Final Paper

Elijawon Scott

ENG:3029*03
Dr. Chandler
December 17, 2013

 Discovering Student's Study Habits: Student perceptions on testing and papers?

 

Introduction

           There are many studying techniques implemented into the school settings. The main obstacles that students continually face are preparation for exams, essays, and research papers. Students always encounter major exams to advance to the next level. Some examples include the GEPA to advance to high school, the PSAT, the SAT or the ACT for college, the GRE to get into Graduate School, and don’t forget getting into the Doctorate program. Advancing to the next level of education requires exams and even essays. Even to get into your profession such as becoming a teacher or school psychologist requires you to take the Praxis exam. Since people have different strategies to prepare for exams and essays, my objective is to find out what people do to prepare.

Some questions asked would be: How would people prepare for an upcoming test? What techniques do they use for writing essays and research papers? How often do they study? Those are the many questions that will be asked. I plan on using surveys, brief interviews, and online sources. However, the main question I would ask to sum everything up is, “What are some strategies to prepare and get good results for a paper and exam?” The article “To Really Learn, Quit Studying and Take a Test” by Pam Belluck consists of a few studies to back up my research. In addition, “Do Psychosocial and Study Skill Factors Predict College Outcomes?” by Aaron Carlstromwill add more data due to being more broad. Lastly I would seek opinions and advice from other students that may help benefit other struggling students.

 

Literature Review

           Based on a Meta-Analysis in the article “Do Psychosocial and Study Skill Factors Predict College Outcomes?” Studies were shown to discuss many different aspects among college students.  There were a few factors identified that would influence some of the students thoughts. This article depicted information from several studies that stated that psychosocial and study skill factors (PSFs) were categorized into nine broad constructs. Those constructs consists of achievement motivation, academic goals, institutional commitment, perceived social support, social involvement, academic self-efficacy, general self-concept, academic-related skills, and contextual influences. One main point stated was “Conceptual confusion occurs when defining college success and its determinants” (Carlstrom 261). A comparison between grade point average and class rank is more of school-based academic performance. Whereas in cognitive psychology the article mentioned “A broad range of constructs are viewed as cognitive, including self-concepts such as self-efficacy beliefs and outcome expectancies, meta-cognitive knowledge, and achievement and performance goals” (Carlstrom, 261). Typically people receive certain results based on their personality and motivations. They question whether it impacts them directly or how they will benefit from the test.

The factors are somewhat contradicting because there are many factors used, which makes it difficult to determine outcomes. However, studies are inconsistent due to it being bias against race and gender. From there “emphasizing four broad categories: (a) contextual influences, which are factors pertaining to an institution that are likely to affect college outcomes, including institutional size, institutional selectivity, and financial support; (b) social influence, represented by perceived social support; (c) social engagement, typified by social involvement, which includes social integration and belonging; and (d) academic engagement, including commitment to degree and commitment to institution” (Carlstrom 263). Involvement seems to play a role and get students motivated. Motivational Theory Models seem to be one of the primary factors in students whether again it’s derived from achievement motivation, need to belong, motives as goals, academic goals, performance and mastery goals, motives as expectancies, self-worth, and self-concept. A large-scale study was performed in regard to study skills saying “of high school students’ ACT performance, study skills were directly related not to standardized achievement but to course GPA, whereas course GPA was directly related to standardized achievement score. The researchers argued that academic behaviors precede positive course performance, which is related to scores on the ACT achievement test” (Carlstrom 264). The researchers suggested that achievement goals and study skills did correlate with performance outcomes. It’s true that study skills and achievement goals play a major role in the results people receive. The only thing is that the additional factors can change people’s thoughts and perception towards the testing.

Methods

            The research I am conducting will discuss the not only the study habits of students, but to also find out the many contributing factors that lead to results. The question we would ask is “Why do students feel a certain way when taking tests?” Many factors will vary and my goal in this research is to find out the most prominent and common factors that affect a student’s results on exams and papers. There are quite a few tools I will use to gather the data needed for the research. Those tools consist of surveying ten college students, interviewing three people, and using a classic psychology research method called participant observation. That would involve me actually being in a classroom setting before, during, and after a test. Since that strategy involves me actually being in that environment, I find that tool very effective since its firsthand information. In addition, I will survey five males and five females to compare the answers and numbers. Common comments and similar issues will be recorded and numerical data will be recorded in a chart. Lastly, the article “Do Psychosocial and Study Skill Factors Predict College Outcomes?” by Aaron Carlstrom, Steven B. Robbins, Kristy Lauver, Ronelle Langley, Huy Le, and Daniel Davis will be used to support the data collected. The article discusses heavily on Theories of Motivation, which typically affects students.

Data and Analysis

Variables:

 M – Male             FR – Freshman                  JR – Junior          GR – Graduate    

F – Female           SO – Sophomore SR – Senior        

EDU – Education       COMM – Communication         ENG – English   

SS – Social Science       SCI – Science          MAT - Math

 Question list:

1. Gender
2. Class year
3. Major
4. Major gives more papers or exams
5. Do they study often?
6. Preferences of papers or exams
7. Average hours of sleep
8. Is music/background sounds soothing or distracting?

