Physics Sensei questions & answers
Why Do I Do Well on Quizzes but Fail Exams?
Every week, the quiz goes fine. Sometimes great. You know the material, and the score shows it.
Then the exam comes. It covers the same topics you already aced on quizzes. And somehow, the score drops hard.
If you do well on quizzes but fail exams, you didn’t suddenly forget how to do physics. The quiz and the exam are checking two different things, and only one of them gets practice every week.
What’s really going on
A quiz checks one small topic, usually a few days after you learned it. It’s still fresh. You studied it that week.
An exam checks everything from the last five or six weeks. The topics from week 1 haven’t come up since the week 1 quiz. Nobody asked you about them again, so you never pulled them back out.
So the quiz measures what you learned this week. The exam measures what’s still there weeks later.
Why it gets worse
Good quiz scores tell you you’re on track. So each week, you move on to the new topic and leave the old ones behind. Why go back to something you already got right?
But every week you don’t go back, the older topics fade a little more. By exam day, the most recent weeks are clear and the early weeks are blurry.
Why it’s hard to change
Going back to old topics feels like a waste of time. You already passed that quiz. And there’s always a new topic that feels more urgent.
On top of that, old problems can feel strangely hard after a few weeks. That feels discouraging, but it’s actually useful. It shows you what needs one more look before the exam does.
The fix: keep old quizzes alive
You don’t need extra hours. Just spend a small part of each week going back.
Try this every week: the quiz bank
- Keep every quiz you get back. That pile is your quiz bank.
- Once a week, pick two problems from older quizzes. Not this week’s.
- Close your notes and solve them on paper. Ask yourself: What are they asking? What do I know? What’s the big idea?
- Check your work. Got it right? Put that quiz back in the pile. Missed it? Mark it, and pick it again next week.
- The week before the exam, do one problem from every quiz in the bank.
Two problems a week takes about 15 minutes. That’s how the early weeks stay as clear as this one.
What changes
The first time you go back, an old problem might feel rusty. That’s normal. It comes back faster each time.
By exam week, every topic has been pulled out more than once. The exam stops feeling like six quizzes at once, because you’ve been practicing all six all along.
The exam checks what’s still there. Keep it there.
Practice problems built for this
On Physics Sensei, every problem is solved step by step with the same questions you just used. Each one asks you to try it first. Then it gives you one more like it, with new numbers, so you can bring back an old topic in a few minutes. You find out right away exactly where you slipped.
Your next step: this week, pick two problems from your oldest quiz and solve them with your notes closed. Use Physics Sensei to practice the one you miss.
More questions about studying and grades? See them all here.
Raul, Physics Sensei
