Study Manuals

[DukeCrow]

Would you consider your study manuals a complete syllabus replacement? Or are they more of a supplement?

Thank you.

[Darkness Falls]

The former, I'm reading most of the articles on 9, yet most of my learning is coming from the TIA.

[DukeCrow]

Are you using Mark Hoffman's study manuals also or just TIA?

Thanks.

[Darkness Falls]

Originally Posted by DukeCrow

Are you using Mark Hoffman's study manuals also or just TIA?

Thanks.

Just TIA, may order the practice exams though

[mathtiger]

Originally Posted by DukeCrow

Would you consider your study manuals a complete syllabus replacement? Or are they more of a supplement?

Thank you.

The study guide is of course best used in conjunction with the original articles. However, I have received feedback from one person who passed on my study guide alone (exam 8, second attempt). The idea is to follow a study algorithm like this
1. read the article
2. read the study guide
3. review and focus on the main conceptual points
4. understand and remember critical formulas
5. work through all past exam problems to assess problem solving competence
6. repeat steps 1-5 until the syllabus is covered entirely
7. do the practice exams from easy to hard and go back to 1-5 after each exam if needed
8. at some point you get past step 7

One suggestions for studying, and this is somewhat unconventional: When reading articles or doing practice exams, try a place with a lot of distractions rather than a nice quiet location, e.g. when I was in NYC I worked on problems while riding the subway.

[Darkness Falls]

Originally Posted by mathtiger

One suggestions for studying, and this is somewhat unconventional: When reading articles or doing practice exams, try a place with a lot of distractions rather than a nice quiet location, e.g. when I was in NYC I worked on problems while riding the subway.

Power Metal is your friend ... it's my magic weapon when it comes to studying.

[DukeCrow]

Thanks for the above study algorithm.

Originally Posted by mathtiger

The study guide is of course best used in conjunction with the original articles.

Yes, that's what every study manual provider says. I guess my question is whether your study manual is a summary of the most important points of each article (therefore, being best used as review and requiring prior reading of the articles in order to gain comprehensive understanding), or if your study manual attempts to teach the material with the assumption of not having read the articles previously.

Thanks.

[mathtiger]

Originally Posted by DukeCrow

Thanks for the above study algorithm.



Yes, that's what every study manual provider says. I guess my question is whether your study manual is a summary of the most important points of each article (therefore, being best used as review and requiring prior reading of the articles in order to gain comprehensive understanding), or if your study manual attempts to teach the material with the assumption of not having read the articles previously.

Thanks.

Any manual will require some form of prior understanding, either from the syllabus' articles or else. A full discussion of the topics of exam 9 without assuming the articles would lead to 1000+ pages without the exercises. Moreover, I believe it to be ineffcient on a first attempt to not read the articles and rely on outside sources.

The purpose of my study guide is to prepare for the exam, and in that sense all topics are summarized with the assumption that the underlying articles were read at least one time. Some chapters however are fairly self-contained. It is meant as a guide to the main points and a path to soving past and new problems.