Tips for doing well on SRM II exams

1. Anytime there’s anything you don’t understand in class, make an appointment to see the co-teacher or Dr. Rueckert. Don’t assume you can “catch up” later. Because everything builds on everything else, once you get behind you can almost never catch up. This is especially important if you miss a class.

2. Do the odd-numbered practice problems that are listed on the web site. If you can’t get the right answer, see a co-teacher or Dr. Rueckert.

3. When you get your exam back, examine your errors very carefully. Unlike other classes, the exams in this class are always very similar to each other. You will always be asked to identify dependent and independent variables, to write a null and alternative hypothesis, to determine whether to reject the null hypothesis (for both hand-calculated statistics, and for SPSS output), and to identify possible confounding variables in a study. If you get something wrong on the first exam, and don’t fully understand why it was wrong, you’re virtually guaranteed to make the same mistake on the other exams. If you don’t fully understand why you got something wrong, see Dr. Rueckert.

4. Copy the old exams that are on reserve at the library. A few days before the exam, take the old exam. Bring in your answers to Dr. Rueckert to go over them.