Let’s Take a Look at the Exam Figure: A Heat Transfer Exam Review Activity

Exams are intimidating. Students can feel overwhelmed by reviewing for exams. While students need to know subject matter content, reviewing concepts alone before exams is not always an effective exam preparation strategy. Although example problems may help, instructor-solved ones are often less effective in preparing students than student-solved problems. "Let's take a look at the exam figure!" In this engaging classroom activity, students in an undergraduate Heat Transfer course are given the opportunity to preview a figure from an upcoming exam as part of an exam review exercise. All exam questions are generally related to the heat transfer processes/geometries described in said figure. Students are asked to carefully scrutinize the figure to identify the probable mode(s) of heat transfer. During the review period, groups of students work together to come up with potential exam problems related to the covered content and then identify strategies, methodologies, and/or relevant equations to obtain solutions. The primary role of the instructor during these activities is to ensure that the discussions are relevant to the upcoming exam's content or focus. The majority of participating students are in the third year of their degree program. Review sessions are typically held the day before the exam, and the preview figures are provided in advance. The review activity is based on various studies supporting collaborative learning as a strategy that leads to enhanced academic performance. This exam review activity has been used numerous times by the author. Students enjoy the experience, and it greatly relieves exam anxiety. This paper will provide instructions on developing and running the activity, provide examples, and present qualitative student feedback.