"Tips on having a successful and enjoyable Mudd experience" or advice from one Mudder to another.

Many more tips are available here.

Note: This page is in early stages of revision, so please send me your comments by email.

1. Learn how to manage your time wisely

Learn how to manage your time as carefully, if not more carefully, than your money. Your time here at Mudd is precious--for most, four years, and it's all over. No amount of money will buy back that time, so make sure you are using it wisely.

If you are concerned with how you manage your time, begin by auditing how you spend your time. This form may help you discover how you are spending your time, how you make choices about how you spend your time, and whether those choices line up with your desired priorities.

Once you have a good understanding of how you are spending your time and whether that lines up with your life priorities, set up a time budget and try to stick with it. Be realistic--don't forget to set aside time for yourself, for social events, and for SLEEP! Get a friend to keep you accountable to that budget.

IMPORTANT: If you truly find you don't have enough hours in the week to keep up with your schoolwork to your satisfaction, then you need to consider your point-to-time or learning-to-time ratio. The law of diminishing returns applies to homework assignments--if you spend 4 hours on an assignment, probably the last hour earned you the least number of points for that assignment. Of course, it's not good to focus too much on grades or points, but the general idea is that if you have a scarce number of hours, you should optimize your time so as to maximize your learning.

2. Learn how to study effectively

At some point in their Mudd careers, most students discover that their study habits from high school won't cut it at Mudd. This is an encouraging sign that one is growing academically, so don't be discouraged if this happens to you! Instead, try to figure out what does work for you. Here are some questions to consider.

What is my primary mode of learning?

• Do I learn best by listening to a lecture (auditory)?
  If so, consider not taking notes during class but simply listening. Get notes from a friend later.
• Do I learn best by writing notes or manipulating the subject matter with my own hands (tactile)?
  If so, consider making a "cheat sheet" for an exam even if one is not required or allowed--the sensation of writing may help you to commit things to memory.
• Do I learn best by reading a book (visual-verbal)?
  If so, consider reading ahead in your textbook so that lectures reinforce your learning rather than confuse it.
• Do I learn best by seeing graphs or charts (visual-nonverbal)?
  If so, create diagrams and visual cues while taking notes. Ask your instructor for copies of overheads.

Are you a top-down thinker or bottom-up thinker?

• Do you prefer to see many examples first, then learn the general theory of a subject (bottom-up)?
• Do you prefer to see the general theory first, then see specific examples (top-down)?

(More questions forthcoming...)

The answers to these questions should give you ideas on what to do during lectures, how to study for your classes, and how to prepare for exams. Question the status quo! Why should you take notes during class if you never look at them again? Perhaps you are not using your notes because you are not recording them in a manner that is useful to you. Perhaps you are not using them because you learn best by listening.

3. Prepare for quizzes and exams efficiently

At some point in their Mudd careers, many Mudd students find that though they were able to ace exams in high school without studying, they suddenly can't get by without studying anymore. Having never learned how to study, some students either don't do well on their exams, or study in inefficient ways, thereby starting a cascade of negative effects on their work in other classes.

This phenomenon is most likely due to the fact that in high school, these students were able to retain all of the information they learned in class, and never had to do any additional studying to prepare for an exam. Perhaps they then found the amount of information too great or pace of instruction too fast in their Mudd classes for them to absorb it adequately in the weeks leading up to an exam, so that they had to "cram" the information in their brains just before an exam.

While "cramming" is one way to prepare for an exam, it often isn't the most efficient or effective way. This is because the best time to master a particular topic is usually when the topic is first introduced. If one simply spends a few minutes before or after class previewing or reviewing the material learned in class, one will retain this information much better. This small investment in time over the course of the semester will later lead to great savings in "cram" time before an exam. The longer one waits after initially hearing about some topic to review that material, the longer one will have to spend later to bring that information back into memory.

This principle applies to homework as well. In many courses, a great deal of learning comes by doing homework. So, one should spend enough time mastering the problems on an assignment so that the amount of "cram" time required later is reduced. Don't just rush through your homework assignments to finish them. Try to take some extra time after you've completed your assignment to figure out what you were supposed to have learned through the assignment. (Make a copy of your assignment if you need to look at it after you've turned it in.) Ask yourself: What were the most difficult parts of the assignment for you? Why were these parts difficult for you? Don't wait until before an exam to try to fix these problem areas, because you'll have to spend much more time on it later than if you fix these problem areas as you encouter them.

In short, successful Mudd students know the truth about preparing for exams: the truth is that a large percentage of exam preparation time should be spent throughout the span of a course, rather than in the few days leading up to an exam. By staying on top of the material incrementally, these students have much less "cramming" to do before an exam. Furthermore, they are also more likely to do better on homeworks and have more confidence before an exam.

4. Take advantage of resources at other campuses

One special feature about Mudd is that even though it is small and specialized, it is situated in a larger community of schools with other strengths. Are you taking full advantage of this unique feature?

During my four years at Mudd there were times that I practically lived at the Scripps music department. That was fun, but if I had the chance to do things over again, I would probably take more classes, attend more events, make more friends with people from other campuses.