We do feel a definite security in seeing problems identical to what we did before, but to emphasize these problems would be to validate rote learning alone. In mathematics, we do homework for the purpose of learning the material, not the other way around. Use the class period as a guide to what your teacher thinks is important, and be sure to read the text. As you work homework problems, try to see the bigger picture: why am I being given this problem, and how does it reinforce and relate to the theory? Also, the test problems may be closer to the homework than you recognize, but you may be falling into a rote mode as you do the homework. If your teacher does not use the precise wording of the book, or blends several problems, you may then feel lost. Scramble the order of the problems you work as you study for tests. And browse through other books in your library, and study with friends so you can verbalize the material as much as possible, in many different ways.