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Friday, November 16, 2007
| Posted By: Simmy |
Friends want your help, but the class is curved. What to do?
Ah, the dreaded class curve. Can’t live with it, can’t live without it. Typically, for math, science and engineering courses, exams are difficult. If no one in the class scores above an 80 percent, it’d be terrible for the professor to assign grades straight up. Curves aren’t only meant to protect against grade inflation – they also provide a more realistic grading scale.
I’ve sat on many student panels as wide-eyed youngsters ask about the vaunted college course load. Without a doubt there will be at least one question pertaining to “the curve” at every session.
I’ll usually tell them a curve is necessary for student survival, throw in my story about the 34 percent average and be done with it. What I don’t go into is how to approach a situation where a classmate (or a group of classmates) needs help.
I’m sure you have all been there and done that. Classmate calls you, the kid is floundering, doesn’t know up from down and has made you question how they gained admittance into the school. Undoubtedly, he/she wants your help.
Here’s the deal: As much as it might annoy you to sit down with someone and start from step 1, it won’t affect your placement on the class curve. A little help here and there won’t bring anybody from C-range to A-range, but it might save someone from failing.
For that you get a gold sticker.
And truth be told, the people you are helping know the class is curved too. If you start to get shorter with your explanations, Slacker Sally will get the gist and wrap it up, still very thankful for your help.
Plus, if you find that you can literally teach the material, then go grab some kool-aid and hit the beach – you’ll breeze through the exam.
What are the best and worst parts about class curves? In a perfect world, how would grading systems be structured?
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Sunday, November 11, 2007
| Posted By: Simmy |
Research different professors’ styles to set yourself up for success
Some of the strife caused by fretting over tests can be eliminated before the class even starts. As we all know, each professor structures class a little (or a lot) differently. I’m not talking about the professor that hosts “Quixotic Tangent Hour” versus the prof that watches paint dry while he speaks, but rather the testing style that each professor prefers.
Some professors prefer the 30 percent midterm, 50 percent final approach while others prefer the five quizzes each at 5 percent, two midterms each at 20 percent and final at 30 percent approach.
If you lose weight due to furious foot tapping when faced with hugely weighted tests no matter how well-prepared you are, then you might want to do some research and take the professor who opts for the second route.
Secondly, there is the open-note/closed-note dichotomy. My first encounter with an open-note test was sophomore year in my Applied Managerial Statistics course. Open-computers, open-textbook, open-notebook, cheat sheets, the whole shabam.
The class average for that test was 34 percent.
Lesson learned: Open-note does not mean easier.
Professors that allow open-note test-taking stress a more thorough understanding of the concepts at hand. Open-note test questions will be longer and much more intricate than closed-note questions, and a rote understanding of the steps required to complete certain problems won’t cut it. The upside is that no memorization is required. If you are a student who always attends class and prefers a more concept and reasoning based approach to math-based topics, “open-note professors” are probably the way to go.
So save yourself some angst during the term by selecting professors that jive with your academic style. Next time your friend belabors their professor’s terrible teaching you can say, “Dang, how the heck did you get paired with that guy anyway?”
What do you think the benefits are of heavily weighted tests versus a more spread-out testing approach? How about closed-note or open-note testing?
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Friday, November 09, 2007
| Posted By: Simmy |
Why studying for large chunks of time can be counter-productive
We’ve all had those days where no matter what good fortune comes our way in the morning or afternoon, we still walk around with a slight furrow in our brow knowing that a night chock-full of homework and studying awaits. It’s like a Utah Jazz fan watching the wildly entertaining 1997 NBA Finals on ESPN Classic – he or she might enjoy it for awhile, but in the back of their mind they know the Michael Jordan buzz saw is coming to ruin their hopes and dreams.
Alright, so maybe Michael Jordan draining threes isn’t exactly the same as laboring through endless schoolwork. I have an attachment to sports analogies so bear with me.
But you get the gist – what to do when faced with the daunting night of all-work, no-fun?
To start, the answer is not to lock yourself in a computer and desk-fitted isolation cell to serve your night of punishment. Studying efficiency is not directly related to hours spent doing so.
The mind remembers things that are unique. Why do you think you remember the awful prank your friend played on you six years ago but don’t remember the definitions you spent two hours reading over last week?
Repetition and marathon study sessions just aren’t the brain’s cup of tea. Or, as this insightful article puts it, “Rote learning is for suckers.”
Therefore, the most effective way to tackle your mountain of work is to study in short bursts. Thirty minutes on, fifteen minutes off. Read two chapters, destroy your buddy in Halo, read two more chapters.
Or for the ridiculously motivated: read two chapters, run two miles, read two chapters, win the productivity award.
This way, each time you sit down to start studying your brain is refreshed and ready to go. Similar to the method of studying before bed , studying in short bursts simply plays more to the brain’s strengths.
Do you apply this method to your studying? What works best for you?
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Monday, November 05, 2007
| Posted By: Simmy |
The benefits of reviewing material just before you go to sleep
Studying. With the amount of hours logged by college students doing just that, studying, you’d think it was a favorite pastime. In reality, if there is any way to decrease the time we spend hovering over textbooks and in front of computer screens, we’ll do it.
In fact, it’s my belief that this dilemma is the true origin of cheating. Think about it: how many times have you laughed (on the inside, of course) at the kid who is trying to scope out his neighbor’s answers on a 5-point quiz that feels as if it was pulled from an episode of, “Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?”
So why do they even bother? They loathe studying, that’s why. And while the large majority of us don’t go to the extremes that Johnny Scam does, we’d still like to shave a few hours off of our test prep if possible.
The best way to do this (and do it honestly) is to study for fifteen to thirty minutes right before bed. It has been documented in many studies that the brain consolidates what you learn just before sleep overnight, so when you wake up the next morning, the info is solidly encoded in your mind.
Two consecutive nights of half-hour study sessions before bed should beat the socks off of a three-hour session right before the big test.
In high school I recall scrambling to memorize my freshly re-written Oratory for my speech competition the following morning. Feeling relatively hopeless about my prospects for success, I’d read it over a few times and say as much of it by memory as I could before drifting off to sleep.
One day, four rounds and four speeches later I’d wonder how in the world I made it through with no memorization lapses.
The mind is a powerful thing…
Are you an advocate of this method? Have you tried it before with impressive results? Share your thoughts!
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Thursday, November 01, 2007
| Posted By: Simmy |
Hey everyone,
Welcome to Cramster’s new study tips blog. We did away with our old study tips format because, well, it was just a little too stale. Besides, Cramster is all about community resources, so what better way to communicate effective study habits and tips than in a blog format?
For most of us, our approach to studying and test-taking in middle school and high school was akin to Lindsey Lohan’s approach to law-enforcement: something you don’t really need to worry about unless you inexplicably decide to cut ties with all responsibility. For us that would mean not reading an essential textbook chapter, for Lindsey that means forgetting cars don’t steer themselves.
But college is a whole new ballgame. Upon beginning your freshman year, everyone will tell you some derivation of the schpiel, “Go to class, take notes, do your assignments, don’t wait until the night before to study for a test, and you’ll be just fine.” After hearing this for the fifteenth time you start to wonder if these “brilliant minds” give a flying you-know-what about actual student experience, because let’s be honest, achieving good grades in college isn’t that simple – there’s an art to it all.
So let the discussions begin. This blog will be updated frequently, becoming a forum for everything from the benefits of listening to music while studying, to tips on how to stay awake in class when you find yourself playing peek-a-boo with your notebook.
All from the minds who really know what’s going on…
Until next time,
Peter
The Cramster Team
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