Many classes available today have three or four tests to make up the final grade.
Study tools can ease the pain of stressing over doing well on a test.
Study guides are often utilized by students to prepare for upcoming quizzes or exams.
Some study guides come in the form of specific questions, while some come in the form of bullet points and tend to point students toward some of the topics on the exam.
Whether or not a teacher gives a study guide is completely up to that teacher.
Johnathon Hefner, freshman in business, said transitioning from a place where study guides are the norm to a place where study sessions are popular is difficult because study sessions tend to be vague.
According to Hefner, in his high school, study guides were common.
"In high school, my teachers handed out study guides and it made things easier," Hefner said. "Now, some of my professors here hold review sessions instead, and those can be vague, and people leave without knowing what to focus on."
Some teachers are in agreement that study guides help students prepare for tests.
However, others said they believe study guides are more of a list of topics that will be on the exam, rather than a guide through topics covered in class.
Susan Brinson, professor in the School of Communication and Journalism, said she will no longer be handing out study guides to some of her classes after she researched study guides and the effects on students.
"What I found was that a study guide was simply a list of things that will be on the exam," Brinson said.
Brinson said she believes study guides do more harm than good.
"From what I've found, a study guide excludes other things taught during the class that are still important to know down the road," Brinson said.
According to Brinson, everything she teaches serves a purpose.
"It would be a huge waste of time, so obviously there is some importance behind me teaching everything I teach," Brinson said.
Study guides, which Brinson acknowledged have been around for many years, have harmed students ability to learn as students gained knowledge that what was on the study guide was going to be on the exam, Brinson said.
"In some ways, yes, I think they have hurt students," Brinson said. "Since you guys were in middle school and all the way up, you were probably given study guides and you probably learned that what's on the study guide is what's going to be on the exam. Now, in college, the assumption is what's going to be on the study guide is going to be on the exam and in my class that's not accurate."
Brinson said she believes study guides that point too much toward what will be on the exam is the fault of the United States educational system.
"This I think is just a general failure of the educational system in the United States," Brinson said. "What we're teaching in the United States is what you're going to be tested on. There is so much emphasis and pressure on standardized exams and schools are trying to perform at the highest levels."
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