Study tips
I passed the following out to my students last Friday. It's my attempt to boil active learning strategies onto a 1-page handout in the hopes that some of them adopt them. However, I have a feeling a lot of them are already jaded by college, gave it a glance, and promptly forgot about it. Frankly, because of the space limitation, I had to cut out a lot of the reasoning behind why the course is structured in this way, motivation for these strategies, what objective the teaching staff is trying to reach apart from course material, etc. that I feel is important in understanding any problem -- understanding which is a prerequisite before addressing said. However, given how impatient students are about 'wasting time' in discussion, which some already treat as an optional activity, I decided to cut to the chase. I also could have run discussion closer to the lines I drew in the handout.
I would really like to get my hands on some freshmen before they've falling into the general jaded/passive/overloaded Berkeley EECS student demeanor. Also, as one of a rotating set of GSIs as opposed to being the prof or having a particular section, I feel my words don't carry as much weight. Shifting cultural inertia is hard work (ask Harry Seldon), and I need to get better at it because I'm not exactly equipped with the charisma for it.
Studying Tips
The goal: To learn the material and get a good grade for it.
The problem: Your grade will be determined mainly by your performance on the midterms and final, in-class timed exams. As many of you are aware, the exam problems in EE20N/120 are not duplicates of homework problems or lecture/discussion examples. Instead, exam problems test your ability to apply and assemble concepts covered in lecture, discussion, and homework to a fresh problem. The following are tips to help you get more out of the class.
1 Don't memorize. In particular, some students memorize the solutions to examples - or copy them onto cheat sheets - thinking the solution is the only takeaway message of example. In actuality, the purpose of the example is to demonstrate a particular concept and how it is applied in one particular situation. It is the difference between giving the metaphorical man a fish and teaching him how to fish. Remember your performance on exams will depend on your ability to apply concepts and come up with a solution to an new problem under a time constraint. Use homework as an opportunity to practice those higher-level problem solving skills, because you don't want the first time you try to do it be the midterm.
2 Annotate solutions. Another common mistake is, when reviewing notes, to only go as deep as checking what mathematical operation is being used at each step but not asking, for instance, why the step was necessary, why the steps are in that particular order, or why this approach over an alternative. Like above, the key is to look beyond the solution and ask why and how the course concepts are being used. One way to practice this is to go through solutions to examples and annotate each step, asking yourself what role it plays in the overall solution.
3 Teach others. We highly encourage students to work together on problem sets. However, there is a danger that, when helping your friends who are stuck, if they only get a superficial understanding (see 2) of the solution, they have missed an opportunity to practice those higher-level skills, which will come back to haunt them on the midterm. Instead, teach them so they understand the whys (why these particular steps, why this order, etc.).
4 Make a cheat sheet. Babak provides a formula sheet for exams, and any special case formulas needed are provided in the problem statement. However, you are allowed a formula sheet. This is a good opportunity to organize the material in your mind and identify which concepts need more study. Blindly copying equations from your notes or a textbook, however, is only a way to pretend you are studying while accomplishing little.
5 Adapt. Okay, the Borg may never beat the Federation, but they are formidable opponents. The bottom line is that study habits that worked in high school or other courses may not work in Berkeley EECS. Sometimes it is not a question of how much time is spent, but how that time is spent.
Aside: the reason why Babak and the GSIs call on students during lecture/discussion is to promote actively thinking about the material rather than passively taking notes. We don't care about memorization, because people can easily look equations and examples up in a textbook (or the internet). What we are interested in is whether students can think about and use course concepts to solve a problem. That is a skill that will be useful in your engineering careers, so that what the exams test and what your grades will ultimately be determined by.
I would really like to get my hands on some freshmen before they've falling into the general jaded/passive/overloaded Berkeley EECS student demeanor. Also, as one of a rotating set of GSIs as opposed to being the prof or having a particular section, I feel my words don't carry as much weight. Shifting cultural inertia is hard work (ask Harry Seldon), and I need to get better at it because I'm not exactly equipped with the charisma for it.
Studying Tips
The goal: To learn the material and get a good grade for it.
The problem: Your grade will be determined mainly by your performance on the midterms and final, in-class timed exams. As many of you are aware, the exam problems in EE20N/120 are not duplicates of homework problems or lecture/discussion examples. Instead, exam problems test your ability to apply and assemble concepts covered in lecture, discussion, and homework to a fresh problem. The following are tips to help you get more out of the class.
1 Don't memorize. In particular, some students memorize the solutions to examples - or copy them onto cheat sheets - thinking the solution is the only takeaway message of example. In actuality, the purpose of the example is to demonstrate a particular concept and how it is applied in one particular situation. It is the difference between giving the metaphorical man a fish and teaching him how to fish. Remember your performance on exams will depend on your ability to apply concepts and come up with a solution to an new problem under a time constraint. Use homework as an opportunity to practice those higher-level problem solving skills, because you don't want the first time you try to do it be the midterm.
2 Annotate solutions. Another common mistake is, when reviewing notes, to only go as deep as checking what mathematical operation is being used at each step but not asking, for instance, why the step was necessary, why the steps are in that particular order, or why this approach over an alternative. Like above, the key is to look beyond the solution and ask why and how the course concepts are being used. One way to practice this is to go through solutions to examples and annotate each step, asking yourself what role it plays in the overall solution.
3 Teach others. We highly encourage students to work together on problem sets. However, there is a danger that, when helping your friends who are stuck, if they only get a superficial understanding (see 2) of the solution, they have missed an opportunity to practice those higher-level skills, which will come back to haunt them on the midterm. Instead, teach them so they understand the whys (why these particular steps, why this order, etc.).
4 Make a cheat sheet. Babak provides a formula sheet for exams, and any special case formulas needed are provided in the problem statement. However, you are allowed a formula sheet. This is a good opportunity to organize the material in your mind and identify which concepts need more study. Blindly copying equations from your notes or a textbook, however, is only a way to pretend you are studying while accomplishing little.
5 Adapt. Okay, the Borg may never beat the Federation, but they are formidable opponents. The bottom line is that study habits that worked in high school or other courses may not work in Berkeley EECS. Sometimes it is not a question of how much time is spent, but how that time is spent.
Aside: the reason why Babak and the GSIs call on students during lecture/discussion is to promote actively thinking about the material rather than passively taking notes. We don't care about memorization, because people can easily look equations and examples up in a textbook (or the internet). What we are interested in is whether students can think about and use course concepts to solve a problem. That is a skill that will be useful in your engineering careers, so that what the exams test and what your grades will ultimately be determined by.