Re: "poor test-takers?"

[David Campbell]

Miguel Roig wrote:  my bet would be that those who score low on test wiseness tend to also have poorer study skills and/or to simply not be very motivated to learn the material.        Years ago, I administered a questionnaire on study habits to a large class of intro psyc students.  It asked the students to report on their use of a broad array of what are generally considered desirable study techniques.  The total number of study techniques used by the students was unrelated to final exam score.  My first reaction was that this invalidated my course handout on "study tips."  After later thought, I decided that the study tips are still good advice.  What I really had was evidence that some students are simply sharper (in the mental sense).  They have better memories, broader vocabularies, more extensive background knowledge (from general reaading and previous course work), and can more easily comprehend complex material.  That is, they were higher in the "g" factor.  So they could put little time into their study, use few of my study tips (maybe even simply read the chapter once and take notes in class) and still remember/understand/apply the material better than the students who had to put in far more time--and retain less!     So it's not a fair world.  (We are not all created equal, and "equal opportunity" is a far more complex concept than one might like.) --Dave ___________________________________________________________________ David E. Campbell, Ph.D.        [EMAIL PROTECTED] Department of Psychology        Phone: 707-826-3721 Humboldt State University       FAX:   707-826-4993 Arcata, CA  95521-8299          www.humboldt.edu/~campbell/psyc.htm --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]