Student Resources

Aquinas College Resources

• Aquinas Economics Website
• Economics Faculty
• Major Requirements <-- Coming Soon!
• Minor Requirements
• List of Courses

Why YOU Should Major in Economics!

• A Career in Economics... It's Much More Than You Think!
• Economic Surplus - by a Harvard Economics Professor!
• Why Should You Major in Economics?
• What Careers Follow After An Economics Degree?

Additional Resources

• Graduate School Panel (Part 1, Part 2)
• Wondering What Happened to Your Class Valedictorian? Not Much, Research Shows
• Casey Neistat - High School Stories TEDx
• Message to my Freshman Students
• How to Email Your Professors
• What Truly Makes An Education Valuable: The Effort The Student Puts Into It
• Study Smarter, Learn Better: 8 Tips From Memory Researchers
• Why Flunking Exams is Actually a Good Thing
• (Even More!) Study Tips and Resources for College Students - thanks, Claire!

Dr. Hebert's General Suggestions for Studying

Read through these and try a handful of them out for yourself.  OR, come see me and together we can develop a study routine specific to you!

• First, recognize that you can do this!
  • There's no reason why you can't get an A in any class in college no matter who you are or what you think of your abilities.
  • Don't just shoot for a C because "C's get degrees." 
    • What happens if you fall short???
    • Shoot for an A in all of your classes!
• Second, there's no such thing as "people who are bad at X."
  • No, you're not "bad at math" and neither is anyone else. 
  • You did poorly on a test in the past, someone (usually a parent or family member) told you that you might not be a math person to try to make you feel better, and you started believing it.  Now you don't bother studying for your math tests because "what's the point?" and then you do poorly on the exam, which confirms that you're not a math person, right?
  • WRONG!  You did poorly on the exam because you didn't study!
  • The same applies to ALL classes in college.  Trust me!
• 2:1 ratio
  • For every one hour that you're in class per week, you should make it your goal to study two hours outside of class per week.
  • I know, this seems like a lot, but if you do this, you'll ALWAYS be able to go out with your friends on the weekends!
    • Easy way to do this: do either be in class or be studying from 9 am to 5 pm, Monday through Friday
    • Remember in high school when you were in school from 7 am to 3 pm?  Same thing, just shifted back a couple hours so you don't have to get up too early!
    • And you're DONE at 5, so you can go out at night every single night if you want!
• Practice the graphs (economics specific)
  • Especially for principles students!
  • Don't just copy them - work through them, making up examples as you go along.
  • Don't be afraid to lock yourself in a classroom and do this.
    • I will provide you with unlimited dry erase markers!
• Read the book!
  • I know, professors always harp on this, but it's a really good resource! It has tons of pictures/graphs and uses different examples from what your professor will go over in class.
• Download the lecture notes and read them
  • This should be self-explanatory
  • Blackboard statistics, though, tell me that a good chunk of you aren't doing this...
  • Why not???
• Recopy your notes in Word or on a different sheet of paper
  • When you do this, you can reorganize them in a way that makes sense to you
  • Rewriting your notes has a huge impact on you remembering the information
  • You 1) read them again, which helps, and 2) write them again, which helps even more!
• Talk with other students
  • Often, you know something and they know something else. Trade with one another!
  • When you teach others, you learn better, too!
• Make flashcards
  • A lot of economics (especially at the principles level) comes down to fully understanding the definitions and applying them consistently
• Read the additional materials posted to Blackboard
  • Your professor isn't just posting those things to make you suffer, I promise!
  • It's there to help you!
• Create a cheat sheet as if you were going to be allowed to use it on the exam
  • Note: in my classes, you are not actually allowed to use it
  • But think about the times you have been allowed to. You probably spent hours making that sheet and organizing it so you could find things quickly on the exam.
  • When you actually took the exam, though, I'm willing to bet you looked at it just to confirm what you were thinking, not because you actually didn't know the answer.
  • That means you studied well!
• Come to office hours
  • We're there to help you! My office is almost always empty, though!
  • This works best if you have a question in mind that you want to ask
    • Doesn't have to be specific, even giving us just a vague topic helps us help you better.
• Come to office hours!!!!
  • It bears repeating.
• Finally, recognize that there's a difference between studying hard and studying well.
  • Studying hard: You put lots of effort in, several hours, and did lots of things
  • Studying well: This likely means you studied hard but that your studying paid off in getting a high grade.
    • Remember: the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results
    • If studying one way hasn't worked in the past, do something different the next time around!