1) You must know the roots, prefixes and auffixes. You only truly know them if you can give the scientific root in response to the English definition, so in your review practice them this way round. Most of the words we encounter in this course you should be able to translate simply from knowing the roots, etc., just as you can translate a foreign sentence through knowing the meaning of the individual words. You do not have to have seen every possible combination of words in a language to be able to understand a sentence.
 

2) As with any language, there are some idiomatic words which you have to learn whole. For the more abstruse/recalcitrant/recondite vocabulary carry your flash cards with you at all times and read through the words when waiting for the bus, etc. Make a note of those words you consistently forget. It is better to see a word ten times for ten seconds each time than to look at it just once for two minutes.
 

3) Repeatedly saying the word aloud to yourself will remind you whether or not, e.g., it has a combining vowel. You are probably never tempted to write GASTROITIS or GASTRENTERITIS because you have heard them so often.
 

4) Have another student test you on words rather than testing yourself. If you answer MYOSCHISIS for "splitting of the spinal column" and then check and find the answer is MYELOSCHISIS you may be tempted (if you register that you have given the wrong answer to begin with) to tell yourself you really knew the answer anyway. If another student is testing you however, and won't tell you what the answer is until you get it correct or give in, you are less likely to make the same mistake in future.
 

5) For lower division students 25% of the grade will depend on the historical material from my lectures; for upper division students 40%. The material is taken from many many different sources, so I cannot recommend one or two books which will cover everything I talk about. Come to class, take notes, review them. If you have to be absent borrow notes from another student then come to myself or one of the TAs if you do not understand something.
 

Test strategies
1) Don't leave any blanks. If you have a guess you may get at least partial credit, but we can't give you any points for a blank.

2) Before you begin, go through and mark any words you recognize as adjectives or verbs and remember to define them as such when you come to them.

3) When checking over your work answer the question a second time before you look at your first answer.