How to Succeed in this Course

1. Always read the textbook chapter.

2. Don't read passively, read to understand something not just to 'get through' something.

3. Supplement class notes with your own notes from your reading.

4. Do all assignments, and turn them in on time.

5. Each time you have to look something up to answer a question from an assignment, put a mark in your notes where it appears. When you study your notes it will have marks beside important ideas.

6. Pay attention in class, anticipate where the lecture is heading.

7. Never 'guess' on assignment questions. Always look up the correct answer (you have the time). Anything but a near perfect 'Assignments' grade reflects a lack of effort on the student's part.

8. Never let someone else do your lab for you, in other words, dig into the labs and learn all you can from them. Make sure you understand how it relates to the concepts we are studying.

9. Study hard two nights before the test, the night before the test simply review and get a good night's sleep.

10. Look up the topics on the internet. Look for pictures that may illustrate the concepts better.

11. Read the textbook chapter again, and remember, reading is hard work. Just because you sit there and don't move doesn't mean reading is passive. If you get up from reading for an hour and feel no particular fatigue then you probably did not labor over the material sufficiently.

Recipe for Failure

1. Miss class. Missing a class here or there is to be expected, but a missed class handicaps you.

2. Copy assignments or skip them altogether. Copying assignments can often help you improve your 'Assignments' average, but it will kill your 'Test' average. Low test scores and high assignments scores are a red flag for this.

3. Goof off in lab situations. Labs are by nature, somewhat unstructured activities, along with an opportunity to learn comes an opportunity to lose focus.

4. Come to class but come unprepared.

5. Come to class but find every possible excuse to leave and wander around.

6. Do homework from other classes in Biology.

7. Daydream during lecture. Lecture is an outdated teaching stategy administered now only by lazy unimaginative teachers. If your teacher can't hold your interest its their fault. Relax though, very few colleges still use the lecture format to convey information - they've gone mostly to knowledge in pill form. High schools are behind the times.

8. Be motivated simply by your aggravating parents. "This class won't help my future - I'm just here because my folks want me to go to college." Don't look now but your parents are letting go of the wheel and you have to start steering your own bicycle.

9. Resolve that whatever the reason is for low grades it must be out of your control and impossible to overcome. "I'm terrible at science," or "I study, but it doesn't help." These are statements that indicate a conclusion has been made by the student before any effort has been made. Only quitters truly know the outcome of an endeavor.

10. "I don't learn well by reading." If you think you are one of these people then have someone drop you off in the desert with only a manual: 'How to survive in the desert,' if you come back your problem will be solved, if you don't then you really were telling the truth.

11. Really though, college will require that you "learn by reading." Your high school teachers will try to accomodate your particular learning style but the world won't. Success in the future will require winning some road games (excelling in things other than your present strengths).