points. On Friday, after my last class, I spent 10 minutes reviewing the work per course and spent another 10 minutes per coarse creating 10 test questions. Because I have accounting quiz's almost every week, I focused more on my topic outline for accounting. (Materials) I also only created flash cards for accounting.

(Evaluation) Based on my experience. I found the 20 minute test preparation strategy extremely helpful in managing my courses. The extra 20 minutes of studying after each class helps enormously. It cements the information into your brain. The 20 minute review at the end of each week was just icing on the cake. Most importantly, I found this strategy equally useful for both economics and accounting. In other words, the strategy is very flexible. I'm not sure yet, but I'm pretty certain I at least guessed a couple of my accounting and economics test questions.

Fritter Finder

I tried using a lot of strategies for my tests and assignments. However, i found out that not all of them really helped me concentrate.

The strategy that worked the best for me was a "Fritter Finder". I tend to procrastinate a lot when I have a spare time. When I get out of class, first thing that comes into my mind is who to meet and what to play. I found that as a fast way to failure in my academic life. Therefore, I tried using "Fritter Finder" and it clearly showed what specific time I was free. During those free times, I wrote in something like "review notes and lecture", and "play basketball". I tried my best to follow that schedule and it pretty much put me back on track.

In detail, after I got out of my class at 3 o'clock on Mondays and Wednesdays, I found out that I had 6 hours and 30 minutes of free time. I filled it up with reviewing notes, doing homeworks, and playing basketball. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I had 8 hours of free time which I filled it up with reviewing notes and socializing. Since I have Friday off, I have the whole Friday free and I filled it up with resting and skimming through textbooks.

My Fritter Finder also includes the 20 Minutes Test Prep strategy. I scheduled it that way so I do not forget what I learned in lecture. It really helps me on Science subject. I see myself as an art person and science is not my thing. Going through my Earth Science notes right after each class helps me memorize science vocabularies so I do not have to get my brain blown during the exam period.

Studying even for 20 minutes a day fixed my procrastination and I actually got my works done on time. I think I will keep using the strategy till I get the most out of it.

10 Minute Technique Sam Elman

When it came to big assignments I used to always leave it to the last second and struggle with it and be stressed out.

Recently I had my first major assignment for Writing 105. I had to write a 4 page essay. Normally I would be so stressed out about it. This time was different because in CLS 105 we learned about different strategies that could help us out. So I decided to use one of the strategies for my essay.

The strategy that I thought would be most helpful and that I used was the 10 minute technique. I started out by writing the first paragraph for 10 minutes then I took a 10 minute break. Then I started to write the second paragraph and I was actually rolling and didn't stop so ending up actually going past 10 minutes and finishing the 3rd paragraph and now I had 3 full pages. After that I took a break and left it for the next day and was not stressed at all and finished my last page in 10 minutes.

The 10 minute strategy also helped me with my reading assignments and textbook work for COU 101. Im a slower reader so usually takes me a while to read. The assignment was that we had to read a chapter and answer questions. I timed my phone to 10 minutes and wanted to see how much reading I could get done. I was able to read 4 pages in that time. Then I had few more pages left and took a 10 minute break and then went back to reading. I finished the reading and then i had to answer the questions. I saved the questions to do later on. But the 10 minute technique really helped me out a lot with the reading.

The 10 minute technique made me more organized for these two assignments and i plan to use this technique for my other assignments coming up.

20minutes Test Prep - Jin

I was a person who has organized my plans and daily life so that i didn't have to forget about what i was supposed to do.

However, there were some problems sometimes to get something done on the right time, because i failed to chunk my stuff effectively. By taking CLS 105, i could learn about new strategies like 10 minutes strategy and 20minutes Test Prep. For me, 20 minutes strategy worked wonderfully. On the past, i was trying to do my work as much as i could and i took a rest when i felt tired and bored. However, this strategy allowed me to think simple, because i studied right after each course for at least 20minutes. It helped me to don't forget what i learned during the classes so that as a result, when i study later on, i could get better outcome with less efforts than before.

On my Chinese course, this strategy was deathly necessary. Since it teaches lots of new Chinese characters that i haven't seen in my life, 'review' is so mandatory to me. So, what i did was after the class was finished, i went to the bird library to review what i learned during the class.

Also, I used this method for my CFS course. The course is about human sexuality. Although the topics that the course teaches are quite interesting and common, if I don't review the stuff, I will forget anyway. What i did was just reading through the note that i wrote in the class for around 20minutes. That was pretty much all of it.

It seems really simple and easy, but at the first time i tried to do, it was little annoying, because right after class, i usually get tired and feel like want to have a break. However, after i get used to do it, it worked perfect to me.