KEY hints and advice:
use the Help Center and consult the guides listed
on the Help Center site. The
materials there are intended to help you do better in the course.
be prepared: familiarise yourself with essentials
of the course, read ahead a bit (at least)
find study partners!! It doesn't matter whether your
partner knows more or less than you do ... you will both benefit.
The person who mostly knows more will know it much better after going
over it with you.
big words: learn what the parts of the words
mean: many words have parts (often Latin) that have consistent meaning
in all the words they appear in. You can save a lot of trouble by learning
to recognise them.
study while walking, waiting, etc: don't waste that
time, use it to mentally review ... identify what you know and don't
know from the lectures, how the different lectures fit together, etc.
Making links between the different bits of information is your key to
understanding, and achieving your best.
be methodical: for any topic you are having trouble
with, [1] look up the word in the Yucky-Colored Pages (YCPs)
in Campbell et al for a quick glossary definition; [2] look
it up in the Index for more detail. [3] Consult other books
if you still don't understand it, or to deepen your awareness of subtle
points. [4] Once figured out, make clear notes.
take ownership of your textbook: (What's
more important to you -- getting a good price for your text later, or
getting a good result in the course?) Use sticky notes to
mark important pages, put markers by the Glossary (yucky-coloured pages)
and the Index, and mark out (highlighter, stickies, etc.) the sections
you need.
take good notes: the material on the web is not the
entire lecture. Don't expect to understand a lecture you missed from
someone else's notes, even if they are good notes.
paraphrase to learn: practise summarising topics,
definitions, and processes from the lecture material without looking
at your notes.
make the connections between concepts; not only within
the course material, but in other disciplines (math, chem, physics,
ethics) and life issues (conservation, economics, business, sustainability).
put value in writing well: for notes, exams or assignments,
clear writing is the key to getting your point across
and showing what you know. Make your words express what you think and
know so they can be understood the way you want them to be. Good
writing puts you in control of your thoughts.
find joy in the material:
if you hook into aspects that you find interesting, it will make everything
so much easier.
