In my second year of pre-medical studies, I took organic chemistry. After a year of general chemistry making "A"s each term, I was looking forward to this. Mr. P had us in organic for about three weeks in high school, and I had enjoyed it.
The professor was Dr. E. He was a good lecturer and pointed out to us that success in his course carried a high correlation with entrance into medical school. He also told us to use the textbook only for reference because the tests would only come from lecture material. After the first quiz, I was distressed to see that I had only gotten a "C" on it. I made an appointment to see him during his office hours, and got a lesson in how to study that held me up through some tough courses including his.
His advice was:
1. As soon as possible after a lecture, copy the notes that I had made during the lecture.
2. Next, again as soon as possible, go over that set of notes and write out some test questions that one would ask about the material covered. Then answer these questions.
I took his advice, did the notes, made out the questions, answered them, and wrote each question on a 3x5 card with the answer on the back. I then had the test! If I learned the cards, it was simple. I never saw a test question after that, that I had not answered before. Dr. E may have been only an average teacher with a subject that could be dry, but his advice on how to study a topic was first rate. I used this method in years to come with any subject that gave me reason to suspect that I would have difficulty, and it always helped greatly.
One note about Dr. E. I recall his final exam question at the end of the year. "Given coal, water, and oxygen, describe how you would make nylon. I haven't a clue now, but it wasn't hard then.
No comments:
Post a Comment