School

[lydy]

So I've finished my first week of school and am embarking on my second. It's rather surreal. At least some of it is like riding a bicycle, it comes back even though I haven't been in a formal class room for more than ten years and the last time I was a serious student it was 1980.

What isn't coming as easily is the rote memorization. My psychology and biology texts are full of three of this and a four of that and seventeen of the other. I don't know how the tests will be structured, so I don't know how thoroughly I need to memorize the various lists. And there really are too many of them, I genuinely think that I cannot memorize all of them. All I can hope for are multiple choice tests. If I'm asked to list the seven characteristics of life, cold, gods know which ones I'll remember. Generally, I remember five, although not the same five from moment to moment. It doesn't help that at least one of the characteristics, that of having an evolutionary history, seems to me to be completely arbitrary. There was a first living molecule somewhere, and it didn't have an evolutionary history, so that by definition makes it not alive, and that cascades...

I am not happy with my psychology professor at the moment, either. Today in class he said that because people have free will, they don't have instincts, but that animals do have instincts. People have reflexes. Since he didn't define free will, and his definition of instincts and reflexes were remarkably similar, I don't think he carried his point at all. But I was a good student and didn't argue.

Unsurprisingly, the class I like and am doing best in is Intro Algebra. I did a bunch of prep work, trying to test out of this class. I didn't manage to test out, but most of the information is dead familiar. One of the classes I took ten years ago was Algebra, and I did very well in it. Besides, math isn't based on rote memorization, really. Except for the arithmetic part of it. The rest of it builds up logically, at least, at this level. Somewhere around calculus I'm given to understand it starts doing the wacky, but early algebra it's as well behaved as ever can be. I like my math teacher well enough, as well, so that works out.

So that's the big thing in my life and will continue to be so unless I screw up real bad. I guess I should go do some homework, now.

Comments

[lydy.livejournal.com]

I acknowledge the need for flashcards, but I must also profess a profound hatred of them.

The Bio book has an online component which actually has little electronic flash cards, which is helpful.

I was never much on this rote memorization thing. I can't remember any of the myriad of Bible verses I memorized as a child except "Jesus wept" and the only catechism question I remember the answer to is "What is sin?" (None of your smart remarks, it was my parents' obsession, not mine, that caused that one to be drilled into my head.) (Oh, and the answer to that from the Children's Westminister Catechism of Faith is, "Any want of conformity unto or transgression of the Law of God.)

[jiawen]

There are lots of tricks to make flashcards more effective: make them in colors (and, say, color-code Brenner's 13 Signs Someone Isn't Conscious all in orange); draw pictures on them; go through them in small groups (usually 6-8 works best for me) and then draw out the tough ones from each group and do the tough ones in small groups.

Or if flashcards don't work at all for you, try drawing pictures. Or just copying out lists longhand. Different methods work for different people.

Another favorite of mine is study groups. Get together with a half-dozen classmates and go over the material. If you learn by saying and hearing things repeated, this is a great way to do it. Plus, it's one of the best ways of meeting cool people that exists.

Sorry if you already knew all of that...

By the way, stop by my office sometime! It's H.4120. I'm there Monday and Thursday afternoons.