dvdngu

This is a VERY good way to study. When I was an undergrad, I rarely ever studied. Well, in a traditional sense. I would essentially re teach my friends the material presented in the class. Though my lesson would be shaky at first, I would eventually be able to convey the concepts clearly and concisely. In my experience, the professors have been teaching the same material for years and years, so things that are apparent to them might not be so obvious to students. So, in being able to simplify the lessons in MY OWN words and teach it to other students, I can ensure that I fully understand a concept. Only when I couldn't clearly explain something in the class would I go back and review my notes/book until i would be able to.

This is a VERY good way to study. When I was an undergrad, I rarely ever studied. Well, in a traditional sense. I would essentially re teach my friends the material presented in the class. Though my lesson would be shaky at first, I would eventually be able to convey the concepts clearly and concisely. In my experience, the professors have been teaching the same material for years and years, so things that are apparent to them might not be so obvious to students. So, in being able to simplify the lessons in MY OWN words and teach it to other students, I can ensure that I fully understand a concept. Only when I couldn't clearly explain something in the class would I go back and review my notes/book until i would be able to.

I am in my first quarter of graduate school in engineering. I was expecting a change of pace in graduate classes compared to my undergraduate classes, but nonetheless, I am definitely struggling to grasp the material that is presented. Sometimes, when I am in class thinking "what the hell is the professor trying to say," I look around and see a handful of students nodding as though every single word is prior knowledge to them. On top of that, these students never take ANY notes in class, while I am frantically writing down the nonsense uttered by the professors for me to decipher later on. This makes me feel SO much more inadequate in my abilities. I feel as though I am so far behind all of the other students playing a desperate game of "catch up."
Secondly, I've heard of averages on midterms and finals as low as 15-20%. Are these things normal? I would be in a state of complete panic if I was only able to answer 15% of a test. Averages in my undergrad classes seldom dropped below 55% (which I already thought was very low). What are your experiences?

Will be attending UCLA this fall for Aerospace Engineering! Time to look at housing @.@