     1              2              3              4              5              6              7              8             9             10

M	M	M	M	M	F	F	F	F	F
SO	SR	JR	FR	SR	SR	SO	SR	SR	SR
EDU	ENG	SS	MAT	COMM	SCI	ENG	COMM	SS	EDU
Papers	Papers	Papers	Exams	Papers	Both	Papers	Papers	Exams	Papers
No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Exams	Exams	Exams	Exams	Papers	Exams	Papers	Exams	Exams	Exams
7 hrs	7 hrs	8-9 hrs	6-7 hrs	6 hrs	7-8 hrs	4-5 hrs	6 hrs	6-7 hrs	8-9 hrs
Soothing	Distracting	Soothing	Soothing	Neutral	Distracting	Distracting	Distracting	Distracting	Neutral

Surveyed ten college students. Five males and five females.

·       Average hours of sleep for males: 7 hours

·       Average hours of sleep for females: 6.6 hours

·       Total Average: 6.8 hours

·       More females studied often compared to males

·       Students preferred exams/tests over papers

 Interview

E: I would like to ask you a few questions. This is pertaining to finding out students study habits, so I would like to ask you a few questions. So let’s 1^st start off, do you see yourself as a writer or test-taker?
N: Do I have to pick either one?
E: Whatever is your preference.
N: Umm….I would have to pick a writer.
E: A writer? Ok…want to elaborate on that or no?
N: Umm…with writing I can go back over and check it. With test taking I feel pressured into finding an answer.
E: Ok (Chuckles)…so how often do you study prior to an exam.
N: Umm..at least a couple of days beforehand.
E: Couple of days?
N: Yeah.
E: Ok…so when do you prefer to take your test whether the morning, afternoon, or at night?
N: Afternoon.
E: Afternoon?
N: (Nods)
E: Alrighty…do you normally eat or snack before a test?
N: If I already ate I don’t need to snack beforehand. If it’s in the morning I’ll try to eat before class.
E: Ok. So what if it was the afternoon?
N: Hopefully I’ll grab lunch. So….
(Both laughs)
E: Do you cram for tests?
N: No that’s terrible!
E: (Laughs) Do you find it effective?
N: No I find it defective, the total opposite.
E: (Laughs) That’s funny…I try not to cram.
N: Yeah..
E: Alright, what are your opinions on papers?
N: Some teachers like to kill you with 20 page papers so…like I don’t mind doing them especially if it’s a topic I enjoy.
E: Ok. So do you usually get your paper over with or wait til the last minute? (Chuckles)
N: I try to space it out, I don’t do it all in one day right beforehand.
E: Oh yeah? Have you ever had last minute papers?
N: Yeah I hate when I have to get in the day before it’s due. It’s terrible.
E: So do you ask people to critique your papers before submitting?
N: To read beforehand? 
E: Yeah.
N: I have a roommate, she’s a English major so……
E: Okay…so how long do you think it takes for you to finish a 3 to 5 page paper?
N: Whew…like..
E: Well average…. for most of these classes.
N: Well with my schedule now I have so many classes it takes me about…maybe 2 days just to like…many 2 days just to do it and get it done.
E: Last one…any comments or advice you would like to give?
N: No cramming!
(Both laughs)
N: You’ll be taking that class again.
E: That’s it or you got more?
N: That’s about it.
E: Alright thank you for your time. I appreciate it.
N: No problem.

           From the responses given by this student, she found that testing seemed to put a lot of pressure on her because of time. Writing was her preference compared to exams because time is not as much of a factor compared to taking an exam that has a strict time limit. One part she mentioned was that with papers, you can go back and check it before submitting. Although tests were not her preference, she found that studying a few days prior to the test was more effective than cramming. From her perception, cramming was the total opposite of effective and will make your performance worse. Overall, there are many factors that can influence a student into either performing better or worse on papers and tests.

Results
            Based on the answers retrieved from both interviews and surveys collected; there were a lot of common thoughts and opinions regarding tests and papers. On the positive side there are different strategies that students use to conquer their struggles and get good results by using their resources. Students have various techniques to prepare for an upcoming test or paper. Some positives factors include: Good amount of sleep, eat healthy, prepare ahead of time, time management, and ask a reliable source to critique your paper. The negatives however can be difficult to conquer based on someone’s lifestyle and personality. Many students see things differently; therefore they will have different strengths and weaknesses. The prominent comment made by students was that tests such as the SAT’s were a “faulty” test and were not legitimate. They felt that those type of tests did not measure abilities accurately because of the material that was scattered as well as time being a factor. For the most part, tests received a lot of negative comments from the students. 

Discussion

            From the information received from the literature reviewed as well as the students interviewed, I agree with how they feel. Even if a person has a lot of positive outlets that fuel their life, if they lack motivation then they would not get as good results as if they actually put effort. If a student has many negative outlets but has a strong drive to succeed then they could get good results. It mostly depends on their overall drive to reach their goal. When discussing tests with a couple of students, there was surprisingly a lot of feedback about how tests are not a legitimate way of measuring one’s intellect.

 E: What do you prefer between writing papers and taking exams?

