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# Conquering Classes | ||
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One of the most important parts of taking on a technical major at CMU | ||
is proving that you've learned from your classes by earning goods grades. | ||
Of course, many people say that grades don't *really*, matter, but come on, | ||
a student with a 3.9 GPA is going to get a ton more job offers and eyes than | ||
someone with a 3.4 GPA with slightly better projects. Unless you go all-in | ||
on your extracurriculars, your GPA is going to carry a heavy weight. | ||
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Despite the pressure to get good grades, the good news is that you can | ||
usually get good grades if you put enough effort, and in a smart way. | ||
I know that sounds obvious, but the worst case is if a class is just too | ||
hard and requires talent. | ||
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Below, we illustrate some ways to do well in your classes, with tools to | ||
help you keep on track. | ||
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Also, we have put together a [guide for most of the classes in the ECE/CS department at CMU](https://github.com/mikinty/CMU-ECE-CS-Guide). | ||
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## Pre-studying a class | ||
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Have you thought to yourself *I'm so screwed for this class next sem*... | ||
Fortunately, you can study beforehand -- while this sounds kind of cheap, | ||
all you're doing is learning the material beforehand. No harm done to anyone. If you're curious, some people might seem like they know everything | ||
in a class, but in reality they just learned it before on their own or in | ||
another class. | ||
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How much you want to do before a class is up to you, but some strategies to consider: | ||
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- Skim over lecture slides | ||
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- Look over/do the homework | ||
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- Read the textbook | ||
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- Work on skills that will help you ace the class. E.g. if you have a class about physics and you know there will be a lot of integrals, it might be a good idea to brush up on integral calculus. | ||
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If you find yourself not able to do everything you wanted before the class starts, that's ok! You can still study ahead while you take the class as well. | ||
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## Grade Tracker | ||
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You often hear that classes shouldn't be about your grades, which is fine | ||
to live by, but if you want to realistically do well in a class and get the | ||
grade you want, you have to put effort in tracking your grade. | ||
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A grade tracker can look like the following: | ||
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| Item | Points | Total | Grade | Weight | Scale | LOSS | | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | ||
| HW1 | 71 | 80 | 89% | 0.05 | 0.0444 | | | ||
| HW2 | 79 | 80 | 99% | 0.05 | 0.0494 | | | ||
| HW3 | 79 | 80 | 99% | 0.05 | 0.0494 | | | ||
| HW4 | 57 | 80 | 72% | 0.05 | 0.0356 | **-0.014375**| | ||
| | | | | 0.2 | | | ||
| Lab 1 | 45 | 50 | 90% | 0.1 | 0.09 | | | ||
| Lab 2 | 49 | 50 | 98% | 0.1 | 0.098 | | | ||
| Lab 3 | 47 | 50 | 94% | 0.1 | 0.094 | | | ||
| | | | | 0.3 | | | ||
| Midterm| 87 | 100 | 87% | 0.2 | 0.174 | **-0.026**| | ||
|Final| | 100 | 87% | 0.3 | | | | ||
|Min Final A| 88.4 | | | | | | | ||
|Min Final B| 55.07 | | | | | | | ||
|Min Final C| 21.73 | | | | | | | ||
| **TOTAL** | | | | | 0.6348 | | | ||
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A spreadsheet like this is useful because you can use it to see what assignments are important, where you lost points, and how to make target goals for assignments or final exams. In the above spreadsheet, the targets for the final exam grades to earn a particular grade are very clear, and this can help you make a game plan for how you study this class. | ||
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For example, in the spreadsheet above you can see the **LOSS** column shows where I lost points on assignments, to remind myself what is important and where not to make mistakes again. I also only write losses for the bigger losses, so for example losing 2.6% of my grade on the midterm would remind me that exams are important for getting a good grade in the class, and also that doing poorly on a homework could cost me 1.5% of my grade. |