Nathan Graves' Tips for Freshman:

The most important thing I could tell an incoming freshman at UMD would be to always go to class. A lot of people feel like they can skip classes, since there usually isn't attendance in big lecture halls. What I have found from the four or five tests I've taken so far, is that going to class and taking good notes is 90% of getting a good grade on an exam. What professors emphasize in class will give you a good idea of which parts of the book you should be focusing on. Even if a teacher supplies a print out of the notes before class, I would still highly recommend taking all of the notes by hand. Not only does this help you focus, but it aids in committing the material to memory. Then later, when you read the book, you can use the main points of the lecture as a guide. Also, what I've found helpful is taking my messy pages of notes and consolidating them onto a single page before a test. I make this page very clear, broken up into categories, and containing only useful information. I use abbreviations on this page, and during the test I can easily picture where on the page certain information was located, which helps me recall what was written. With this note page, a final skim through the book, and the knowledge of having been in class during demonstrations and activities, I'm ready for the exam. The efficiency and quality of my studying, as well as my final grade, are all helped by having gone to class.

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