soliloquy Wrote:That was hard for me to grasp...so we just waste our time here making up the struggles we face preparing for all these tests and laboring over degree plans, and debating over which big 3 or other college to pick, and posting feedback after taking exams...all of that is made up? That kind of reasoning just totally flies over my head.
Early on, it's hard to discern between what might be real and what might be hype. What "fixes" the scepticism, is testing. Once you start passing, you'll see!
I don't know how the OP studies, what they mean by "2 months" or how they retain. There are a zillion variables. I have teenage sons, and I can tell you 9 times out of 10, they define studying as having one tab open, music playing on another tab, texting people , and fielding interruptions from brothers....all the while telling me that this is studying (they really believe that they are!). After a half hour, they have moved onto something else. They do this twice over a week, and they call it "studying for a week." By
my definition, this person has not studied at all.
Another situation, is memorizing- trivial pursuit style. Imagine if I gave you three flashcards: 1+1=2, 2+2=4, and 3+3=6. Knowing those answers perfectly doesn't mean you know how to add. In fact, knowing those answers doesn't give you intuition about how to answer other questions. In other words, the questions/answers are representative of the type of questions you'll need to know, but more importantly, YOU must understand the answer. If a person studying those flashcards understands WHY the answer is 6 not 5, they are studying properly. I have heard people say "the flashcards didn't help, the test asked me 4+4!" relative to the test they studied for. This is why.
Another part is using the answers to fill in the gaps. If the question asks: which of the following is NOT a primary color: red, green, yellow, blue. The answer tells you green is a secondary color, so the answer is green. To make the most of this question, you now need to say to yourself "here are 3 primary colors - red, yellow, blue. Are there only 3 or more than 3? What makes a color primary? What does secondary mean, and how many secondary colors are there? What are they?"
Finally, if you're unsure, take one or more practice tests. I appreciate that practice tests can get expensive, but it's a good way to PRACTICE. Failing costs more than money, it costs time. Time invested and time you wait to retest. That might not matter at the start of your degree, but it matters as you get down to the wire.
At the end of it all, most of us on this board WANT you to pass, and hope you do!! Good luck!