1) Keep up with your reading.  The pages I've assigned in your textbook are an important supplement to the lecture.  They expand and reinforce the material I plan to cover verbally.  I know it may be tough going in places, but if you've done your reading before coming to class, you'll be able to ask questions on the most difficult material right when it's most relevant.

2) Study actively.  OK, the subject matter is dry in spots.  So find some sort of trick to keep yourself actively involved.  Use a highlighter pen, develop an outline of the chapter, list key principles or questions as they come to you...anything to keep yourself from dozing off.  If you've got internet access handy, go to the course web site and check any tutorial corresponding to material with a marginal icon as you read it.

3) Keep up with your problem solving.  Evolution is quantitative analysis.  Please solve, or attempt to solve, all the homework problems before each help session.  The internet tutorials end with multiple-choice questions to test your comprehension.  If you come to the help session two nights before the test unprepared, and watch me solve the problems for your classmates, and figure you can do that yourself when the time comes, you're in for a rude awakening. 

4) Participate in class.  Don't miss lectures!  The material we discuss in class is intended to complement your text, not repeat it.  If you don't understand, ask me a question.   Are you afraid of looking dumb in front of your classmates?  Nonsense!  Your classmates will thank you for requesting clarification, or at least, slowing me down.  And I'd much rather explain something once to the group of you than 35 separate times in my office.

5) Review the material after class.  A good rule of thumb is to spend two hours in study outside of the classroom for each hour spent in the classroom.

6)  Feel free to study with others.  Many students find it helpful to talk about the material with classmates, form study groups, quiz and be quizzed.  But too much company can be distracting!  Sometimes it's best to find a quiet place.  And for heaven sake, do not collaborate on graded homework problem sets!

7) Extra help is available, if you need it:

• You're visiting the Evolution 350 Web site right now, which is a good start...try out some of the helpful links.

• The Textbook website has six different "Virtual Experiments" available for download to your PC, demonstrating various aspects of the mathematics of evolution.  Give it a shot!

• The library has an entire shelf of evolution and population textbooks, some with practice problems at the end of each chapter.  Look around QH 455.

• Check out the services of the Center For Student Learning, on the first floor of the Addlestone Library.  There are regular study skills seminars scheduled throughout the semester, plus individual assistance by appointment.

• Clemson University hosts a superb site called College Survival Skills.  You can take quizzes that test your ability to take quizzes!  Read "ten things you should never do or say to your instructor."
  

• Of course, I'm happy to see you during office hours.  Any other time is usually fine too, put please make an appointment.

... Return to Evolution 350 page