Learning to Learn at MIT

It was the end of my first semester at MIT; well, almost the end. There was one obstacle left: finals. More specifically, there were three: 8.01, 3.091, and 18.01. Although the first semester at MIT was pass or no record, I was in real danger of failing. In fact, I did not really know. Many professors do not make up their grading scales until after the finals are finished. If the professor does have a system established, Stellar does not do the calculations for you. This is different from high school, where I knew exactly what my grade was. All I knew is that I had to step it up and give it my all in order to pass. I did not want to repeat a class – that would put me way behind and be really bad. I would lose a semester of time here. In addition, because of the second semester credit limit, I could not easily repeat the class during the next semester while taking another class. I knew I had to pass. I did not really like the classes my first semester; I saw them as an unnecessary evil of attending MIT. I loved my UROP and all of the other experiences of MIT and I learned a lot from them. I knew the GIRs would be hard, but once I got through them it would be much easier and more fun. I thought I was not smart enough for an engineering degree.

The week before finals there are classes, but there can be no homework. This allowed me to study during the evenings after class. I started studying for 18.01 by going through every test, and redoing every problem. I did not have access to a blank copy of the test, so I covered up the test and worked on a new sheet of paper. In high school, I would sometimes just read through the answer key to study. I learned this year that this strategy was not at all effective. As I was reading the answer key, I thought that the answer sounded obvious and I knew it. However, when the test came, I could not remember how to solve such problems. I had to not kid myself, and not look at the answer key. Second, I always have to write stuff down or else I will not remember it. So as I was redoing the 18.01 tests I became very worried because I forgot at least one step in 40% of the problems, and had no clue about another 30% of the problems. For these, I had to peek at the answer key and to reconstruct how to solve the problem. It took a few nights to write the 44 pages of work that I did.

Another study procedure which I did not try was to do one test for the listed time without looking at the answer key at all. On a real test, if I do not know a problem, I struggle and search for the answer, using up all of the time. Sometime I stumble across the answer, and I usually get some partial credit on a problem. I think this method takes up too much time and struggling for the answer does not help me learn the correct answer.

After classes ended on Thursday, it was time to get serious about studying for 18.01. I did the practice test which I asked the professor to post. However, it was through doing that practice test; I learned what the best way for me to study was. My room is not a good place to do work. My computer fills my entire desk space. In addition, my roommates are often there and then I cannot get anything done. MIT has lots of little areas to study. I also tried to change study areas every so often in order to keep it novel. My dorm, Baker House, has a row of tables down the hall from my room. This is where I did a lot of my math p-sets during the semester. This was moderately successful. If I forgot something, I had easy access to my room. The area was somewhat isolated, but it was in the hallway, so people were always passing. Other students find a classroom to work in. I always seem to have bad luck doing that, someone always interrupts me because there is a class scheduled in there. However, the Media Lab recently moved to a new building. The old building was now mostly empty and many offices from my old lab were now empty. So for Friday night, I found myself in E15-493. That was the best place for me to study. The area was desolated; no one was around in E15. There was a printer that I still had installed and a water fountain and bathroom nearby. The advantage of that abandoned office was that time passed without me noticing. I could just sit there and hours would go by without anyone bothering me.

I was also not distracted by my laptop. This was always a problem for me in high school and during the semester. I would always think of something, and then I would look it up. Or I would be bored and I would open MSNBC.com to read something. The worst problem is that I would do that when I ran into difficulty with a problem; I would not struggle with the problem and focus; I would turn away from it. This was very bad for me. I did some of the random surfing while studying for E15-493, but each time I drifted away I thought of the need to pass my finals.

One of my problems during the semester was that scheduled sessions take up a lot of time, even more than the listed time. It takes travel time to get there and back, which does not feel like much, but can be up to 15 minutes each way. I have to arrange my schedule around it, which takes up more time. I spent the weekend studying in E15-493. I got up around 10, walked to the Media Lab and studied all day. I only left for a stretch break about every hour. Around dinnertime, I ran back to Baker to buy dinner, and then ran back to E15 to study. I stayed most nights until 2AM. The most stressful was the night before the final. I wanted to be prepared as I could be. As 2Am was approaching the night before the final, I went into E14 and started re-reading what I had written. I was careful not to just look at the answers and tell myself that I knew it, but I covered up the answers and tried to think how to solve it. I was exhausted when I walked through the desolate and cold night back to Baker to sleep.

I was very nervous on Monday when my 8.01 final finally arrived. I was unsure about a lot of the problems. When I talked to others afterward, who seemed far more prepared than I was, they said that they had trouble as well. I wrote after the final that I probabley did better than I thought I did.

However, there was not much time to rest. My 3.091 final was the next day. I only had about 20 hours to study for it. I thought that 3.091 was going to be the easiest of the finals, so I only left one afternoon and evening to study for it. That made studying that night very intense. The final ended up being more difficult that I thought it was going to be. I think I also made a mistake in what I was studying. Sadoway feed us the information we needed to know in the lectures. I also read the book, which has a lot more information. However, that material was not really relevant. I should have focused on simply studying the study guide.

On Thursday, it was the last final, 18.01. It was the final that I first studied for and now it was here. I did not remember much from that final since it was the last one. As soon as I was finished, I was heading home later that day. I was glad to be done with the first semester of MIT.

At home, I kept refreshing Websis to see if I passed my classes. One by one it came in that I passed. I got a C in 3.091 and 18.01 and a B- in 8.01, which I was very surprised at. I was just glad that I passed everything; that I did not have to redo any classes; that I could move ahead to the next semester.

I am proud of those 2 weeks I spent studying. It was where I learned to focus. It is where I learned that problem solving is important, not memorizing. I am now one week into the second semester and focusing and studying of hard stuff feels better. I no longer dread it. It feels fun to learn something complicated which I did not know before. It now feels like I can master anything if I dedicate myself to it. If I spend all my time on something, and ignore external influences, like the flow of time, I can master whatever MIT throws at me. Perhaps some of this will wear out as the second semester continues. I now feel like an engineering major might not only be doable, but fun.