How To Prepare For Your Next Computer Science Test

Felix Cabrera
Sep 9, 2018 · 3 min read

As a Computer Science undergraduate student in college, I had to take a lot of tests for the courses in my major. I took exams in diverse Computer Science subjects such as Introduction To Programming, Data Structures, Analysis Of Algorithms, among other Computer Science courses. Through the years, I have tried different study strategies and techniques to prepare for my tests. Some of them worked, and others were not so effective. However, after much trial and error, I have developed a study strategy that has worked wonders for me.

This strategy helped me graduate with one of the highest GPA’s in my class, also, get excellent grades in my Computer Science courses. I am not sharing this to brag, but to give you context and share this strategy with the world. This way, you can use it and good grades as well as a Computer Science student. Thus, let’s get started.

Do all the practice problems.

In my experience, Computer Science courses have a syllabus. A syllabus is a paper that states the material that is going to be discussed in the class through the semester. On this document, you may find assigned practice exercises located on your textbook from each chapter that is going to be discussed. My suggestion is to do all of these practice problems, even if not assigned as homework. Through the years, I have seen that the exercises that come on the test may have the same style of assessing the concepts. So, look at these exercises as the way to practice applying the concepts for the test.

Take practice tests (Or make your own)

Perhaps this is the key of my success as a Computer Science student. Many times I noticed that I knew the material, but when it came to the test, something happened. For instance, I got nervous, anxious and did not do as well as I planned. After some time, I was frustrated because the problem on the test was not as hard as I thought. To solve this problem, I started doing practice tests before the actual exam. I asked the professors if there were any practice test available for the course, if not, I made my own. I used the exercises discussed in class, plus some of the exercises found in the textbook for each chapter. Then, I formatted them on a Word document just like an actual test and printed them out on paper.

Mimic the test environment

After I printed the practice tests, I tried to imitate the test environment and conditions as much as possible. I went to a quiet room, set up a timer with the given time on the actual test and started completing it. Then, after I finished the test, I reviewed my answers to see what I have struggled with. Don’t skip this part of the process, go over the practice test and identify the questions you got wrong. My suggestion is to do this the week before the test, this way, you have enough time to ask questions to your professor or study the material you struggled with. Emulating the test environment helped a lot, I felt less anxious and nervous when I took the actual test. Hence, improving my performance and increasing my grade on the test.

There you have it, some tips and strategies you can use to prepare for your next Computer Science test in college. The idea of the overall approach is to focus on applying the theory you learn in class on paper, because on the actual test that is the most similar scenario. By using a strategy tailored directly for the test, will help you feel prepared and confident when test day comes. I know it helped me a lot.

If you liked this article, feel free to share it with a friend, it might help them on their next exam.

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Hope this helps!

Photo by George Dolgikh from Pexels

Disclaimer: Results may vary. These tips and advice are based on my experience and opinion as a former undergraduate Computer Science student, tutor, and teacher. Everyone is different, so, the advice shared on this article may or not work for you. I hope this helps!


Originally published at yadielcabrera.com on September 9, 2018.

Felix Cabrera

Written by

A.k.a. Felix The Dev. Software Developer. Programming teacher, tutor, and coach. youtube.com/c/FelixTheDev yadielcabrera.com

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