A few days ago, I asked 6 top performing students one simple question:
“Which reflection questions do you ask yourself after an exam?”
What I ended up walking away with was a notepad full of notes and 8 profound questions everyone (from high-school students to Ph.D. students should ask themselves after having taken an exam.)
Post-Exam Reflection Questions Top Performing Students ask themselves
🔬 Question #1: Focus on the right topics to study
What topics did the teacher emphasize on? Did he ask questions on the topics he said he would?
🤢 Question #2: Unexpected questions that came up
What unexpected things/topics/questions came up? How can I anticipate this in the future?
🗻 Question #3: Laying the foundation to start next time
What are the first 3 steps I will take next time (when studying for a similar subject or a subject with the same teacher)?
🥰 Question #4: What I did well is as important as what didn't
What did I do well in preparing for the exam? What will I continue doing?
📊 Question #5: The Pareto Principle: Minimum investment with the maximum outcome.
What has been the 20% investment that yielded 80% of the result? What can I eliminate next time?
📚 Question #6: Material to bring to the exam.
Could my preparation for writing the exam have been improved? E.g., print out a summary, bring more pencils, and have a better internet connection.
🧠 Question #7: Mindset and how to give answers to questions.
Should I focus more on answering questions by feeling next time? Or write more memorized answers? Keep my answers shorter?
🚩 Question #8: Look at how the teacher grades and gives points.
How did the teacher evaluate me? What did she pay special attention to?
The next time you take a test with the same teacher or for a similar subject, you already know what to focus on. This saves a lot of energy and time.
Look at the studying section for more powerful questions when studying for an exam.
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