ZOOLOGY 138 - VERTEBRATE ZOOLOGY
Some Suggestions on Howto Do Well on Midterm Exams
The following are some suggestions that will help you do yourbest in ZOO 138.
1. Attend lecture and take good notes. You may record mylectures if you wish. There is no substitute for attending all ofmy lectures and taking complete, clear notes. I do recommend thatyou purchase the lecture transcripts that are available fromKing's Copy Service in the University Union. You should also takethe time to read them carefully. I also recommend that you use a loose-leafnotebook so you can insert any handouts, including theIllustrated Notes, that I give you. Finally, it will be helpfulif you have either a set of colored pencils or pens, that you canuse to copy some of my colored diagrams. The colors I will useare red, blue, green, and white (black if there are"white-boards" in the lecture room).
2. You must invest a significant amount of time and energyinto memorizing the material I give you. Success on my tests willdepend on your ability to remember the details, as well as thegeneral idea. In most cases it is NOT ENOUGH to simply read andreread your lecture notes. You will have to use some technique totruly memorize the material. This might mean making flash cards,or, better yet, teaching machines that force you to write out thematerial. After my lecture on Modes of Reproduction, I will showyou an example of a "teaching machine", in case you arenot familiar with this method of memorization.
3. Be able to reproduce and label all graphs and diagrams thatI put on the board. In order to do this, you will have topractice making them in preparation for the tests. Note: I do NOTexpect you to be able to reproduce the illustrations included inthe Illustrated notes.
4. Memorize all new terms and definitions. Many multiplechoice questions require you to know the precise and completedefinition of a new term. It will be helpful to you in your studyof science if you learn the latin and greek roots used inscientific terminology. In writing your essay questions, be sureto define all new technical terms.
5. ESSAY QUESTIONS: I will always tell the class the possibleessay topics for the exams (if you remember to ask me during thelecture preceding the exam). Do not "bet" on one ofthese. You must be prepared to answer all of them. I am intentionallyunpredictable about what essay question I ask. If you are goingto use an abbreviation in your essay, be sure to define it first.These questions usually account for 25-30%, sometimes 40% of thepoints on a 100 point midterm. So be sure to leave enough time tocompletely answer it. In answering the essay question, be sureyou respond to all of the elements of the question, and do notspend a lot of time writing about something that isn't part ofthe answer. If you are uncertain about the question, ask me forclarification before you start writing.
6. FILL IN THE BLANK (FITB) QUESTIONS: About 25-30% of themidterm points are in the form of fill in the blank questionsbased on the classification and characteristics of thevertebrates. In order to answer these questions you must know allof the characteristics of the groups and you must know the higherlevels in the classification, as well as the scientific names ofthe taxa. You should practice writing out the classification.
7. MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS: These questions will be selectedto cover the material not included in the FITB and Essayquestions. Successfully answering these questions depends on adetailed understanding of the material. On the test you will betold to indicate the "most correct" answer. All of thestatements are either true or false. Therefore, none of thestatements can be "more true" than another. So what doI mean by this? In some cases more than one statement is true.When this is the case, one of the answers will indicate that twoor more statements are true. This would be the "most correctanswer". However, you should not assume that morethan one is correct simply because one of your choices sayssomething like "both a and b are true".