Homework for Chapters 5 and 6

Name:

________William Mayhue

1. Reflect on your approach to your classes. Do you operate on the principle

that you master the material presented in each class before the next class
comes? Or do you put off studying until a test is announced and then
cram for it? If you are in the second category, are you willing to change?
What do you need to do to make that change?
Because of the way my classes assign work based on the material
learned in each class, I am forced to master the material presented in
each class. Without mastering the material from each class, I would not
get a solid score on the assigned homework. I try to do my homework
sooner rather than later, because the procrastination typically causes
more mistakes and stresses me out. When stressed, I dont perform as
well. In order to avoid stress I typically get my stuff done as early as I can.
2. Do you spend some fraction of your study time on a regular basis with at
least one other student? Or do you spend virtually 100 percent of your
study time alone? If you dont study with other students, why not? Did the
ideas presented in this section persuade you of the value of group study
and collaborative learning? Are you willing to try it out? Make a
commitment to identify a study partner in one of your key classes and
schedule a two-hour study session with that person.
A fraction of my time is spent with other students who are in the same
courses that I am. Together, we can learn from each other and accomplish
more than we could alone. Unfortunately for me, working in a group
setting easily distracts me. The task at hand will get completed, but it will
take significantly longer than it would if I work alone. Because of this, I
spend 60% of my time alone, where I can work more efficiently. I have
previously spent two hours with a single study partner, but I still think that
working alone works better for me unless I am struggling to understand
the material. When the material gets hard to understand, and as
coursework increases in difficulty, I will try to study in a group more often.

3. Reflect on your recent actions. What are examples of actions you took
that were supportive of your goal of becoming an engineer (productive
actions)? What thoughts led you to take these actions (positive thoughts)?
What are examples of actions you took that worked against or interfered
with your goal of becoming an engineer (non-productive actions)? What
thoughts led you to take those actions (negative thoughts)?
My recent actions have been very supportive of my goal to
become an engineer. I have been focusing on my studies rather than
going out with friends and wasting time on playing games and things
like that. I am also making healthy lifestyle choices which keeps my
body and mind functioning as it best can. Thinking about my future
helps keep me on track when making these decisions. It is easy to
become distracted from goals, so I make sure that my decisions reflect
positively upon my goal. This week, I went to classmates dorm room
to study for a midterm. A poor decision I made was to allow myself to
be distracted by a game of Monopoly which took a big chunk of time
out of my day. This time should have been used to work on studying for
the midterm. This choice was led by a negative thought that I was
already well enough prepared for the midterm. The results of said
midterm are yet to be revealed, but I spent some time alone prior to
taking the test in order to recover the time lost while playing Monopoly.