Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA
Students have a bi-weekly online reading assignment (hosted by SurveyMonkey.com), where they answer questions based on reading their textbook, material covered in previous lectures, opinion questions, and/or asking (anonymous) questions or making (anonymous) comments. Full credit is given for completing the online reading assignment before the next lecture, regardless if whether their answers are correct/incorrect. The following question was asked after the last lecture, but prior to the final exam.
Tell a student who is about to take this course next year what he/she needs to know or to do in order to succeed in this course. (Graded for completion.)
"Stay on top of all the homework assignments and labs. You don't want to miss easy points for simply doing your work when you may need the cushion later for exams and quizzes. Ask questions, work with your group, see tutors(they are so helpful) and work out every single homework problem! A lot of physics is logic with a just a little bit of equations. You can think your way out of a problem before actually solving for it!"
"It's so helpful to go to office hours and ask questions on the practice quiz problems and follow up with homework problems or in-class problems. P-dog is patient and never gets annoyed no matter the amount of questions asked. It's good to study the material several times because you can advance in what you know each time you review it."
"Stay at the end of lab and write up the lab report while it's fresh in your mind. And pre-lab readings help. And keep practice quizzes and answers."
"Just stay on top of the work, keep going, and ask as many questions as you need to. P-dog is super-patient and will talk with you and help you work through the problem until you understand it. He is one of the few teachers that I have had that has never made me feel dumb for having to ask the same question multiple times in a row. He is by far one of my favorite professors I have had, so don't be afraid to ask for help. Even if the class gets hard, just stick with it, you will be fine :)"
"Instead of trying to answer as many problems as you can before an exam, try to solve a handful in detail. Also, try to get as many points as possible! Even the single points, they rank up at the end!"
"Do the reading and work all practice problems over and over till it makes sense."
"Welcome to Physics 205A. If you want to have success in this class here is what you need to do. I'll break it down in three steps. If you can do these three things consistently, you're sure to pass.
STEP 1: BE AN ACTIVE LEARNER which means show up! Showing up is a huge part of the process. Don't skip lecture, take good notes, take lab seriously. You'll be engaged and it will be easier to retain the information.
STEP 2: TAKE GOOD NOTES: Writing notes helps commit new info to memory. After class, go home and re-write your notes from lecture. Not only are you reinforcing what you learned, good notes are invaluable reference material for later quizzes and exams.
STEP 3: BE SMART ABOUT EXAM PREP. Go through the practice exam blog pages thoroughly. P-dog lays out the practice problems and techniques in good depth. If you are consistently answering the practice tests correctly YOU WILL BE FINE. Don't panic and stick to these three steps and you will have success in this class."
"Definitely do all of the homework, reading assignments, labs and lab reports, and in class worksheets. Those are great buffer points that help out and if you max them out then you don't have to do anymore when it's the end of the semester and you are burnt out."
"Do all the homework and reading assignments. Study for the quiz and test. Do all the lab work."
"You need to keep up with the assignments and be ready for for a barrage of testing the last month before the the final."
"I would say, go to class, do the homework and examples. That’s what will get you through the class and help you to understand the topics."
"It's a pretty straightforward class. Just make sure to do the labs, the homework, and study the material. You should be more than fine if you do those things. Stay focused as well. Don't get distracted with other things like I did."
"Do the homework and reading assignments because they are easy points that should not be missed. Even if you don't have time to read the homework just state that you didn't get to it and just for submitting a response you will still get points. These points can easily determines your grade if you are borderline. Write the dates when things are due and make sure to also write the time because '12:00 AM' versus '12:00' PM will cost you points, especially for pre-labs and post labs. You won't be able to submit work online once the survey is timed out, and there go your easy points. If you tend to forget to do post-labs it is a good idea to just complete your post-lab as soon as you finish lab.
Most labs won't take up all the lab time, so staying in lab to complete this is a good idea. Turning your lab report early will get you an extra-credit point, so that can work as motivation to just get it done.
Not all the quizzes are summed up for your grade, there will be some that are dropped, so don't be discouraged if you aren't doing so well, there is still a chance to succeed. Midterms are comprehensive, and if you do well in all of the above (homework, reading assignments, post-labs, and pre-labs), then you might not have to take the final.
Show up to class! Every lecture you are required to do groupwork and this is part of your grade. Practice quizzes are given in the lecture previous to the day on which the quiz is scheduled, so if you do well on this you will know right away that you are going to do decently on the quiz. If not, then you better get to studying because chances are you will be lost. Know what your symbols mean it will be easier to do. Plug-and-chug if you have no clue on how to go about the problem. Being able to read a prompt and break down the information given will show you what SI units or symbols you will use, thus giving you a hint on what equation to use.
There is extra-credit after the quizzes by doing a group quiz, so even if you know you didn't study or feel that you will do horrible, show up anyways, take the quiz and do the extra credit. A maximum of 20 extra-credit points is applied to course grade. Don't give up, there are plenty of resources, some of which are the Tutoring Center, office hours, Khan Academy, and many more online resources.
This class is structured to help you succeed not to fail you. Any one can pretty much get a 'C' if they do the minimal work. If you do all of your homework, reading assignments, pre-labs, post-labs and get all your credit you've set yourself up to get a 'B' or and 'A.' Wish you all the best! P-dog is here to help you move on academically, he's on your side!"
"Focus ALL your attention in class. Memorize the concepts of what the instructor is trying to say in the class."
"Make sure you always finish the online assignments and show up to lab. Literally rack up as many points as you can because you'd be dumb not to. Take advantage of the generosity of points this class provides. Also always go over the practice problems before quizzes and exams."
"Make sure you stay caught up on the online readings. If you go into class without some knowledge of the material, it is harder to catch up. Try to max out your points in all of the categories you can, like the reading assignments, homework reports, labs, etc. This will give you room for error on the midterms/final."
"Don't miss the online homework and reading assignments! Don't procrastinate on anything really, staying on top of things helps keep your cool. Taking notes in lecture definitely helps but I really began to understand things when I took notes after/while reading the reading assignments. Even if you don't understand it, try to at least look over all the material before class."
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