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Math 15 Study Suggestions:

Many incoming freshman have not developed good study habits and find the transition to college work to be quite difficult. You may find some aspects of this course to be frustrating to you; this is natural, but you should try not to let that block you from succeeding at the course. Try to remember that part of what you are learning is how to learn effectively; find out what works for you and what doesn't.

Here are some hints that you should consider:

When determining how much time you should spend on your course work, consider the following analogy: if you were working a full-time job, you would be putting in 40 hours a week (at least). Think of your class work here as your job. Since you are probably taking three courses, that means you should spend about 13 hours a week on each course. Of that, 3 will be in class, so you should expect to put in about 10 hours of work on Math 15 outside of class each week. I expect the weekly homework to take perhaps 6 to 8 hours weekly, so the remainder should be spent reviewing your notes, coming to office hours with questions, and trying to internalize the material from class. On the course evaluation at the end of the term you will be asked to estimate how much time you spent per week on the course. Many students end up saying 2 to 4 hours, which is not enough; however, if you find you are spending more than 12 hours a week, then something is probably wrong, and you should come see me.

Finally, I want to remind you that I do want you to succeed at this course (even when I am writing lots of corrections on your papers), and I will do whatever I can to make that happen for you. Your role in that is to do whatever you can to make that happen, and to come to me for help when it's not working. It is far better to admit that there is a problem than to brazen it out and hope it gets better; it usually doesn't on its own.

Good luck with the term!


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Comments to: dpvc@union.edu
Created: Aug 31 1998 --- Last modified: Jun 30, 2000 10:41:48 AM