Ok so I am taking MATH 1LS3 and CHEM 1A03. My question is for

Math if I do:

- Assignments from courseware
- Review class notes

Chem if I do:

-Mastering Chemistry Homework
-Tutorial questions
- The integrative/advanced problems from the text
-Review class notes

Am I good?

The question mainly pertains to reading the textbook content. So far I have understood everything so is it necessary to read all the releveant chapters of the book?

For those who got a 12 in either/both courses did you read the textbook?

Basically is there any testable material in the textbook that is not in the slides/assignments/tutorial questions

Its just that the books are huge and it would take forever to read all the relevant chapters.

Also, if I go and ask the professor this question during office hours do you think he/she will be able to provide a clear answer?

Thanks so much to anyone who can help!

Yup. You'll be good.

For chem, before tests/exams, go over the tutorials, and mastering chems, class notes and practice midterm/exam.

Math 1ls3 was a joke lol. Just do the courseware and review class notes and you'll be good.
but don't take my word for it. I can't say anything for this year though, since I heard they changed the things in the course.

Originally Posted by Galleria

Ok so I am taking MATH 1LS3 and CHEM 1A03. My question is for

Math if I do:

- Assignments from courseware
- Review class notes

Chem if I do:

-Mastering Chemistry Homework
-Tutorial questions
- The integrative/advanced problems from the text
-Review class notes

Am I good?

The question mainly pertains to reading the textbook content. So far I have understood everything so is it necessary to read all the releveant chapters of the book?

For those who got a 12 in either/both courses did you read the textbook?

(1) Basically is there any testable material in the textbook that is not in the slides/assignments/tutorial questions

Its just that the books are huge and it would take forever to read all the relevant chapters.

(2) Also, if I go and ask the professor this question during office hours do you think he/she will be able to provide a clear answer?

Thanks so much to anyone who can help!

(1) No.
(2) Yes.

Wait a second, are you really saying that I can 12 both courses without reading pages and pages of the textbook and just understanding the lecture concepts?

Oh my god I think I may just be the happiest person ever.

Anyone else who took the course please give some feedback too?

Originally Posted by Galleria

Wait a second, are you really saying that I can 12 both courses without reading pages and pages of the textbook and just understanding the lecture concepts?

Plenty of people 12 the course without reading the textbook. Plenty of people also read the textbook and don't 12 the course.
The number of questions you do or pages you read is completely irrelevent. Once you understand that, THEN you're "good".

I understand that but for example in high school biology there was so much info to memorize that the teacher couldn't put all of it on the slides. Therefore you would fail the course if you didn't read the textbook because 75% of the test material was in the textbook but not on the slides .

Anyone else have any feedback?

For Chemistry, I'd say do the recommended problems in the textbook. For Math, you're fine with what you said.

I think you could easily get a 12 in both courses just by doing what you mentioned. I didn't touch the LS3 textbook last year because it was pretty useless.

However, for chem, I would suggest reading the textbook because it obviously goes much more in depth than the slides and it is counted as testable material. Also, do the practice exams/midterms to get a feel of how the questions will be worded.

What you really should be doing is figuring out all this yourself as you go along. This is university, no one is going to tell you how to do things anymore - time to grow up and be accountable.

Originally Posted by britb

What you really should be doing is figuring out all this yourself as you go along. This is university, no one is going to tell you how to do things anymore - time to grow up and be accountable.

Well one of the ways to be responsible for your own learning is to be resourceful and ask people who took the same course right? Since they will know many of the answers to the questions you may have, they are an invaluable source of info.What's wrong with with that? Otherwise why should this site exist? If everyone is meant to figure out everything for themselves?

Originally Posted by Galleria

Well one of the ways to be responsible for your own learning is to be resourceful and ask people who took the same course right? Since they will know many of the answers to the questions you may have, they are an invaluable source of info.What's wrong with with that? Otherwise why should this site exist? If everyone is meant to figure out everything for themselves?

You missed the entire point.

There is no one way of doing things. Trying to get other people to tell you isn't being "resourceful" and it won't help you in the long run. Resourcefulness is being able to figure things out on your own using the resources at your disposal, without depending on other people to provide things/information for you. How other people learn and what helps them tells you absolutely nothing about how you learn and what would help you. Yes, everyone is meant to figure this stuff out...there are resources available (CSD or whatever it's called now) to help you figure out how you learn, and what techniques are best suited for your learning style. That can be a helpful part of figuring out how you can do well. Some things, other people can teach you...for other things, figuring it out yourself is the only way to truly learn.

