Develop Insight.docx

Develop Insight 1.

If you have a hard time understanding the material as the professor presents it, prep the concepts before class by reading the textbook.

2.

Ask questions when the professor loses you. Often their answer can knock you back on track to insightful understanding.

3.

Ask the professor or TA for clarifications immediately following lecture.

4.

Try to review your notes as soon as possible after class to cement insights while the information is still fresh in your brain.

5.

Always go to office hours. But before you show up, spend time with the troublesome concepts trying to build insight. Figure out exactly where you get stuck. This will help the TA or professor give you targeted, useful advice. Never just say: I don’t get it.”

6.

Keep a running list of every concept taught so far in the semester. Mark the ones that you have an insight for and the ones you don’t understand. It helps to see clearly exactly what insights you still need. The Practice Factor 7. Once you’ve developed an insight for every concept in a technical course, the final step before a test is to do a small number of practice problems for each to practice applying it. If you skip the insight-generating phase, no amount of practice problems will help you side-step exam disaster