Tim’s thoroughly UNOFFICIAL study guide.
DISCLAIMER: First
off: I am not a professor, nor do I ever claim to be. Your Professor will
always have the final say when it comes to grades, policies and so on.
Sometimes, life is unfair and mistakes will be made. This is all part of
everyone’s college career. With that said, what I do claim to be, is someone
who has spent the better part of five years going to Stony Brook and roughly
seven years of my life in college. College has always been a struggle for me
but I have adopted some habits and strategies along the way that I would like
to share with you. Some practical, some personal and some just outright silly.
Use this guide at your own risk! - Tim
First Day of Class:
A wise man once said that, “87% of
statistics are made up”. Although numbers can be twisted to prove most
anything, there is a definite correlation between where a student sits in a
class and their final grade. I’m not saying that you can’t get an “A” while
sitting in the back nor are you guaranteed to ace the class by sitting in the
front row. My point is this: Become engaged. Enjoy being a college student. Put
the phone away. Surf the net later. Trust me, the world will still be there
when you leave the classroom. For many, Art History classes are taken to fill
out a requirement. Why not enjoy a break from all of the numbers? Every class I
have ever taken has added something to my life. Sometimes you learn what to do
and sometimes what not to do. Your professors are experts in their field, and
in this age of “alternative facts”, sometimes it’s nice to just listen to
someone who actually knows what their talking about!
Take Notes, Do the
Readings:
I’ve always
envied students with great penmanship. If you’re one of those students who have
mastered the art, disregard anything I have to add. For those who struggle with
note-taking, like myself, here’s my advice: Stop taking notes. Well, not
really. Most everything that the instructor is talking about can probably be
found in the readings. I usually just write down a word of a phrase down in my
notes and then go home and look it up. Franticly scribbling down every word
causes me to become less engaged and more focused on trying to absorb the
meaning of the lecture at that moment. Most lectures are a presentation of
ideas that build on to themselves. Stay engaged with the lecture, as it might
start making more sense halfway into it.
Hate taking
notes during class, how about taking notes before class? Many times, I will
build myself a “cheat sheet” for the upcoming class. Most classes are
structured in that you will read something now and then discuss it later.
There’s no law saying that you can’t make yourself a sheet of talking points
that you believe may be covered in class. Notice terms that you are unfamiliar
with? Write them down and pre-define them for yourself. I famously do this for
myself in my foreign language classes. If I know that we are going to be
conjugating “être” and “avoir” in French class, you can bet that I’ll have a
list right next to me on my desk. No need for fumbling though the book to find
it. In the digital age, it’s so easy to do this now. No need to write
everything long-hand, all I do is find what I need online, cut and paste onto a
document and, viola, I’m ready to sound like an expert in class!
All of
these tricks mean nothing without doing the readings. I know what you’re
thinking… remember, I’m a student too. At some point, we all hate doing the
readings. This is where I need to mention that ugly word: Discipline. I define
discipline as doing something regularly, that you don’t want to. By doing the
readings, not only are you learning something but you are building positive
habits that will take you far in life. For me, the bad news: I am a terribly
slow reader. The good news: I know this. I know that I need to allot myself
time for the readings. Another great idea is to keep a dictionary next to you
and look up the words that you don’t know. Even better, nowadays, if you can
get the readings in electronic form, most readers have a built-in dictionary
where you can simply tap the word and it will define it for you. While you’re
doing the readings, this is a good time to add any of your questions on to your
study sheet for the following class. Still don’t get what they’re saying? Go
watch a video after your readings. YouTube is the second largest search engine
out there. There’s a good chance that someone made a video on the subject. Eat
a sandwich, watch a video.
Studying:
Learning is
like eating (boy, I talk a lot about food, huh?). It’s no wonder, words like
“cramming” and “binging” relate not only to food but to studying. Studying is
only part of the digestive process. Just as biological digestion starts with the
preparation and cooking of the food, then cutting up food into bite-sized
pieces, studying is only part of the digestive process.
Anyone who
says that they work better under pressure is either a liar or in denial. Don’t
fall for it. We all do better when we are given ample time to do something. In
lieu of consulting the latest research on cognitive behavior, it’s widely
believed that duration and repetition are key factors in learning.
