My Challenges with TART

In High School, the textbook was an important tool for me in learning and reading new terms and knowing what is the next chapter in the class and what I am supposed to read for the next day. Right now in college, it’s a whole different ballgame. Everything that you need to know is given and the syllabus. The textbook is sometimes the French Fries, the side dish of the course. The lecture and what the professor gives and talks about in class and acts as the main course. And consider studying for exams as an appetizer and dessert, since you need to spend many hours preparing for the class and the exams before and after the lectures.

What is TART?

TART is a strategy that helps you and me prepare for the next class and lecture. For example, I can look at the syllabus and ask myself “What is the professor talking about in class tomorrow?” By looking at the textbook and identifying the main terms in bold, I could have an idea of what terms are being discussed in class. After listening to the lecture and taking notes, I could review what terms that I looked and wrote and see what was discussed in lecture, and what didn’t make it to the class.

My Challenge with TART

TART is great for me to prepare for my classes and use the textbook as a major source of information for the class. But there is only one problem: Most of my courses are mostly lecture based, and the textbook is used as a supplement in which I only use when the professor notifies that we must use the textbook for a specific assignment or when the lecture has to do with something coming out of the textbook. But even though the major source of information is the lecture, there are good ways to implement tart in a lecture-based course.

TART in GEO 171

Until recently, the professor used to post her PowerPoint lectures online. In the case

that the lecture is posted online, I always take the lecture, print it out and make small notes on the paper in what specific areas and topics will the professor give more focus on. During the lecture, I took notes on a separate sheet of paper that would complement my notes during the lecture. After the class, I sat down and reviewed my notes and compare them to what I did at the beginning of the class. Then I can see how I prepared myself and see the topics that the professor discussed more.

TART in CFS 205

For this class

, the professor takes some of the most important information from the textbook and puts it on a PowerPoint lecture. Before the lecture, I look at which chapter she is going to discuss on the syllabus, and also where we left off in the last class, just in case there is a continuation of the chapter. I take out some of the most important terms and write them on a sheet (as seen in the picture) and see which terms that I took will be discussed in the class. After taking notes in the class, I look back at my TART sheet to see which terms from the book were discussed and what was missed. That way, I really know that the things that were discussed in lecture can help me to study for the

exam.

My Advantages

TART can really help me to study and look at the terms. As a visual learner, I can look at the book, identify the terms and prepare myself for the class. After class, I can review the terms, use my 20 minutes of test preparation and study for my exams.

My Disadvantages

Like I mentioned before, the biggest challenge for me is that every class that I am taking this semester has been always using the lecture and the professor as a major source of information and the textbook is acting as a supplement to the class. The good news is that I can check with every class and see all the alternatives that I have in order to prepare myself for the exam before, during, and after the lecture.

I encourage everyone to try the strategy and see how different you can make it and how it can help me and you get the strategy to have a full advantage of the course’s exam and reading preparation.