CHE 141: Principles of Chemistry
CHE141 | Dr. Bapat's Website | Dept. of Chemistry
These are a few suggestions that might help you do well in this and possibly your other classes. Do what works for you the best, remember, not everything works for everybody.
Practice:
There is no substitute to old fashioned PRACTICE, PRACTICE AND MORE PRACTICE.
You can't learn a few notes of music every day and expect to be able to perform
in the St. Louis symphony orchestra next semester (unless you are
a music prodigy). The same is true of chemistry. You have to use
the vocabulary you've learned in context, or you will forget it
almost as fast as you learn it. You must do as many problems from
the text, study guides, and notes as you can. The more practice
you get, the better your understanding of the underlying chemical
concepts will become and you will be able to retain more of these
ideas as you go on.
Study: Study your notes and
your textbook carefully. Then close your books and put them
away . Take out a sheet of paper and begin outlining the
material you have been studying. You'll see, very quickly, where
further study is required.
You must do the same thing in solving problems from the end of
the chapter. Do not look at worked examples as templates. Simply
substituting numbers from your problem into the corresponding
places in the example sometimes gets you the right answer, but
you won't know why. And when you are presented with a minor variation
in the problem on a test, you won't be flexible enough to handle
it.
Instead, try to find the underlying principle in a problem and go back
to the text and first of all read that particular section.
Get the big picture:
Memorizing facts without understanding their relevance is an utter
waste of time.
Get the big picture by reading the lecture notes, handouts, problem
sets, and laboratory questions and reports carefully and integrating all
of these sources of information in your notes. Organizing the material
will help you see connections and get the material into your long term
memory.
But don't spend too much time simply making your integrated notes look
good - as there's no point in being the neatest C student in the class.
Get help:
You will get stuck. There will be topics you just don't understand,
and problems you just can't solve no matter how hard you try.
This is what office hours and help sessions are for. Attend them
and don't be afraid to let your problems be known. It is my responsibility
to help you, but it is finally on your shoulders to let me know
if you are stuck and get help. Don't wait until the day of the
exam to get help!
Forget cramming: Cramming is
for irresponsible and lazy people. You can't afford to
cram on the night before the exam and expect to do well in this class.
Cramming puts things into your short term memory- and if
you're exhausted, it's very short term. You should study
throughout the week before the exam, so that when the day to
take the exam comes, you will feel confident of your preparation.
Learn to prioritize:
I fully understand that you have a hundred other things
going on in your life. Remember though, if you don't study for
your classes nobody is going to hand you points for that. If
you are pressed for time, you may have a hard decision to make.
Should you concentrate first on those topics that you
don't understand well at all, or on those areas where you have
some understanding? Ideally, you'd be able to study both, but
if you're out of time, you should study the areas where you
have some understanding first.
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