Because Canvas runs a weighted average of all the work submitted and graded, the letter grade of the total can be inflated by lab activities and homework assignments where most people get close to perfect scores. While lab activities and homework assignments do count to the final grade, the percentage decreases as more exams are administered. It is best to evaluate the situation solely based on the score of the midterm exam and not to include lab activities and homework assignments in consideration.
The following generally describes people receiving the letter grades:
Time budgeting is part of the logistics (along with food, sleep, etc.) of doing well at school. Each hour of in-lecture time should be accompanied by two hours of study activities outside of class. These two hours can be utilized for the following:
For example, if a typical class meets twice each week, each lecture lasts 80 minutes, then there are $80 \times 2 = 160$ minutes of in-lecture time. The suggested amount of time to spend out-of-lecture is, therefore $160 \times 2 = 320$ minutes per week. This is $5 \frac{1}{3}$ hours per week.
With a sufficient time budget, the next task is to allocate and manage the time. Due to the Monday-Wednesday or Tuesday-Thursday schedule, there are 4 days between lectures over the weekend. It is particularly important to allocate time during the weekend to study to “keep the momentum going.”
The duration of each study session can vary. For complex concepts, it is best to have a short session to read some material, and then let the subconscious digest it for a while. Then followed by a longer block of time to concentrate on the concepts and write notes to capture the understanding.
It can be helpful, especially to those with ADHD, to arrange a structure around studying. This structure can involve time, day of the week, location, and even fellow students.
Some groups of concepts are complex because of the vast interconnection between individual concepts. The short-term memory of a person is about 7 for familiar concepts, and as low as 4 for new and complex information. Short-term memory also only lasts about 20 seconds, and it can be easily interfered with and “lost.”
Consequently, taking notes and writing down the concepts being studied is critical to the understanding of a group of complex concepts.
Note-taking is not only helpful during a lecture to record an individual’s own understanding of the material, but it is also helpful while reading materials before or after a lecture. Even though some material is already written, the point of taking notes is at least two-folded. First, while writing notes, a learner can choose to present the material in his/her own way, and not organized as in the original reading material. Second, the notes taken can be more concise and therefore easier to read in the future.
Interestingly, the process of taking notes also helps to build more pathways in the neocortex between concepts. This improved familiarity is key to efficient problem-solving using one’s knowledge.
If a class is face-to-face in the schedule, it is meant to be taken in person. Even if the professor is not taking roll, it is important to attend classes. This continues to be the case even if the lectures are recorded.
There are a few reasons why attending classes is important. First and foremost, there is a chance to easily ask questions in real time. Asking questions is one of the most effective ways to learn. By the time a question is formulated, some studying is already done! Many times, by the time a question is formulated, the person who is asking the question also has the answer!
The second reason to attend a class in person is the structure. Some people can study effectively without external (imposed) structures because they are driven, motivated, and disciplined. The rest of us need some form of structure to keep us on task. Furthermore, the familiarity of a classroom and people in a class can also help improve performance in assessment.
Getting to a class late can be costly. Just being 15 minutes late means missing the first 15 minutes of a lecture. Complex subject matters have many interdependencies. As a result, missing 15 minutes can lead to the loss of connections to the earlier material, making the rest of the lecture considerably more difficult to understand.
In an 80-minute lecture, this means missing the first 15 minutes makes the other 65 minutes much more challenging. In terms of cost-benefit analysis, these 15 minutes at the beginning of the lecture are very costly.