Success is usually defined^* as the final grade each student gets at the end of the course.  Like many other courses, there are lots of things to know (memorize) and understand (concepts) about how microbes work.  General Microbiology has all of this.  Final grade is determined from the total points scored on all the exams.  Thus, to do well, one has to be able to answer all the questions on the exams correctly. The exam questions probe facts (things to know) and concepts (how well one understands Microbiology) and microbiological problem solving. While the exams are largely short written answer questions, they do have problems that require a mathematical solution and conceptual problems.  AND, they all come from LECTURE and THOUGHT QUESTIONS in the text.

The lecture course is composed of four parts: the textbook, the textbook's web site, the lectures and the course web site. The textbook is the best Dr. Makemson can find: it is encyclopedic, written well in a stimulating fashion, has really useful Appendices, and has superb Thought Questions in the text along with review questions at the end of each chapter. The textbook's web site has self grading practice exams as well as other study aids and links to other microbiology sites. Because the textbook is encyclopedic it is impossible to cover everything in every chapter in lecture. Thus, the lectures are a distillation of the most important salient features of Microbiology.  Students come to realize that Dr. Makemson makes up exam questions from the material considered to be the most important, and all of that is presented in lecture.  If you know all this material, you will do well.  The course web site has pdf files of the lecture PowerPoint for each chapter.  These handouts get updated as we go: microbiology is dynamic and our knowledge of that can go beyond the textbook.   The handouts are updated when needed.   One of the best study aids is to print these out the day before lecture, and read them over along with the relevant material in the chapter:  that is so you can come to lecture SMART.  You can come to lecture totally unprepared, but that is your choice.

The questions at the end of the chapters are Review.  There is no need to provide the answers to the Review questions, they are simply there in the text. Answers to the Thought Questions are in the Appendix. The Thought Questions are considered the most important.  In doing these questions, you should FIRST do the questions without looking in the Appendix, the text does not have answers because for many of these questions, there are mutliple correct answers.  Students often make a BIG MISTAKE is memorizing answers rather than THINKING these questions through. The ability to think these questions through to an acceptable answer is the very best thing you could gain from your study of microbiology.  This way is a great way to learn.  If you look at  answers first, you will only fool yourself into thinking you know the answers...and then be disappoined with the results on your exams later on when you are unable to think some of the questions through.

The most important strategy is to know the material with the book and lecture notes CLOSED and the computer OFF.  If you study with the book open, lecture notes open, you can convince yourself that you know the material...the material certainly makes sense when you are looking at it.  But, the exams are not open book.  Therefore, to get the high grade you need to make the resources of the course valuable.  Do this by reading the text before or immediately after lecture then do the review and Thought Questions. This will put you in much better shape to get the lecture material meaningfully. Practice the exam material on the textbook's web site, don't wait until just before the exam! Compare the lecture notes on the web with your class notes from lecture, look at how there is a different focus this semester than what is on the web.  Before the exam, test your knowledge of microbiology thoroughly with the books and notes closed pretend to give the lectures, then check if you got it all right.

Most importantly, if there is anything that just doesn't seem right or that you have a hard time understanding GET IN TOUCH with Dr. Makemson right away...in his office, OE246/247 (or he might be in his research lab, OE 263) or through e-mail.  The most important thing you can do is know and understand the most fascinating science of Microbiology.