My not-so-secret weapon has always
been flash cards. 20 minutes to an hour a day, once or twice a day. Nowadays, I
use an online service called “Quizlet”. Although Quizlet is free, I pay $15.00
a year for their pro service, which allows me to add images to my cards. This
is invaluable for an Art History student, as you may be becoming aware of. There
are many other flashcard services out there but I find this one to suit my
needs. In addition, for those with an iPad, may I suggest an app called, “Flashcards
by NKO”. Through the combination of these two services, I can make the cards in
Quizlet, then seamlessly import them to NKO. From there, you can both have the
cards automatically cycle through at a set interval and the program will read
out loud the information on the card. Sheer brilliance. As a photographer, I
find myself doing a lot of work on my computer, so I’ll simply set up my iPad
next to me and let it run for hours with it “talking” in the background. I have
no choice but to remember the information this way. It’s like having the radio
on in the background. Here’s the link to my account where you will find the
information for this class: https://quizlet.com/tim_cole1
My other tried-and-true method is
the dreaded “long-hand” technique. Yea, you guessed it, you write everything
out by hand. Well not everything. This goes in line with the note-taking
strategy. Bullet points are your friend. Sometimes, there’s no other way for me
to remember something then to just get down and dirty, roll my sleeves up and
write a bit of information 50 times till my brain says “uncle”.
Back to my flash cards. I know that
I am a visual learner, so I exploit this by doing strange things. Here’s an
example from when I was studying for my Master’s Art History comprehensive, in
which I needed to know over 200 slides for one test: Artist, title and the
exact dates of the artwork.
This is my slide for, “Nan Goldin, The Ballad of Sexual Dependency,
1981-86”.
When I visualized this slide, I not
only remembered the image but also the cartoon bubbles and the music notes of
the “ballad”. Silly? Yes. Effective? You bet ya.
Other times, I will use different
fonts for different years. For example, for this class, where we have culture
periods, I would do something like this:
Scipio
Moorhead
Phillis
Wheatley
Culture
Period: Colonial 1620-1775
Charles
Willson Peale
George
Washington
Culture
Period: Federal 1776-1820
Now when you visualize the information, you will have a
visual clue if you forget the culture period. I have also used this technique
with different colored type to represent different time periods or art
movements.
Of course, these are not the only strategies in my playbook.
I only show them to you to get your mind thinking in different ways. I have
written little songs, I hold up a number with my fingers when I read something
out loud…the list goes on. In the end, there really is only one answer to
learning something: Do What Works for You! Recognize your weaknesses, exploit
your strengths. Study often. Bite-sized pieces.
The Day of the Test:
So, we took our notes and made our
cards and sung our songs. All that is left, is to ace this test! We get to the
exam and…we blank. What happened?! Well, there are a few things that could add
to the already stressful task of test taking.
There are several test-wrecking
factors that can come into play. None of these ideas are my own but they
haven’t let me down yet:
Before you Leave Home:
·
Get
a good night’s rest.
·
Don’t
party the night before.
·
Leave
20 minutes early.
·
Rely
on your preparation.
·
Don’t
try and learn something before the test.
·
Eat
a light meal.
·
Drink
water.
·
Don’t
drink coffee. (Blasphemy!)
·
Stretch.
·
Skim
your notes. Once again, do not try to learn something, just lightly review.
·
Dress
comfortably, layers in winter. (You should always, anyways)
·
Grab
two pens and a pencil.
In the Classroom:
·
Find
a seat.
·
Place
both feet on the floor.
·
Make
a tight fist and then extend your fingers five times.
·
Place
your hands on the desk, relaxed with your palms down.
·
Close
your eyes.
·
Take
a few deep breaths so that your stomach moves.
·
Open
your eyes.
·
Ace
the test.
When in Doubt:
·
Never
leave an answer blank.
·
Guess.
What can it hurt?
·
Refocus
with some breathing.
·
Don’t
look around. It can be disheartening and academically dangerous.
·
Call
the proctor over if you need to get something from your bag.
·
Don’t
leave early.
·
When
done, read the whole test over, including the directions.
·
I
never change my first answer unless I really know it to be wrong.
Well, I didn’t think this was going to be this long but I
believe that most of it will be useful. I hope you all take something away from
this. I wish you all the best of luck in your college experience and look
forward to hearing great things about all of you in the future.
Best,
Tim
Cole
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