Math 251, Fall 2011
John Zweck
Study Plan Essay
The purpose of this assignment is for you to make a detailed and realistic plan for how you are going to improve your study skills to succeed in this course.
Write a short essay (about a page, handwritten is fine) that addresses
the following points. You are encouraged to read
the Study Tips and Advice sections of the syllabus
prior to writing your essay as well as the results of a
Study Habits Survey I conducted a few years ago.
- To reach your potential you will need to do more than simply
attempt the homework and put in a few extra hours before each exam.
Describe in one paragraph
what more you think you need to do in order to succeed in the course.
Be specific and realistic.
- Describe your current study habits and comment on their effectiveness.
- Discuss the improvements you will make to your current study habits
to enable you to succeed in the course, i.e.
to do the things you identified above.
In particular, discuss your plans both for keeping up with the
day-to-day work in the class and for preparing for the exams.
- Make both daily and weekly study-plan calendars.
- The daily calendar is a calendar for a typical week and is meant to help
you plan when you will study for each of your classes.
- The weekly calendar is a calendar with one entry for each week of the
semester. It will show the dates of all your exams/quizzes in all your
courses as well as due dates of large projects. It is meant to help
you work out how and when you are going to set aside time to study
for each of your midterm and final exams. I recommend to prepare
for each midterm exam at least a week ahead and for finals starting three
weeks ahead!
Although it will not count towards your final homework grade,
if you do not (eventually) turn it in to me, NONE of your homework
will be counted towards your final grade.
(Homework assignments of all students will however be graded and returned.)
I reserve the right to ask students to revise their statement before
I note in my gradebook that you have completed the assignment.
Due Date: Tuesday Sept. 6th at start of class