Exam 2 Study Suggestions

Please note that the review questions do not constitute an exhaustive list of questions on topics that may appear on the exam. They are primarily from the lecture outlines, however, everything we have covered in lecture, lab and in the required readings is fair game. The majority of test questions (approximately 75%) come from the lecture notes. The remainder of the questions come from lab exercises and readings. When reading the text book, focus more on the topics we've covered in lecture and lab than on those we did not cover, unless I specifically told you to read that material on your own. All the studying you did for lab quiz 3 is studying you have already done for this exam. The exam questions will require thought: they will not be simple regurgitation questions. Memorizing information and definitions is worthless if you don't know why the information is important or how or when to use the information. You will have to apply what you know. As you study, make sure you link material from one outline to material in other outlines. Everything is connected to everything else!! Also, make sure you link what you study to location - after all, this is a geography class!!!

Study your lecture notes!!!

Make a chart showing relationships between climate, soils, biomes and water budgets. List the climate categories in the first column with the Equator at the bottom of the chart and the North Pole at the top, so that the chart shows latitudinal changes in climate. In the next column, make some notes on the location of the climate category. For example, more than one climate category can exist at a particular latitude range, but one category is an east coast climate and another category is a west coast climate. Next to each climate category, list the soil order(s) and biome or formation group(s) associated with that climate. In the last column, make some notes on what the water budget for this climate would be like (e.g. chronic deficits; seasonal surplus). Once you've created your chart, then put the information on a map. If you just make the chart, and you know which climates, soils and vegetation go together, but you don't know where to find these combinations, you will have problems.

This is a geography course, so you need to know where things are located on a map!

Map out the climate categories for North America, Africa and Europe. If you know these patterns, you should be able to figure out the climates for the rest of the world.

Add the major soil orders to a map of North America and Africa.

Add the major biomes and formation groups to a map of North America and Africa.

Once you have your maps, look for patterns and similarities between them - you should see links between climate, soils and vegetation.

Review all the diagrams in your lecture notes, the diagrams in the text book that we discussed in lecture, and the diagrams in your lab manual.

You will be asked to apply what you know on this exam, just as you were asked on the first exam. Once again, you will get a world map with various locations identified, and you will be asked about the characteristics of these places; you will need to know why they have certain characteristics; you will be asked to compare and contrast different locations.

Review your lab exercises. The content of the labs should coincide with the content of your lecture notes. There will be questions from the labs.

Don't just memorize definitions of terms. Make sure you know why the terms are important, how they are related to other terms, when or how we might use that information, and why it's important.

Remember, reading and studying are not the same thing. When you have finished reading the text, and you have finished reading over your lecture notes several times, then you are ready to start studying. Studying involves quizzing your self. Use flash cards to quiz yourself. Use the review questions to quiz yourself. Get together with other students in the class, make up your own questions and quiz each other. Don't forget to study your map of North America, as well as your map of the world!!!!!

Don't forget to read the required links on the Internet. These are the extra readings listed in the course outline.

Need help? Got questions? ASK!!! Ask during office hours, ask in class, send me an email!!!

Karen A. Lemke: klemke@uwsp.edu
Last revised September 9, 2008