HOW TO GET EXTRA HELP

Have your questions ready.  When you see your teacher for extra help, don’t say anything like, “I don’t have a clue what’s going on.”  Rather, work through your class notes – definitions, examples, theorems and proofs – thoroughly, and be prepared to say, “I understand everything up to this point.  How did we get from here to here?”  In other words, do your part!  Spend quality time with the material.

Get into study groups.  Then one representative of your group can see your teacher to help with problems and report back to the others.  Also, with group expertise, more often than not, you will solve most problems yourselves.

Struggle more than a little.  Don’t give up after one attempt.  Make a sincere effort to sort out your problems.  That way, when you say, “I am stuck RIGHT HERE!”, you will be so up on the problem that your teacher’s words of wisdom (I am not being sarcastic here!) won’t seem like a foreign language

Have you ever had that experience?  A teacher is explaining something as if it is the most straightforward concept imaginable.  You are nodding your head, saying, “Uh huh!  Uh huh!  Got it.”  And you’re thinking, “I don’t have a clue what this teacher is talking about.”  It’s rare, but sometimes this is the teacher’s fault.  Often, though, the blame lies with the student, who hasn’t struggled enough so that the teacher’s explanation can work.  Struggle more than a little!

SOME SPECIFIC STRATEGIES

- Review each day’s notes as soon as possible – definitely before the next class

- You should, on average, do a minimum of half an hour of homework per class.

- Participate in class.

- Form study groups with classmates.

- Don’t fall behind.