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(Courtesy of Kat
Billington)
COB 204 is not that bad.
There are much worse things in life to fear...such as, say, COB 300. Not
to say that 204's a walk in the park, but there are a few things you can do to
guarantee that you do well. So, to save you a little time and effort, here
are a few pointers that I picked up on:
Read the book. I know.
The book is boring. It's very technical and full of things that you're not
going to understand...unless you read it. Slowly, and carefully.
Cramming becomes impossible because there is just so much stuff shoved into
those little pages. The size of the book is extremely deceiving, but it's
not so bad if you read bit by bit. And although getting behind is all to
easy, you will regret it greatly the night before an exam. You will also
regret it when you get your exam back.
Reif has in-class assignments. They're usually once a
week, and always something you can get a good grade on. They will make all
the difference in what your grade is at the end of the semester, and they're
easy! Usually if you show up to class and try, you'll be set for 100%.
Now I'm not saying that Reif's an easy grader, but he is looking out for you by
giving you the opportunity to help your grade, whether you end up getting the
right answer or not.
You are
going to have to take a lot of Gen-Eds that aren't really going to carry over
with you in the future. This class, on the other hand, teaches you a lot
of things that you need to know in every field. I've actually been at work
and been able to help managers through my knowledge of Access, and the technical
knowledge you gain from the book and lectures is extremely useful in everyday
life. You'll learn about identity theft and security, as well as the best
way to get the best internet you can on a budget. The class, if you pay
attention to it, genuinely makes living in the technological world more
friendly. 204 is definitely not a waste of time, unless you try hard
enough to make it one. No matter what field you're going into, you will
find multiple uses for the things you learn in this class.
The
homework isn't bad. The trick is remembering to do it. You have to
be diligent about checking Blackboard about when it's due. Reif drops the
lowest homework grade, but occasionally they are tricky, so simply not doing a
homework and saying to yourself, "It's okay, he drops one," isn't the best route
to go. He does not take any late homework, so don't even try. But
he's usually pretty fair about his grading. If you get a bad grade, you're
going to know why.
Access
and Front Page are going to be your friends....No questions asked. You may
not like them, but they're going to be your friends. At least you'd better
get acquainted, or you will be haunted by it on all of the projects and exams.
On top of the fact that there is an Access Project, there are Access questions
on almost every exam. If you do not pay attention to the tutorials, and
have a decent understanding of them, then you're going to have a rough time with
many parts of the class. Another pointer when it comes to Access and Front
Page: the tutorials and projects are not hard. In fact, they're
pretty easy. However, they are time consuming. If you don't budget
time for them, you will reap the consequences.
If you've got questions,
your computer crashes, you don't know how to correctly send an
assignment--anything of that nature--go to his office hours. He will help
you until he's out of time, and the advice he give you isn't
beat-around-the-bush. He doesn't waste time, tells you what you need to
know, and most of all, is nice about it. If you get Dr. Reif as a
professor, spend time with him and you'll be excited you did. He's one of
those rare breeds of "DR's" that has managed to obtain both an extensive
knowledge of his area of study...while retaining social skills.
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