Why take 20 weeks to review your physical education exam?
When I first started teaching a mechanical engineering physical education exam review course, sometime in the early 1990s, the course was taught in a classroom with PowerPoint slides and an overhead projector. I know, old school by the way. But I’ve learned a lot about what worked and what didn’t by teaching variations of this course over the years. In the end, I found that 20 weeks of review time was optimal for a physical education exam review. And that’s why all of my online PE exam review courses are based on a 20-week time frame. I offer shortened or extended versions of these courses, but they are all based on this 20-week ideal. So what is it about 20 weeks that works so well? Let’s take a look at some of the experiences that led to this realization.
In the 1990s, as now, the exam was offered twice a year in early or mid-April and late October or early November. With the first classes I taught, through the North Carolina State University College of Engineering Industrial Extension Service, the schedule was dictated by the university’s semester calendar. As a result, the courses started 10 weeks before the exam. Teaching with a partner, we had a class of 3 hours per week. I remember taking the first part of my first night to provide an overview of the exam, an exam strategy, and other information on what to bring and what not to bring to the exam. So it was more or less an information transfer hose.
At some point, an alumnus asked us to conduct an ME PE review at his company. We decided to broaden the course and slow things down. We went from 10 weeks to 15, which worked much better. We were asked to do the revision the following year and we cut it down further to 30 weeks, meeting just 2 hours a night instead of 3, with time off for summer break. That time frame turned out to be too long. Somewhere around 20 weeks seemed to be optimal, and we also realized that we needed more than just submitting material. Spending more time on work problems was critical to success.
Twenty weeks became my standard for physical education exam reviews and has been my review course model ever since. Over the years, as I’ve perfected my reviews, I’ve become more convinced than ever that this is the optimal time frame for a successful review. To understand why, it’s helpful to think about what you’re actually trying to do. You are trying to pass a very specific exam that tests you on the engineering concepts you learned in college. That is all. To do that, you need to relearn things you knew at some point and be able to apply that knowledge quickly in an exam environment. That breaks down into two key factors: (1) understanding and (2) ability to apply that understanding. Physical education exams cover a lot of ground, with numerous topics and subtopics. Really absorbing the information needed to understand these topics and practicing applying that knowledge takes time. This is not an exam where you can improvise.
Fortunately, you’re not learning everything from scratch. You are relearning; Otherwise, 20 weeks would not be enough. As you review, you should shake off the cobwebs of concepts and equations you once knew well. So a certain amount of your review time should be devoted to that familiarization process, but only part of it. A good portion of those 20 weeks should be devoted to solving exam-type problems. In other words: practice, practice, practice. And finally, you should spend some time organizing your references and resources so that you can access all of this information quickly during the exam. That organizing process will take up some of your precious review time, but its effectiveness should not be overlooked or underestimated. When you sit down to take the test, you will be under an enormous amount of stress. Without confidence in your knowledge, problem-solving skills, and ability to find the information you need, it’s easy to get stuck or panic. Building trust takes time.
Which brings me back to 20 weeks. That time frame takes into account that most people will review at the same time that they have jobs, families, and lives that take up most of their time. Therefore, they will include your review in an already packed calendar. For my 20-week reviews today, I recommend 15-20 hours per week for the review. With 3-4 hours a day, 5 days a week, most people can make that work. It’s about rebuilding your knowledge, your skill, and your confidence. Start too early and your familiarity with the material and solutions may fade before you get to the exam. Start too late and the information won’t sink in and you won’t have enough time to practice or get organized. So it’s 20 weeks.
Before I close, I want to offer some hope to those who have read this and are thinking, “I can’t spend 15-20 hours a week on my review, what am I supposed to do?” or “The exam is only 12 weeks away, is it useless for me?” While I strongly believe that 20 weeks is the optimal time frame, that doesn’t mean a shorter or longer review won’t work. In fact, I offer a compressed and extended version of my 20-week review, and I have many participants who do well on the exam for both of these courses. The key to making these shorter and longer reviews work is realizing that you’re pushing the limits a bit and working to compensate. If your review is shorter, you will need to spend more time per week for it to be effective. If your review is longer, you should make sure you give yourself time to review the material you learned earlier in your review as the exam approaches. In fact, even in my 20-week reviews, we recommend that participants leave 3 weeks before the exam to review previous material and final exam preparation.
Finally, I would like to leave you with a few words of encouragement. You can pass this exam. Beyond relearning, practicing, and organizing, it’s about having a clear mind and a calm spirit during the exam. If you take adequate time to learn what you need to learn, hone the skills you need to master, and have all your resources at your fingertips, you will have that clear mind and calm spirit and you will pass. Experience has shown me, year after year.
doctor tom