Study Suggestions

Ask questions! This ensures that you thoroughly understand the material. Ask questions on everything. Ask questions during class if you have any confusion. Do not allow the class to move on until you thoroughly understand. If your questions are not cleared during class, see see me outside of class to get answers. You can also e-mail questions.

Don't miss any classes. Missing just one class can put you far enough behind that you cannot pass the next exam and may have difficulty passing the course.

The Biology Web was designed to be a summary of the most important material from the textbook chapters. Because it only contains the most important information and nothing else, it is important that you understand all of the material in The Biology Web. If anything in The Biology Web is confusing, be sure that it is clarified before the exam.

Bring the notes from The Biology Web to class so that you can take additional notes on them as classes progress. I don't think that students can do well without bringing these notes to class because I go to fast for students to take extensive notes.

Don't forget about the textbook. The textbook reading assignments are extremely important. It is probably not possible for most students to do well without reading the textbook chapters.

Bring a voice recorder to class and record all of the lectures. After class, copy notes from the recorder. That way, you will have done each lecture twice and you will probably remember the material much better. Some voice recorders allow you to downloa d the audio files to a computer for long-term storage.

Make use of the textbook's supplemental material and website. I've discovered that these kinds of materials can be valuable study aids.

Form study groups with other students in the class. Study groups really work. Be sure to meet regularly.

There is a tutor available for Biology in the tutoring center. Perhaps a tutor might help.

If you are doing poorly on the exams, be sure to go over the exams to see what you missed. Make sure that you understand the correct answers to all of the questions. If you do this, you will develop an understanding of the type of questions that will be asked and what you should study for future exams.

Be sure that you spend enough time studying. A student with average grades will probably need to spend about 10 hours per week of studying outside of class.

Extra Credit - Extra credit is normally not allowed in this course because it interferes with student learning. Students spend time on extra credit assignments that should be spent on the rest of the course. The course contains the most important material to learn; additional (extra credit) assignments are of lesser importance.