T: Taking exams because you're just answering questions. Exams already have a developed thought...just answering questions versus coming up with a whole thought and developing an answer.

 C: Uh...I prefer to write. Testing has a negative stigma. Because people are scared of taking tests. Smart people get bad grades because they don't test well. You feel pressured because of time.

 E: So back in high school...how effective do you think SAT's were? Like do you think they were legit or just a label?

 C: I don't know I feel that SAT's at the time were......were stupid because it's like I was at a level where I was pretty good at algebra. But on the test was some completely other stuff that I never even seen before. It's like I didn't have enough time to like... really study in the book cuz I was studying for other classes.

T: My book was this thick. (Makes a gesture with hands)

C: And....Yeah (Reacting to T's response). Like it was just daunting. I remember the 1st time I took the SAT's I got a 1380. But the 2nd time I took the SAT's...I didn't answer more questions than the 1st time and I got higher. So......something’s a little off....with that to me personally.

 T: Yeah...I actually...same thing. Umm....the SAT I think it's one of those faulty tests.

 E: Faulty test?

 T: Cuz you know how umm....when you take tests to say...measure a person's intellect.

C: Yeah

T: But it's not really true just because...just because on certain sections you might not be.... as well developed in this area, you might be developed in another area. And that might display your character of...genius.

C: Yup.

 E: True. I don't know...I feel like I did better on the placement test than the SAT. Like...cuz it's crazy like how I hate math and my math score was my highest on the SAT's. So I came here to take the placement test, my writing score was higher than my math.

           From that portion of the interview tests seemed to give off a very negative vibe. Time seemed to be a major factor due to students feeling pressured to finish quickly that you don’t really think of some of the answers. It seemed that tests always contained some sort of information that wasn’t really studied or reviewed, therefore it was not consistent. The negatives with papers were that although people can express themselves better, students preferred quality over quantity. The reason is that the answers and everything can be given; however the page limit hasn’t been reached. From there the students would become more focused on meeting the page requirements instead of elaborating more on the material. During the process, their motivation would just plummet.

 T: It's more reassuring...it's kinda like classical conditioning if you will. But for tests.

 <Space out different parts instead of cramming. Take it one step at a time>

 E: Psychology term. So...what are your opinions on writing papers? Research papers.

T: Some of them are fun. It depends on what the research is on...especially if it's a deep topic. Sometimes you don't have to do so much research cuz like you have books at your disposal. Others you may have to get more than just books...like go online...cite. I think the hardest part is citations. Sometimes when you look at the end of the article and the author is not there. And then multiple people that work on the same information given but the date may not be as accurate.

 C: I just don't understand why they have to be so long.

 E: (Laughs)

 C: Nah I'm serious. It should be as long as it should be.

 T: Cuz all it takes is 2 pages to get concrete information....the rest you just.....

 C: Yeah cuz I feel like people tend to repeat themselves. And it's not like you mean to repeat yourself. That's how our brain works. I mean like we say the same thing but we state it differently. So like...it doesn't need to be long like you have to do 15 pages. Like why? You can get the information...if you get what I'm saying..and let's say it's 10 pages or 8 pages.....then I don't see the problem with that. I think that people are so busy meeting the page requirement instead of doing as best as you can.

           Although it seemed that there were a lot of complications or problems, there was a lot of advice given. Additional factors that were given to improve results were time itself, sleep, and food. The initial thing you need to start off the day is food and energy. Without those things, your performance will not be up to par because your brain won’t be working properly plus being exhausted. Your motivation will be lacking. Music can also be a stimulating factor depending on the person. Others will find it distracting. One main piece of advice given was to take occasional breaks because stress is a big killer when it comes to motivation.

 
E: So you think stress can also affect your results?

T: Yeah! Because then after a while. Cuz when you start the day focusing on writing a paper you already have high motivation. But then as all these distractions start kicking in...then your motivation decreases over time. And then it's like so bad to the point you don't want to do stuff anymore.....then it's like your motivation is gone. The will to think of ingenious things to put in writing diminishes.

 C: Can't really focus well with stress.

 E: What are some ways to conquer stress?

 T: Let's see....find another area and listen to music.

 C: Study as much as possible so you don't have to stress about not knowing the material.

 T: Also take breaks. Be mindful if you're stressed out about something...it's best to definitely step away from it for a little bit. Cuz when you try to overdue something...then it goes back to that motivation where it's not that much progress. Your mind is in a whirlwind.

           Overall, stress is a big factor that can severely defer ones ambitions and motivation because it messes with them psychologically. Conquering stress as well as taking breaks can definitely give someone the advantage compared to someone that does everything at once and has a chalk full of thoughts spinning through their head.

Conclusion
           Overall, there are many techniques and strategies that students would use for preparation for tests and papers. Reiterating what I stated earlier, many students have different perceptions and goals. Of course with different personalities will come different opinions.  Stress is a huge factor that could bring someone down and possibly demoralize them. When it comes to positive effects, sleeping and eating are additional factors that would influence them. In addition, people gain their motivation from their goals or rewards they might gain. When it gets down to the testing, it’s up to the student to want to get up there and succeed.