What is the best way to study for the exams?
A. Many students have difficulties with stats and methods because they do not have the proper study skills. You cannot hope to read and retain an entire chapter’s worth of material in one sitting. Trying to “cram” the weekend before the exam, which is often a successful strategy in many courses, is a recipe for disaster in statistics. Your best procedure is to spend a small amount of time on the material every day. Spend at least 20 minutes a day reading and doing the assignments. Do not attempt to comprehend a whole chapter of the text in one sitting. Go over the entire chapter initially to get the overview. Then, read each chapter section by section and focus on the material in those sections. Finally, go over the chapter once more to again see how everything fits together. If you find you have problems understanding something after having done the above and attending classes, then see your instructor or your TA. Often, a two minute discussion will clear up the difficulty.
