Tips for Success

This page of the course website will be updated throughout the semester with additional study materials as needed, as we progress through course content!

Study Tips

Probability is a very fun course (in my opinion), but can also be pretty challenging at times. The material builds quite heavily on calculus skills in the second half of the course (see: continuous random variables), and sometimes the probability rules we learn might feel a bit more like tricks than hard and fast rules. I myself found the “counting” component of probability very difficult to understand the first time I saw it! My goal this semester is to help you feel confident in tackling challenging problems in new ways.

With that, how do you study effectively for Math/Stat 354? There are of course different ways to do so, and you should experiment with what works best for you! Here are a few suggestions (you do not need to try them all at once):

  1. For ahead-of-class videos outside of class, take organized notes. One way to do this is with color-coding. First, write down everything from the video. Then:

  • With Color #1, highlight anything that is a definition, or something that you may need to memorize.

    • With the things you highlighted in Color #1, transfer them to a different set of notes that contains only definitions. This will be useful to use as “flashcards” when studying! You could even try literally making flashcards, or using an app like Quizlet to make virtual flashcards.

  • With Color #2, highlight anything that is a key theme or concept. These will be broader ideas that you should be able to connect to other ideas throughout the course.

    • With the things you highlighted in Color #2, consider making a concept map (see Suggestion #2 below).

  • With Color #3, highlight anything you didn’t quite understand. Maybe add some notes in the margins with what specifically you found confusing.

    • With the things you highlighted in Color #3, come to office hours and ask for clarification on those concepts, if your questions aren’t answered the following day in class during lecture / activity time!
  1. Make concept maps (and update them) after each topic we cover, containing broad themes and how they relate to one another. If you are able to connect ideas from the course, you will find it much easier to understand the material, as opposed to needing to memorize separate topics. An example of a simple concept map (from Stat 155) could be the following:

A concept map containing connections between R-squared, linear regression, and least squares.

  1. Rewrite your notes, when studying for quizzes. It may sound like a waste of time, but the process of actually physically writing out your notes again will help you remember them better. I would not suggest re-watching videos prior to quizzes: focus on your notes instead.

  2. Use the in-class activities as a form of notes! When completing the activities in groups, make sure that your worksheets are clear and understandable, so that “future you” can reference what you were thinking when reviewing for quizzes. Finish whatever parts of the activities you didn’t get to outside of class, and review the answer keys to make sure you got to the correct conclusion. Finally, come to office hours if you don’t yet understand the process we went through to find the correct answer!

  3. Ask your preceptors for additional study tips / advice. Ask them what they did when studying for quizzes in this course, or when working on problem sets. While the course hasn’t been 100% the same every semester, general study tips likely haven’t changed much!

Problem Sets

Problem sets in this course are intended to provide you with the practice you need in order for course concepts to firmly cement themselves in your brain. Below are some suggestions when working on problems, including some notes on problem set presentation.

  • Review before starting: Before sitting down to start your problem set, complete all activities (including extra practice problems), and review the last few weeks of course material. It might be helpful to also reference the super organized notes that you made (see: Study Tips above!)

  • Start early: … so that you have time to ask questions and absorb the material!

  • Be kind to yourself: You probably (ha! probability joke) won’t know the answer immediately. Working through careful steps and asking questions is all a part of the process.

  • Work together: Though your submissions need to be in your own words, I strongly encourage you to work with classmates on the problem sets! You could even consider organizing a study group.

  • Ask good questions: Stop by office hours! Productive struggle is good, unproductive struggle (i.e. staring blankly at a problem for hours) is not helpful.

    • An example of a great question: “I haven’t gotten very far on Problem A, but I tried going in this direction with the solution and ended up stuck… could you tell me if this is the correct pathway to the solution?”

    • An example of a horrid question: “I haven’t started Problem A. How do I start?” (If you haven’t gotten anywhere, that’s okay! I do, however, want to know what you’ve tried out so far so I can better understand where you’re getting stuck)

  • Be neat: Presentation of mathematical arguments is important, just as communication in words is important! If people don’t understand your argument / point, then your math won’t be particularly meaningful even if it’s correct. Work out your problem set questions on scratch paper, and transfer them to clean paper when you’ve finalized a problem and are ready to present it neatly!