I'm really starting to feel that my attendance at this small group physics tutoring at Dutton is starting to pay off. The guy Long is really doing a great job introducing and breaking down the material for me so that I'm getting a lot more out of the DLMs. But one thing: I need to understand why it is that I'm usually able to get so much more out of these casual individual focused instruction sessions than from my regular lectures. It often feels as if I simply allow my mind to drift off when I haven't got the individual focus of the lecturer. Or something ridiculous like that. This is a problem. I can't allow myself to become too dependant upon small group tutoring. What are some ways to get the most out of the lectures that I attend? Do I need more sleep before lecture? Preview the material being lectured on? Should I try to develop some sort of relationship with the lecturer outside of class? Attemping the material on my own before lecture seems like it would be the most effective solution to this. This requires discipline. And I need to be consistent about it.


I also need to keep in mind that in order for me to do well in the class and fully comprehend the material, it will require much more individual dedication outside of just attending a few tutoring hours every week or even attending office hours. I need to put in the extra time outside of these structured help sessions to study and absorb the material on my own. There is really no other way.

This is one of my problems, often times I unconsciously look for some sort of magic solution, some secret formula to success (like enrolling in a tutoring class or purchasing a pricey review text or drawing up some overly ambitious elaborate plan for study hours etc) and when I think I've found it, I let myself kick back and act as if I can just get away with not even putting in the bare minimum. It's almost as if its all for show, to trick myself into believing that I'm on top of things.

I will get to the root of this problem. And rip it out. Its time to put myself into effect.