Professor Alice Hollis Homepage

Using the Additional Study Materials Site

This site has been created with the needs of the non-traditional student in mind. Non-traditional students are populating the college of today more and more. By non-traditional student, we mean the students who also work a full time job, the single parent, any student who does not fall neatly into the traditional full-time college student roles. The additional study materials site has been created in order for these students to get maximum exposure to study materials. This site is in no means a substitute for classroom time, lab time, directed-study time, or lecture time. The student should understand that there is no better way to study these materials than to be in the lab working directly "hands on" with the microscopes, anatomy models, and directed study guides. There is a highly dedicated team of individuals in place for the student to get access to directed study materials. We acknowledge that the non-traditional student might not always be able to get into lab during the times provided, and so the Additional Study Materials Site was born.

Getting Started

Follow the links provided on the left side of this page to the multi-media portion of the site. The site is best viewed using Microsoft's Internet Explorer. Most new computers ship from the factory with Microsoft Internet Explorer installed. Users of AOL, Netscape, or Firefox should exit the site and return while using Microsoft Internet Explorer. The material contained on this site carries no warranties explicit or implied in regards to the grade point received by the student. Student grades are directly influenced by the total amount of time and effort expended by the student on their own behalf. Numerous studies show that there is a direct correlation between the amount of time spent in class and the amount of time spent by students studying outside of the class, and the successful completion of the course.  The most commonly reported ratio is for every one hour in class the average student should be spending no less than three or more hours on homework. Consider this study time to be an investment in your future.

Shortcut to Success

Organize a study group and participate! Do not be afraid to ask questions! When you teach someone in your study group subject material that you understand, it reinforces that information in your mind... Later that person might have a better grasp of other class materials and explain them to you.  Collaborative study is a great learning tool, but there will come a time when people in your study group cannot agree on an answer or concept.  This is a good time to work out why an answer is correct, not that it "just is."  While reasoning out or defending one idea or another, you will come to better understand the material.  Just be sure that your group came to a correct answer at the end of your studies, and as always... "When in doubt ASK YOUR PROFESSOR!"

Taking Tests

When taking a test, please remember that like you, many students are under a tremendous amount of stress.  These stresses can be greatly aggravated by simple annoying little nervous habits we might have.  Something as simple as the incessant clicking of a pen, tapping of a pencil or shoe, the snapping of gum, humming, talking to oneself (to name but a few) might truly make the difference for some students ability to concentrate on the task at hand.  Let us remember that just because something does not bother us, it might greatly bother someone else.  With this in mind... rather than applying the "Golden Rule," which is "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."  Let us substitute the updated "Platinum Rule," which is "Treat others as you know they want to be treated."

Tests and Time

Every student gets the same amount of time to take a test unless a student has documentation allowing him or her exemption from this rule.  With this in mind, here is some advice, which you can apply to almost any testing situation.  If you do not know an answer during a test, leave that question and come back to it later.  You do not want to leave an answer blank to a question you know the answer to, simply because you focused too much time on a question that you did not know.  If you find on a lab test that you are stuck on a problem, and you see that this test station has a long wait due to the complexity of the problem or question... consider writing the problem down on the back of your paper, and work on the problem at a desk elsewhere.  This will free up that test station for other students, and it could remove some of the stress you might feel from knowing that there are students waiting in line behind you.  On lab test where the problem is particularly detailed or time consuming, your professor will try to have multiple instances of these stations available.  During a test if you are not sure about the wording of a question, quietly ask the professor to clarify the question.  Do not ask your question so loud that you either disrupt the test, or give the answer away to your fellow students.  Do not "fish" for the right answer.  Explain why the question confuses you, show the professor that you understand the question concept, and perhaps it is the wording that confuses you.  On lab tests, if you think that the view in a microscope has been inadvertently moved by another student, ask the professor.  If you know that you might have bumped a microscope and possibly changed the view, ask the professor to check the view.  If there is a pointer in a model or tissue sample, and you are not sure what the pin is pointing to, ask your professor to clarify this for you.  The last bit of testing advice is "try and relax."  You will have a better test outcome if you are in a calm, relaxed state of mind.