How to Become a Straight-A Student by Cal Newport

Author:Cal Newport [Newport, Cal]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780767922715
Publisher: Crown/Archetype
Published: 2006-12-26T05:00:00+00:00

Using the Quiz-and-Recall Method for Technical Courses

The quiz-and-recall method is easily applied to technical courses. You already constructed your mega-problem sets; now you simply need to solve them. Start with the technical explanation questions—thinking about the general concepts first will make it easier to solve the specific sample problems that follow. As with nontechnical courses, try to provide an articulate answer for each problem, and if possible, give your explanation out loud, as if lecturing to a class. Otherwise, write out your answers clearly. Don’t skip any important details.

Once you’re done with the technical explanation questions, move on to the sample problems. Try to answer each. Again, don’t do this in your head. “I don’t just read the material,” explains Worasom, a straight-A student from Brown. “I write the important equations and concepts out by hand.” Your solutions don’t need to be as detailed as if this was a real assignment, but they should clearly demonstrate that you know what you’re doing. If you can’t explain exactly how you got from the question to the answer, then you don’t yet understand this problem. Be honest with yourself: If you’re just regurgitating memorized solutions, you aren’t prepared to handle new questions on a test.

As before, check mark the questions that give you trouble. Review the solutions for these questions. Take a break. Then repeat the process, except this time try to answer only the questions you marked on the previous pass. Follow this method until you finish a round with no checked problems. When this happens, you’re done.

Doris from Harvard explains a final caveat for technical course preparation: “If professors make exams from past years available, these are a terrific resource.” In this case, wait until after you finish your quiz-and-recall, and then try to complete the exam under timed test-taking conditions. Consider this a final check that you understand all of the needed concepts. If you have trouble with a few questions on this practice exam, review them carefully. If you have trouble with a lot of questions on this practice exam, then something went wrong with your previous review, and you need to go back through the material. Work through another round of question answering, and this time really make sure you understand each of the steps. If you still have trouble, then it’s time to seek out help from a classmate or a TA.

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