I was saving this post until after midterms, but my math modeling class had the latest midterm I have ever heard of this week. Sometimes I wish that I could treat all my classes the same, and set up a sort of regimen to study and do homework for a couple hours a week for each subject. But school has not worked like that since I left 8th grade.
I find that professors have drastically different styles of teaching. The best professors try to adapt to their students, and some of them will even get close to teaching towards the mean of the class. But for students like me who do not often lie in the average, we need to adapt too.
By reacting to a teaching style, I am able to keep up with a class and sort of picture what might be coming next. Like this month, I know my English Professor, Leblanc, will want to follow the guidelines from his syllabus only though we have a few classes left. We are scheduled to have five pop quizzes this semester, and with only three quizzes so far and two classes left… By knowing that he is the type of professor to stick to his syllabus, I will be able to get an edge on my grade and be sure to spend a little extra time on the reading to ace the pop quizzes.
But when I adapt it is not always about more work, it’s often the opposite. This year I started taking multivariable calculus, and, not knowing what to expect, I developed the habit of pre-studying Khan Academy material. As it turns out, this was overkill, as Professor Morrow wanted to review the concepts we needed and simplify a lot of the extra math I had expected.
Anyways, I am happy to be through with mid terms, even though this is the last week of classes. Finals time! Overcaffeinated time!