I will be using self-testing, mind maps and Quizlet to help me absorb, retain, and use the information needed to succeed in my courses and prepare for my future career.

Micro Economics has been going well this semester for the most part. I received an 80 on the first test, which I wasn't disappointed with but I thought I did better, and I knew I could do better. After reviewing my exam, I realized that I knew the material well but wasn't getting those "A"-level questions. In preparation for the next exam, I made a quizlet for each chapter in the unit . Quizlet offers a number of different study options including flashcards, matching, learn, and gravity. After reviewing my quizlets every day leading up to the exam, while still doing practice problems, I was able to score an 88 on the second exam. My confidence went up because I did well and I knew I could do even better. I will be using quizlets along with my other study techniques on the last two exams in hopes of meeting my goal of making an A letter grade in the course.

I did very poorly on my last Business Statistics exam, with a score of 52. The professor advised us that this would be the most difficult exam of the semester, so I started studying well in advance. Over a week before the exam, I sat down and started reading. I read every day for about two hours up until two days before the exam, when I started looking over examples and practice problems. Most of the practice I did was on "Hawkes", our ebook and online homework website for the course. This was a big mistake because the problems are presented in a completely different way than in class, and some of the actual core material is taught differently we learn in class. I did very poorly on this Exam, receiving a score of 52. It was time to step it up. For the next exam, I started studying about the same time in advance, but took an entirely different approach. I read the chapters of interest in two days, pulling out all the important terms and studying them. I then went straight to practice exams for the following day. I did poorly on these as expected, but it showed me what I needed to practice. I went back over my notes and examples. I then took the practice exams again two days leading up to the exam and scored very well on them. I scored an 75 on the actual exam.

Accounting is tough because you have to know all of the terminology and the reasoning behind what you're doing, along with all of the math, and then you have to know why the math is used in relation to the terminology. This provides a large course load because you have to study terms and practice equations. I didn't understand this concept during the first unit and did poorly on the first exam, as I practiced only using quizzes provided by connect. I received a score of 49. I found a good study technique for accounting to be mind mapping. Mind maps allow for a central idea that stems conceptual and mathematical equations off of it. It is perfect for a subject like accounting because it is a good way to piece together many different forms of information. In preparation for my next exam, I used practice excel worksheets, while keeping my mind maps in front of me while I studied. I was surprised at how much this helped. On my second exam, I scored a 78.

Reflection

I did see an improvement in my grades. The mind maps and practice exams really helped to improve my statistics and accounting test scores. Quizlet helped me make an improvement through repetition of vocabulary and helped me gain a better understanding of the general concepts of economics. Quizlet is beneficial for the accounting vocabulary, but it is more important to focus on the excel workbooks, as these count as one hundred and fifty out of two hundred points each exam consists of. It is not a good technique to use quizlet in a mathematics course like statistics. I have continued to use each of these methods in their own respected contexts and have implemented their use even further in advance for exam three and finals.