Studying

To study for the quizzes and exams, I recommend doing as many practice problems as you can while trying to understand the underlying concepts involved. Work with a small group of peers to practice explaining concepts and problems to one another.  

You may also want to consider the following list of suggestions. This list is far from exhaustive and I urge any student who is struggling with the course to contact me as well as Academic Services.

• Start early! Be sure you have enough time to seek help when you need it.  Always be studying! Studying a little bit every day can take a lot of pressure off any upcoming exams and has been shown to promote long-term retention.

• Utilize your textbook and other resources. Review the relevant sections and use the problems at the end of each section to practice. Many textbooks also have review sections at the end of each chapter, along with solutions or hints to selected problems to help you assess your work. If the course uses WebAssign, there may also be a host of other supplemental resources like videos, interactive media, PowerPoint slides, as well as the "Class Insights" that you can use to help identify areas where you most need improvement. 

• Know the terminology. If you don't know what the words mean, you don't have much hope of solving any problems. Even if you aren't required to know the precise mathematical definitions, you should at least be familiar with the technical terms from the course.

• Think about the big picture. Try to identify the major themes from the relevant sections and how they relate to one another. Think about the concepts that seem to come up a lot as well as the techniques you utilized often on the problem sets.

• Quiz yourself. Practice recalling information on your own, without accessing your notes or other resources. Then, correct any errors you happened to make and try again.

• Reflect on your current understanding. Review your old reflections, problem sets, quizzes, and exams. This can be especially useful to do in a group and you can check for relevant solutions or discussions on the Discussion Forum.

• Talk about it! Talk with me (in office hours, in the Math Lab, on the Discussion Forum, etc.), talk with people in the Math Lab, talk with one another - really, just find somebody to talk to as you study. Pick a topic you'd like to understand better and try to explain it to someone, or use the Feynman Technique.

• Get some sleep. There is research that suggests getting a good night's rest is better for exam performance than staying up all night studying.