- See me!
I encourage you to stop by my office during office hours and ask about anything you like. Don't be scared! I remember vividly what it's like not to know any of this stuff, and you probably can't ask a question that I haven't already asked myself at some point.
If my office hours don't fit into your schedule, sign up for an appointment on my office door (HLSB 263). There you will find a sheet that looks like this; simply put your name in the time slot you'd like to sign up for, and I'll be there.
If neither of those options work, send me an email. If I'm in my office, you'll get a reply right away. If I'm at home or it's the weekend, I try to check email at least once a day, so you should get a reply fairly promptly. I have never ignored a student's email... you will get a reply! (I have ignored a few inappropriate emails, but thankfully that is usually rare.)
- Use the course webpage.
If you're reading this page, you probably went through the course webpage. All the assignments, weekly sheets, and lecture notes are posted there for your reference. The weekly sheets are particularly useful, because they contain a list of textbook readings, practice problems (answers are in the textbook), and a checklist of what you should have gotten out of all your readings and practice problems.
- Be sure to spend at least three hours working on chemistry for each hour in lecture.
Yep, that's nine hours a week. Just how are you supposed to use all that time? I've put together a few suggestions on something I call The Scholarly Checklist. These are very practical suggestions on how to get the most out of your study time.
- Visit the Center for Student Success & Retention.
The Chemistry Department selects and employs chemistry majors as free tutors for the general chemistry and organic chemistry courses. They are available through the Center for Student Success & Retention on the fourth floor of the Harper Center. Please keep in mind (especially when asking about some of the problem sets) that the tutors aren't experts (yet) in general chemistry. They may not immediately know the answer to every question you have... that's what they pay us professors for. (And it's also why "See me" is at the top of this list. :)
The Center for Student Success & Retention website also has its own online study tips and links: www2.creighton.edu/cssr/thestudy/index.php
- Post a question on Blueline.
In the past, I have activated the Blueline site for this course. There you will find a "Discussion Forum" where you can ask questions of other folks in the class, internet "Forum" style. This hasn't been very popular in the past, so I've fallen out of the habit of activating it, but if you'd like to use it, please let me know and I'll turn it on! If you want to talk to me directly, send an email.
- Form a study group.
You can't go wrong there. One of the reasons for the checklists is so that you can have a list of material that you can use to quiz your study-mates. Turn the "I know..." statements you find there into questions and test each other... I'll wager that some of your questions will be harder than mine!
- Rewrite your notes.
When I was a student, I didn't really understand the lecture until I had taken the time to rewrite the lecture notes and explain the material to myself. The ultimate question I asked myself was this: Can I explain this to Mom? No fancy jargon about stoichiometry or limiting reagents; instead, could I explain this concept in everyday language? If not, I probably didn't understand the idea yet.
- Talk to the University Counselors.
Counseling Services has a division devoted to Academic Success Counseling. They offer advice related to issues like: understanding your own learning style, time management, note taking techniques, test taking strategies, test anxiety, and understanding professors' teaching styles, as well as using all the other academic resources on campus.
(I don't have any first-hand experience with Counseling Services, so this is not a personal endoresement of their advice or opinions, especially outside the area of academic success counseling. If you've worked with them, please let me know how it went!)
- Visit the Office of Disability Accommodations.
If you have a documented physical or learning disability, the Office of Disability Accommodations can make arrangements for help, including, for example: special testing arrangements, provision of educational materials in alternate media (e.g. text on tape or handouts in Braille), readers, scribes, note takers, and sign language interpreters. Also, Student Support Services has a number of support services available for students. (I bet you could have guessed that yourself.)
- Others...?
I'm sure there are other resources out there. If you know of one that has been particularly useful to you, please let me know. Otherwise, you might have a look around the University's Academic Success page, which summarizes and expands on some of the things I've mentioned here.
