Advice for surviving weed out courses at large schools

[Anonymous]

Don't rush. Frats don't respect time commitments, and homework is a commitment.

Don't drink any red punch.

[Anonymous]

Agree about accessing all available help early/routinely, not missing class, staying on top of the work, and taking good notes. Cal Newport’s book entitled How to Become a Straight-A Student has good advice re how to do the latter two (as well as how to study for tests).

Would also add that course selection matters. Try not to take a bunch of demanding, hard-for-you classes in the same semester/quarter. Try to schedule classes so assignment due dates are scattered throughout the week (not always possible/predictable, but can sometimes use add/drop to tweak). If you have the option of taking fewer classes some semesters/quarters (e.g. because of AP credits or because the maximum full time courseload isn’t required every term in order to fulfill requirements/graduate), use that flexibility when you know one of your courses will be time-consuming and difficult. Or balance the difficult class with an easy-for-you class whose workload is different. My kid uses music and foreign language classes. I tended to take Lit classes with short texts (poetry, short story). Basically, strive to have a manageable workload. It’s easy to burnout or give up if you don’t.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sign up for the 8am class. They are typically smaller. Plan your semester, note due dates and exams. Study consistently throughout the semester. Use TA and office hours. Sign up for tutoring if offered.

Are you kidding? I always slept through my 8 am classes.

College kids staying in dorms stay up late. My kid always go past midnight. So, avoid early morning classes (at least the first semester) until the student knows his sleeping pattern.

Ha! We were at an admitted students day panel and one question was “give one piece of advice” - panelist says: “Tread carefully when signing up for classes. You might think the 8AMs are no big deal because you did it every day in high school...that doesn’t usually work out.”

Lol! The only B I ever got in college was first semester, in the only 8:30 am class I ever took. I was always late, including being 30 minutes late to the midterm. Never made that 8:30 class mistake again!

[Anonymous]

This is from the school of hard knocks that I went through as a cocky freshman who had been the big fish in the small pond of my tiny high school and crashed and burned my first semester at a large, private elite university.

Don't take the 8 am section! Not unless you're an early bird.

Go to each and every class, no matter what the weather, no matter what else you have going on. Your instructors don't care if you show up, but don't take that freedom to cut if you want and run with it as you're only hurting yourself.

One mental math trick you can do is take your total costs per semester (tuition, room and board, incidentals) and calculate the costs per class. Then visualize burning that money each and every time you cut class, because that's what you're doing.

Take advantage of office hours for both your TAs and your professors. If you have questions -- ask them early and often. Only form study groups with people who are as serious as you are.

Make sure you have a balanced courseload -- don't underestimate how much homework each one will have.

If you have AP credits, think very hard about whether you should use them to place out of classes. For me, it was a total mistake to use my 3 on my Calc AB exam to place out of first semester calculus. Nobody told me what a huge mistake that was, and I was a clueless idiot. I should have never taken calculus at all or at least started over with first-semester. (And it was my 8 am class out of five classes.....so many, many mistakes I made!!)

Start right away on building good study habits in college. You have to keep up with your homework each and every night. Find the place to study that works for you -- for me, it was in library stacks away from other people and surrounded by dry, dusty, boring books that posed absolutely no distractions.

Don't get carried away with extracurriculars, either sports or other activities. At this point you're not trying to get into college again and grad schools/employers are not really going to care about your extracurriculars. These can become a tremendous time suck if you're not careful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is from the school of hard knocks that I went through as a cocky freshman who had been the big fish in the small pond of my tiny high school and crashed and burned my first semester at a large, private elite university.

Don't take the 8 am section! Not unless you're an early bird.

Go to each and every class, no matter what the weather, no matter what else you have going on. Your instructors don't care if you show up, but don't take that freedom to cut if you want and run with it as you're only hurting yourself.

One mental math trick you can do is take your total costs per semester (tuition, room and board, incidentals) and calculate the costs per class. Then visualize burning that money each and every time you cut class, because that's what you're doing.

Take advantage of office hours for both your TAs and your professors. If you have questions -- ask them early and often. Only form study groups with people who are as serious as you are.

Make sure you have a balanced courseload -- don't underestimate how much homework each one will have.

If you have AP credits, think very hard about whether you should use them to place out of classes. For me, it was a total mistake to use my 3 on my Calc AB exam to place out of first semester calculus. Nobody told me what a huge mistake that was, and I was a clueless idiot. I should have never taken calculus at all or at least started over with first-semester. (And it was my 8 am class out of five classes.....so many, many mistakes I made!!)

Start right away on building good study habits in college. You have to keep up with your homework each and every night. Find the place to study that works for you -- for me, it was in library stacks away from other people and surrounded by dry, dusty, boring books that posed absolutely no distractions.

Don't get carried away with extracurriculars, either sports or other activities. At this point you're not trying to get into college again and grad schools/employers are not really going to care about your extracurriculars. These can become a tremendous time suck if you're not careful.

+1000 And don't let your friends dictate your study habits. Read materials before class, so you can better participate and learn faster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sign up for the 8am class. They are typically smaller. Plan your semester, note due dates and exams. Study consistently throughout the semester. Use TA and office hours. Sign up for tutoring if offered.

Are you kidding? I always slept through my 8 am classes.

College kids staying in dorms stay up late. My kid always go past midnight. So, avoid early morning classes (at least the first semester) until the student knows his sleeping pattern.

Ha! We were at an admitted students day panel and one question was “give one piece of advice” - panelist says: “Tread carefully when signing up for classes. You might think the 8AMs are no big deal because you did it every day in high school...that doesn’t usually work out.”

Definitely! I remember thinking 8am seemed late since I'd had to be at my HS at 6:30. Ended up in a macro economics class at 8 am that was also on the opposite side of campus from my dorm. Never made that mistake again!

[Anonymous]

I liked the early classes. I was an early riser. The people who show up for the 8:00 am classes get a happy professor and a good education with lots of attention.

If you can't get up, you shouldn't register for this, but if you are an early riser, you will get your money's worth.

[Anonymous]

Study more than everyone else in the class. Study your a$$ off. Study some more. And then study even more.

[Anonymous]

Speak up in discussion sections and seminars. Do so in a way that demonstrates you've done the reading. If you haven’t done all the reading, make sure you have something meaningful to say or ask about the part you have read.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Speak up in discussion sections and seminars. Do so in a way that demonstrates you've done the reading. If you haven’t done all the reading, make sure you have something meaningful to say or ask about the part you have read.

But be careful. We who teach these classes can see through a lot of this kid no of bs. Do the reading or keep your trap shut.