<p>Right now I am about a month into the school year and I'm already messing up in a class. I have a 4 unit statistics class that unfortunately, right now I'm getting a "D+" in. I do study for the class. On Monday I was studying the material for about 3-4 hours. Yesterday I studied from 7pm to 130am, and today from 5pm to 8pm. Am I not studying enough? I write down notes from the eBook that we are subscribed to, I ask the professor on the forums but honestly he's no help, he hardly answers. I search online for helpful tips and guides to certain problems, but I feel like it's not enough.</p>
<p>I am going to start going to tutoring but I'd have to see what their hours are. I work from 11-3 Monday and 11-5 Friday, plus class Mondays/Wednesdays from 8-1045. I've looked at the schedule for statistics tutoring but I can only go 3/5 days. Is that enough? Also I should note that I'm taking 9 additional units, only because I have to stay in the dorms and the minimum amount is 12 units.</p>
<p>I don't want to flunk out in my 1st semester (or any semester) of a 4-year university. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>It is essential for you to PRACTICE problems. Go through the problems in the book, do them, and see if you get the right answers. Sometimes sites such as chegg are helpful because they offer solutions for a certain book if you buy a subscription. Find a way to review your answers and understand what went wrong/why you got it right. Don’t just mindlessly plug and chug, even though basic statistics can be gotten through that way. It’s much better if you understand what you’re doing.</p>
<p>Don’t just read the book and makes notes. That is not the right away to study, that should be a minor part of your studies unless you’re doing an upper-divison math course. </p>
<p>Tutoring is a good way to go, but it should not be this hard to grasp. </p>
<p>Most important take away: Do all the problems you can. See what procedures/techniques they use in certain types of problems, but you have to understand when it is appropriate to use them. You also need to understand really what’s going on. Not just here is a formula, use it for this. Understand what you’re doing. You’ll be a much better problem solver. You should be getting a better grade with the amount you’re studying. Mindlessly taking notes on the material is not helpful in learning if you’re not understanding every thing it is saying.</p>
<p>Definitely try to seek o it help from the professor, TAs, or tutors. It may not be the amount of time you’re studying, but how you’re studying or what you’re focusing on. That being said, for some people it just takes more time to really get it. Don’t focus so much on the hours, but just keep at it until you’ve learned the material. What is causing you to get a D+? Did you miss homework assignments, do poorly on a test, etc? Have you looked at why you lost points or go over the exam with the professor so you can improve your studying for next time?</p>
<p>Going to tutoring 3/5 days is definitely better than going 0 days. You can also consider getting a personal tutor on your own (if you can afford to) or perhaps ask someone who has taken the class before to help you (perhaps a TA will be able to spend some extra time helping you).</p>
<p>Identifying why you’re doing poorly may help you to figure out how to improve. Have you struggled in math before? It’s possible that you may be missing some sort of prerequisite knowledge. It might also just be the subject. Statistics wasn’t very intuitive to me, and I didn’t really like the subject. So you’re definitely not alone, but trying to get some help is definitely the first step.</p>
<p>Thank you both for the advice. I’ve used Chegg and it’s helped me with some problems. Since we use an eBook there aren’t a lot of problems to practice if that makes sense at all. I’ve tried to get help from the professor but he hardly answers the forum posts and he says don’t email him. I did struggle with math before but I did fairly well in College Algebra and Intermediate Algebra… I will definitely try Khan Academy and regular tutoring. Thanks guys!</p>