I thoroughly understand lecture content, however, i have not done the readings for a mid-term (tuesday).

I asked the prof what my standing is (understand lecture content w/o readings), he says... i am in trouble. is he just trying to scare me, or?

Btw, the class is Geo 1HB3

Dr. Mercier (your professor), tests compose mostly of content straight from lectures. I will warn you (as your TA's should have been doing by now), that Mercier will expect WORD FOR WORD answers, as he gave in lectures.

If he asks for a definition, you damned-well better give it the exact way he said in lecture, or you will only get half-marks.

That being said, the textbook is a very valuable resource. It, normally, is used to re-inforce content taught in lectures. In addition, this course specifically will have some questions which were never even referenced to in the lectures. I would say the break up is about 80-20 in favour of purely lecture questions vs. textbook. This can obviously vary though.

tl;dr: If you are confident you can get 100% on the lecture part (which, I guarantee you, you will miss at least one), you can still do just fine. As an extra note, there is normally at least one question with a political map of the world, asking you to identify countries. Knowing the America's, and major countries around the world (China, Australia, Russia, etc.) location will be a definite asset.

Good luck.

Originally Posted by CAHopeful

I thoroughly understand lecture content, however, i have not done the readings for a mid-term (tuesday).

I asked the prof what my standing is (understand lecture content w/o readings), he says... i am in trouble. is he just trying to scare me, or?

Btw, the class is Geo 1HB3

Professors rarely try to scare individuals. If he says your in trouble, than your in trouble. You still have time, grab an energy drink and start reading.

Originally Posted by dmzz

Dr. Mercier (your professor), tests compose mostly of content straight from lectures. I will warn you (as your TA's should have been doing by now), that Mercier will expect WORD FOR WORD answers, as he gave in lectures.

If he asks for a definition, you damned-well better give it the exact way he said in lecture, or you will only get half-marks.

That being said, the textbook is a very valuable resource. It, normally, is used to re-inforce content taught in lectures. In addition, this course specifically will have some questions which were never even referenced to in the lectures. I would say the break up is about 80-20 in favour of purely lecture questions vs. textbook. This can obviously vary though.

tl;dr: If you are confident you can get 100% on the lecture part (which, I guarantee you, you will miss at least one), you can still do just fine. As an extra note, there is normally at least one question with a political map of the world, asking you to identify countries. Knowing the America's, and major countries around the world (China, Australia, Russia, etc.) location will be a definite asset.

Good luck.

thanks, brah. he said we won't have a map. alright, going to start studying tomorrow, maybe tonight.

From what I remember when I took 1HB3 the test was really easy. He even told us what was on the midterm. I think it was like 15-20 definitions but 5 or so were really on the midterm and other things. In terms of reading the textbook I never really bothered mostly just skimmed and still did pretty well.

geog 1hb3... i took it last term and the test literally took me 10 minutes to finish. just study your notes and you should be fine.

Last year I took 1HB3 and i did fine without studying and vaguely paying attention in lecture. Good Luck!

Took it last year as well - for both the mid term and the exam all I used were my lecture notes, and I got an amazing mark.
I think he said that only one question was based of the readings, so you should be fine.