Math 1500 Distance: Tips on how to do well in this course.
Published: Thu, 01/10/13
How to do Well in Math 1500 Distance
Here are three important suggestions I have on how you should approach learning a distance course.
(1) Do not treat your hand-in assignments as "open book", and do not start working on them too soon. That
is a ticket to disaster. I suggest you don't even start
working on your assignment until two or three days before it is due.
Prior to that, focus on studying the appropriate lesson in my book, or
the appropriate material from your class notes and textbook if you do
not have my book, trying to achieve a full understanding of the
concepts. Treat your assignments as a test of your knowledge. Your
goal is to be able to do 80% or more of an assignment without any
assistance whatsoever. If you achieve this goal, you will build
confidence. In addition, you will find you often need no more than an
hour or two to do the assignment. Students who, instead, decide to
"learn" how to do the questions while working on the assignment will
frequently spend 10 to 15 hours doing the assignments, and will actually
learn very little. Instead, they have temporarily learned it just to
get the assignment over with. A constant refrain I hear is, "I don't get it. I was getting such good marks on my assignments,
but I bombed the exam." That is because students have never treated the
assignments as tests of their knowledge and have papered over the
cracks in their understanding.
(2) Set yourself clear goals each week.
For example, decide what lesson in my book you are going to study and
attempt to master each week (I will also direct you each week in my tips
as to what lesson you should study in order to prepare for a current
assignment). If you have a goal, then you can devote the time to
achieve the goal. Maybe you end up thoroughly learning the lesson in
one day of study, and you can reward yourself with a few days off. If the lesson is proving difficult to learn, you can parcel it
out over a few days of study. It is better to take a break if the
information is evaporating the minute you read it because you just can't
think straight, than wasting another hour or two getting nowhere.
Often, after a rest or diversion, something makes a lot more sense than
it did initially.
(3) Pick a day in the week that will be your Review Day and stick to it. On
that day, go through all of your old assignments (starting with the
most recent and working backwards) and test yourself. Do you still know
how to do the questions? Maybe even redo some of the questions if you
think they will be a good workout. Obviously, if you don't remember how
to do a question, go back and learn how. Also, re-read the summaries or go through the problems I
include at the end of each lesson in my book to remind yourself of all
the key concepts you should know at this point and, if necessary, go
back to the appropriate sections in my book to solidify your
understanding. If you review on a weekly basis, you will not have to
cram in a bunch of info a couple of days before your exam.