How to improve exam grade gap?

Parents Forum
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How to improve exam grade gap?

Thanks for your replies to my postings.

My son is in college. He is getting good grades in subject quizzes, but when come to exam grades are not in sync with quiz grade. Here is what he did:

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I do study for exams to make sure I know what to expect. Exam questions are usually more difficult versions of quiz questions/homework problems which require more thought. I have formed study groups for certain classes where I feel I need it, such as French, but I just have to focus on the concepts where I feel the most uncomfortable, such as abstract proofs for Linear Algebra.

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What are the proven strategies to help him to improve exam grades?

Is it common among college students have this situation ?

Does college have some avenues to overcome this ?

Thanks for sharing.

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Has he met with the professor or TA for the course during their office hours? If there is a math center at the school has he gone there for help?

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Does he have access to exam questions from previous years?

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I think access to questions from previous years is helpful. Often exams are very different from course material and quizzes although it may depend on course of study. My third in engineering says the quizzes tend to be practical knowlege and the exams are applied knowledge.

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Know who is writing the exam if it’s a common exam used by multiple profs teaching the same course. That may give you a clue on what is likely to be emphasized.

Looking at previous year’s tests by same prof is best, tests by other profs in same course is a help (assuming it’s not considered an honor code violation, which seems to be rare these days).

Time management can be crucial. Be aware of how much time you have left and know when to move on to next question.

Pick your prof carefully if you have the option of more than one. Take the 8:00 class if the prof is better/ grade scale is higher (soon son 2 years to learn that grrrr). In general, avoid the prof that has consistently low grades over several semesters. Look at how many drop the class. If the students at the school have a GOOD prof review site, look for info about accessibility for help, ability to convey concepts, ability to understand.

Realize that some classes just have low test scores. And everyone is in the same boat. The question really is did you learn what you needed to in the class (which gets us into a whole other philosophical discussion :slight_smile: )