Self Teaching Strategies?

[nysegop]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

Does anyone have any good strategies for self-teaching. I'm trying to give myself a preliminary overview of more advanced college classes before I actually take them. I'm thinking mostly of Science and Math classes. I have some textbooks which I found on the internet. I don't know... maybe that would be a good place to start?

 

[Solomon]

Does anyone have any good strategies for self-teaching. I'm trying to give myself a preliminary overview of more advanced college classes before I actually take them. I'm thinking mostly of Science and Math classes. I have some textbooks which I found on the internet. I don't know... maybe that would be a good place to start?

Well, I've never tried to learn a class before the teacher but here is what i'd try to do:

Textbooks should be a good way to start. Searching for books such as "introduction to (insert class here)" can also help, depending on what course you are taking. It may not be as effective as the one below, but it should give you a pretty loose grasp on some of the things you're going to learn.

A more drastic, but rewarding idea would be to try to locate a course at the school you plan to attend. 9/10 you'll find the syllabus of the class online (as most schools are beginning to require a syllabus for every class). Usually the syllabus will have a plethora of books you have to read, helpful hints, and useful websites that you will use throughout the class.

JMO 👍

 

[HSUReddie]

Not 100% sure what classes you're trying to get a head start on, but for organic chemistry there are two small books called Organic Chemistry as a Second Language by Klein. They were a huge help to me in orgo and are actually pretty short little books. Obviously you need to know more than this for the class, but they are great for getting down the solid, basic concepts in my opinion.

 

[nysegop]

Not 100% sure what classes you're trying to get a head start on, but for organic chemistry there are two small books called Organic Chemistry as a Second Language by Klein. They were a huge help to me in orgo and are actually pretty short little books. Obviously you need to know more than this for the class, but they are great for getting down the solid, basic concepts in my opinion.

Ahh thanks, I'll check it out.

 

[x1240tony]

Try out saylor.org, it basically simulates a whole degree.

 

[nysegop]

Try out saylor.org, it basically simulates a whole degree.

That's helpful. Thanks 🙂

 

[survivordo]

You could check out http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm .


Survivor DO

 

[nysegop]

You could check out http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm .


Survivor DO

OCW is great!

 

[survivordo]

OCW is great!

Yeah, wish I had known about it earlier in life when I actually had time!

 

[callcar]

I think it depends on what you want to learn. If you want to learn Calculus, get a pre-calculus book. I would also recommend searching using the keyword "intro or pre". What specific courses were you thinking about studying?

 

[NEcorner]

Given that you'll be forced to learn a whole bunch of stuff (some of which will undoubtedly bore you), my advice would be to focus on those things you find really, really interesting. Easier to stay motivated that way.
Another option is to read a great magazine. I would recommend The Scientist: free subscription, great articles completely focused on medicine/molecular biology that are much more in depth than the Scientific American-type articles which don't always go into much depth.