Please describe how you use the help sessions to study and prepare for exams and comment on what in particular makes them valuable to you. Also give us advice on how to make them even more helpful to you.

1. My primary study tool is Phil's review session. His ability to go step by step through problems is my biggest asset. Maybe it's just the way he teaches it but it makes much more sense when Phil is the teacher.

2. I learn a lot during the study session right before the exam, but I don't really get time to "absorb" all the newly learned material since we take the test right after the study session. It might be good for the people with the short term memory to help them do well on the exam. Perhaps a study session a couple of hours, or days before the exam? And allow the students to have some time to study the materials from the study session.

3. I use them to clarify questions that I had while studying the material.

4. I use them to clear up questions I may have about topics before exams. I have no helpful advice.

5. Phil cuts out all the fluff and focuses on the concepts and problems that will actually be covered on the exam. I can concentrate on a lecture for 30 minutes during the help session, but I cannot concentrate in class knowing I'll be sitting for 2 hours when I know it could be easily condensed to 30 or 40 minutes. Also, Phil uses the board to work problems and discuss concepts. PowerPoints are NOT the best way to teach, and using the actual white board is so much more helpful than using the one on the computer.

6. I write down notes.

7. It would be really helpful to have answers made available to students with the blog so that students can spend more time asking about the concepts and less time finding the answer to a specific problem. Obviously, working out questions from the blog during the help session is beneficial but it can also serve to take up time before the exam.

8. I use the help sessions to learn what I don't understand. Things I have questions about I can ask and it helps a lot.

9. The study sessions clarify everything

10. The help sessions were very useful and would recommend you doing these from now on.

11. The most helpful parts of the help sessions are when individual problems are covered step by step and each concept is explained as it is used in the problem.

12. Phil does a great job reviewing. I wish we had a little longer time to review, but overall the review is somewhat helpful.

13. The study sessions are helpful because Phil writes the actual exams himself so he can tell students actually what kind of problems to look for on the exam. The only thing that might make the study sessions more valuable would be to make the study sessions longer.

14. For the exams, I study at Einstein until the review session, that way I pretty much already know what I'm dealing with by review.

15. It is helpful to just have the help sessions to be able to ask questions.

16. The help sessions help breakdown exactly what is it we need to know for the exam. There is a lot of information we are given and the help sessions point out the important stuff. They also help clearing up things I don't completely understand.

17. I have nothing

18. For the exams, I would study the information and the questions on the blog. I used the help sessions to re-enforce the material in my mind.

19. The help sessions provide examples and let us see Phil actually work the problems out. It is easier to see the examples when they are written on the board instead of written on the computer because it is hard to read the writing with the pen that you use on the computer.
Definitely do more examples during class because the majority of students learn more by actually seeing examples worked out.

20. I only went to the help sessions because Phil is the only person who could teach me anything. I can't understand what Dr. Leon is saying.

21. It helps me that we get a chance to see examples worked out on the board. Also, I like that we have had a chance to learn the material earlier, and then we can ask questions on the material we didn’t understand.

22. The help sessions use examples of how the problems will be worded and how to work problem. Also i learned what key words I need to look for to know how to work the problem.

23. I like the help sessions just as they are. They help to fine tune my focus before every exam and emphasize the important concepts.

24. The help sessions are helpful because they are straightforward and tell me exactly what I need to know. It simplifies statistics so I can better understand the concept. I think that the help sessions need to be a little longer and include more examples of the type of questions that might be on the exam

25. Class Blogs are prefect.

26. I study the chapters we are supposed to go over...then use the help sessions to key in on specific things to pay attention to...whenever Phil says something I write it down and repeat it in my head so that I can be sure to know it on the exam.

27. I come to Einstein and talk to Phil about the problems on the blog and how important they are to what we are learning and also ask him any questions I need to know in order to understand the applications. I do not think anything needs to be changed. The sessions are great the way they are.

28. I basically listen to the questions other people have and then to the explanation that the TA gives to give me a review of the problems for the following exam. The TA pretty much goes over what is going to be on the exam which is really helpful.

29. I just use the class blog and CourseCompass to study and understand the terms

30. Actually seeing a person work out the problem is a great part of the help session.

31. The help sessions are very useful with answering questions I wasn't sure about. I wish the help sessions would be longer before class or have time to ask the professor rather than the TA.

32. The help sessions help reinforce what I have already learned. They are pretty helpful as it is, maybe you could add like 10 more minutes to them because they always seem really rushed.

33. The help sessions help us understand what is important from all the stuff we have learned the past week.

34. The help session before the exam on Tuesday gives me a good review before the exam. It helps the information to be fresh in my head. When I work problems right before an exam I do better. I like how we work through problems on the board and have the equations there to look at which makes it easier to pick out which one you should use for each problem or situation.

35. The help sessions were extremely helpful. Working out actual problems showed me step by step how to complete them and clarified everything for me. The only suggestion I would have to make them more helpful would be to make them longer.

36. The help sessions are helpful because many times the book will not fully explain how to do something or what something means. You are both helpful with this.

37. The review before the tests are very valuable

38. The help sessions have been great. I do the homework and look at the blog by myself before I go to them. Then, if I am still unclear about anything I can ask Dr. Leon or Phil for help.

39. Listen as closely as possible.

40. Good time to ask questions and hear from classmates.
Keep them on all the time

41. Good time to ask questions and hear from classmates.
Keep them on all the time.

42. Basically, it's just the fact that you get to hear everything again one more time, right before the exam. That really kind of shores everything up and helps with memory. But if you are not prepared before hand-you will not get much out of it. If you expect it to take the place of being prepared, you will be sorely surprised. It all seems to leave the brain as soon as the exam is passed out--if you're not prepared before hand and see it as a review.

43. I like to study the night before and several hours before the exam. By going to the help session it refreshes what i have been reviewing in greater detail.

44. The help session before our exams is the only quality teaching that I received.

45. The review sessions were straight to the point. The less unnecessary elaboration, the easier it is to learn the material.

46. I love the help sessions. Most of the time, I have a few problems with the homework. I bring my questions to the help sessions, and they are answered appropriately. The before-test help session is helpful in that it refreshes my mind right before a test. The only thing I would suggest is to have the before test review a few hours before the exam.

47. It is very helpful to me to go over specific examples during the lecture. That way I can write the exact steps down in my notes and look back at the steps for homework problems until I memorize what to do. CourseCompass was very helpful to me at the beginning of this course, but it does not help me as much anymore. It is usually a little bit harder than what we are doing in the class or what is on the quizzes. Also, it often requires us to use online calculators that are confusing and I did not learn much from that, other than typing things in. We were not tested on some of the online calculation things, so I don't know if it was that valuable. The 30 minute study sessions are great, and I wish I had more classes that would do that.

48. The help sessions told you exactly what you needed to know for the exams. They took out all of the filler and concentrated, solely, on the examples and concepts that are fundamental to the course.

49. It basically laid out everything Dr. Leon had done it class in a thirty minute form. People did so well on the tests because Phil would go over almost everything that Dr. Leon had done in two classes.