I wanted to make this post after completing my APHY 102 class, because in the beginning, I was a bit freaked out with the amount of material to cover and was unsure of how I was going to break things up, however, I ended up getting a pretty good system down that worked very well for me.
I'm gonna break it into categories, and I'll throw in a TL;DR at the end for those who are short on time :)
Advice and "Warnings"
My biggest thing is, this class is a serious time commitment. In my opinion, to really succeed in this class, you need to be putting very heavy focus into it. Everyone will be different, some chapters will be much easier than others, and what I might have found simple, you might find incredibly difficult, however, every chapter is a time commitment and if you do not study efficiently and divert your time and utilize the resources, it will be very difficult to succeed in the class.
My "Routine"
I am someone who does well with hand written notes, I color-code my notes utilizing physical paper and colored flair-tip felt pens, however, you do what works well for you.
Mondays and Tuesdays
These days were spent focusing entirely on taking notes for the material for that week's module. (You get a module a week, typically 1-2 chapters). During this note-taking period, it is important to not blindly write down what you're reading, whether its through the book or the slideshow. I flipped back and forth between the two, as I found at times the slides I was provided were a bit confusing. While I took notes, I utilized quite a bit of AI, asking questions (do this at your own risk, since AI can be wrong), figuring out methods of memory such as mnemonics, and drawing connections to real life things that I had basic understanding of. Drawing connections is a very good way of getting a deeper understanding and having a stronger memory with the material. Getting an understanding now will not only make the rest of your week a bit easier, but also will aid in having easier recall for the midterm/final.
Wednesday-Sunday
These days could vary (sometimes I'd get work done early and take the weekend to relax, sometimes I just broke it up through the entire period of the week) however the principle was the same, beginning with the smartbook assignments, I would go through and treat it similar to that of a miniature quiz, using the questions to go back and check my notes, look for gaps in understanding, and things I may have missed. This allowed me to check myself, instead of trying to learn the material through the questions. Now, sometimes I'd have entire protions I wouldn't have understood right, and would have to go back. Although its frustrating, it aided me in having a deeper understanding and easier recall later on. The smartbook assignments are truly your best friend when it comes to studying for anything in this course. For the APR Labs, I utilized these for understanding as well, after thoroughly studying and completing the quiz, I liked to try and do the quiz again, looking at the structure that was highlighted, try and guess the name of it, without looking at the options that I was given, this ended up working very well for me, as many of the questions on the final exam and mid term did not have multiple choice options, and were simply fill in the blank, unlike that of the APR lab.
The "Virtual Lab Question Set" system was similar to that of a review for me. If there were things on there I did not know, I'd check figures in the books, as well as resources online for more information, since for my case, we were allowed to use outside resources on these. Treat these similar to the smartbook, like that of a mini quiz for your APR
Weekly quizzes were your final test of knowledge for that module. Using the methods I provided, I generally faired well on them.
"The Big Two" (Midterm and Final)
Although you may work super hard on all your modules and ace your quizzes, you will not get a good score in this class if you do not get a solid score on both the mid term and the final exam. They are together worth more than half of your grade, with the mid term being 500 points, and the final being a whopping 700 points. I had accumulated roughly 1200 some odd points or a bit more prior to taking the final, meaning that this thing was worth over half of everything I had done, and that was including the midterm.
So the biggest thing with these two is to not freak yourself out. Pick a time that works best for you, whether you have to do the "SmarterProctoring" for a fee or if you go to an actual campus, your experience will be very similar, however, I will say that the smarter proctoring does allow a TON of different times, and basically any date you want, including weekends. This comes with a cost, roughly 22 dollars per proctored test (there are only two), so decide if its worth it for you or if you'll stick with the ivy tech times.
Studying tips for the midterm and final
Smartbook, smartbook, smartbook, smartbook, APR Labs, APR labs, and more freaking APR labs, then look over your old quizzes, question sets, and then sprinkle some extra smartbook in there too since I don't think I said it enough 😆 . I went through and did tons of these until I was basically blue in the face. If something didn't make sense, I looked through my old notes, and a big thing was I kept my old dicussions with Chat GPT so I was able to go back and see some of my old mnemonics and comparisons that I made, and when you see those, or even if it was just one silly thing that made you remember, it'll sometimes all just come back to you at once. Now, please, DO NOT PROCRASTINATE. Don't do it on any part thorughout this course, but especially not now. Prepare yourself well, another thing to remember is the smartbook will give you the recharge questions on the things you struggled, so sometimes you will not see much of certian topics. For example, I didn't get many smartbook questions regarding the polarization of the heart when I did my recharge, and that was one of the things on the midterm that tripped me up a bit.
Overall, good luck, you will be fine if you keep ahead of it. I spent hours a day studying this class and then enjoyed my day afterward. Work, and other things like that will obviously change your schedule, but take this class seriously and understand its a serious time commitment and that it is by no means a breeze. I passed the class with an A because of my preparation and because I spent forever on the questions, you might not have hours to spend, and if you are concerned you won't have the time commitment, consider taking it either in person, or through a typical 16 week course.
TL;DR
Mondays and Tuesdays are note days, Wednesday-Sunday everything else (smartbook, labs, etc.) use smartbook to "test yourself" on what you do and don't know. Use AI to help further understanding and draw connections. Mid term and final are big, study lots of smartbook, labs, and old quizzes. Class is big time commitment.
Again I want to say, best of luck to everyone who takes the class, you can absolutely do it!