This site doesn't exist to teach you what problems you should do and textbooks you should read. It also doesn't exist to replace google (there are COUNTLESS threads started that would have been completely unnecessary had the original poster used google). Even this thread that you started, there are tons like it (do a search) and there will probably be tons more. All of them have the same mix of people who used a textbook vs didn't, did practice problems vs didn't, etc. All of them are equally useless. If you are tested directly on information covered in the textbook and not in class, or if readings are mandatory, the prof will tell you...you would never need to consult an online forum not officially associated with the university in order to gain information necessary to succeed in class.

You don't even need to buy the math 1ls3 textbook - i didn't and was perfectly fine. just go to lectures and do the courseware assignments and you'll get your 12

for chem, i read the textbook for things i missed or didn't understand in class which helped, and the textbook questions were alot more helpful than tutorial questions because they were more similar to test questions - do the old tests as well for practice

Originally Posted by nerual

You missed the entire point.

There is no one way of doing things. Trying to get other people to tell you isn't being "resourceful" and it won't help you in the long run. Resourcefulness is being able to figure things out on your own using the resources at your disposal, without depending on other people to provide things/information for you. How other people learn and what helps them tells you absolutely nothing about how you learn and what would help you. Yes, everyone is meant to figure this stuff out...there are resources available (CSD or whatever it's called now) to help you figure out how you learn, and what techniques are best suited for your learning style. That can be a helpful part of figuring out how you can do well. Some things, other people can teach you...for other things, figuring it out yourself is the only way to truly learn.

This site doesn't exist to teach you what problems you should do and textbooks you should read. It also doesn't exist to replace google (there are COUNTLESS threads started that would have been completely unnecessary had the original poster used google). Even this thread that you started, there are tons like it (do a search) and there will probably be tons more. All of them have the same mix of people who used a textbook vs didn't, did practice problems vs didn't, etc. All of them are equally useless. If you are tested directly on information covered in the textbook and not in class, or if readings are mandatory, the prof will tell you...you would never need to consult an online forum not officially associated with the university in order to gain information necessary to succeed in class.

Exactly. Said it much better than I did.

OF COURSE there might be questions on your tests that do not appear in your lecture slides / textbook / tutorial questions! There also might NOT be questions that do not appear in your lecture slides / textbook / tutorial questions!

A good test is one which forces you to take the concepts learned in class and apply them to situations you have never seen before. YES, you should read the relevant chapters in the book... otherwise they would not be 'relevant'. YES, you should look over lecture slides... otherwise the Professor would not take the time to make them.

ANY material pertaining to what you learned in the class is testable. Whatever the Professor outlines in the course outline as 'important' in the textbook is fair game for the test regardless of whether it is on a slide or not. It is also fair game if you do not encounter it on a tutorial. Unless the Prof explicitly states that the material will NOT be used on a midterm or exam, you are responsible for knowing it.

There are variables you need to consider: there are different types of test questions, different types of Professors and different types of students.

1. Different types of questions will work differently on different people. For example, short answer vs. long answer vs. multiple choice. You will likely develop a preference for one test style over another. Chemistry and math are different in this respect: Chemistry is mostly multiple choice, and math is a mixture of multiple choice and short answer.

2. Some Professors take information directly from the slides, others take information from the textbook and others take information OUTSIDE of what you saw in class or in the textbook and expect you to APPLY what you learned in class to what you see in the test.

3. Different types of people react differently in testing situations. Some people become very anxious and stress out - so it is difficult for them to think things out properly. Other people blank if they haven't seen that exact type of question before. There are others who are able to study the night before the test and do fine, and yet others who study DAYS in advance and still blank during the test.

Basically, there is no answer to your question as to whether you are 'good' since there are too many variables you have no control over. Your job in University is to learn as you go - that is the only way that you are going to grow. There are some courses that don't even HAVE a textbook as a helpful resource, so take advantage of what you have right now.

Originally Posted by Galleria

Well one of the ways to be responsible for your own learning is to be resourceful and ask people who took the same course right? Since they will know many of the answers to the questions you may have, they are an invaluable source of info.What's wrong with with that? Otherwise why should this site exist? If everyone is meant to figure out everything for themselves?

Its the difference between copying the answers off someone's test and learning to do the problems by yourself in tutorial.

Read what neural said.