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SUGGESTIONS on HOW to STUDY CHEMISTRY MARSHALL A. GOFF State Teachers' College, La Crosse. Wisconsin
ERHAPS more time is wasted in well-intentioned stndy effort than is used properly. When a person says to me, "I just couldn't get this lesson though I read it over several times," he has told very plainly that he does not know how to study. If memorizing and studying were synonymous terms, this course in general chemistry would he drudgery. Proper stndy methods will assure better progress in the conrse and save hours of time. The lazier we are, the more reason for acquiring a proper study technic. The following suggestions have grown out of years of studying and teaching chemistry and are given with the assurance that if followed this conrse will he profitable and pleasant. 1. Satisfy yourself that there is a real need for chemistry in your conrse. Study the complete curriculum you are pursuing and see where a knowledge of chemistry and its applications is helpful and necessary. Have a motive for studying this subject. If you apply yourself, you'll find chemistry vital and intensely interesting and hence easier to learn. 2. Chemistry is probably a new subject to yon. It has its own symbols and terms and language. Master these as they come up in the conrse. Like a new language this knowledge is cumulative and helps in the study of what follows. I t is necessary that you understand the English of the text. Keep a small dictionary handy. Don't he mentally lazy. Your English vocabulary will grow with your chemical vocabulary. 3. Form definite study habits. Program carefully your week and follm your program. Always study chemistry a t the time and place scheduled. By forming such habits you are more readily able to concentrate on the subject. 4. Divide your study time into definite periods, a certain number of minutes for review of the last lesson and the remainder for study of the assigned lesson. If the assignment has more than one kind of work, divide the time accordingly; for example, a certain portion to the solution of problems and exercises and a certain portion to assigned reading. The object of this is to prevent putting too much time on a hard question which may after all be relatively unimportant compared
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to other things in the lesson. Once a week review the preceding week's work. 5. For your own benefit keep a notebook, to help classify the subject matter, to facilitate review and to help the memory, especially as a visual aid to it. Don't necessarily make the notebook too neat. Remember that it is a workbook and its preparation should he a help in stndy and not a burden. 6. Before using your notebook make a preliminary survey of the reading matter. Not all of it is of equal importance or necessarily pertinent to the assigned lesson. Note what parts of the text should be intensively studied and what parts are of secondary importance, then use your time and effort accordingly. 7. The subject matter in the texts is generally well subdivided into paragraphs. A paragraph should contain one central idea. Be sure you have grasped this idea. Put this idea or a synopsis of it in the notebook. Try to associate with this idea the reasons or other statements bearing upon it so that in future references to the subject the memory is aided. 8. When you have carefully studied through the assigned reading matter and outlined it in the notebook, you should have.a mental picture of the important points of the lesson; you should be able to develop any formulas, state any laws, etc. Otherwise, more application is necessary. In learning a scientific law test yourself by stating it in language different from that of the textbook. I t will help also if a few applications of this law are made. 9. I t will pay you to read carefully a treatise on "How to Study" which you may obtain in the library. An interesting short article entitled "How to Study Chemistry" may be found in the JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION [5, 1307 (Oct., 1928)) 10. Lastly, don't be discouraged if chemistry seems difficult a t times. Frankly, I think it should be difficult enough to cause a good mental perspiration. To develop the brain requires mental effort just as much as developing any other part of the body. Remember that this subject, chemistry, is cumulative and gets easier to master as the course progresses. Consult your instructor. He is interested in your progress and will be glad to help in any way possible.
