Use strategies to process material. Students reported a variety of strategies for processing material they had read previously and note they had taken previously in preparation for an exam. Some students reported using different strategies as a function of subject area. Others claimed that their processing strategies were similar across the various subjects they were studying.
Knowing the format of the upcoming exam is critical in determining study strategies. For example, when students expected factually oriented multiple choice, matching, or true–false questions, they reported greater reliance on low-level memorization strategies. In contrast, students reported organizing material in preparation for essay and short-answer tests, exams requiring integration and elaboration of material. In making this point, that some students reported different strategies as a function of type of test, it must be emphasized that there were other students who reported that they used the same study strategies regardless of the test format that they expected.