The Six Hour D

Six Hour D Assignment Having no background on what the article “The Six Hour D… and How to Avoid It” by Professor Dewey is about leaves your mind guessing until you get around to reading it. This article is about study habits amongst college students. It discusses how many students claim to have spent a substantial amount of time studying but still receive a low grade; such as a D or F. Hence, “the six hour D” title. Professor Dewey shows ways in which students fall into “the six hour D” category and gives tips on how it can be easily avoided. Getting a “six hour D” in college courses is common. This is normally due to poor study habits. Most students don’t know how to go about studying for a test. They just believe if they read the material and answer study questions as they go that they will perform well on the exams linked to the material. Those students work with the text by reading the content; however they never truly understand it. They will spend hours highlighting and writing answers to questions down. They take a memorization tactic to remember things as facts. This leads to problems when asked conceptual questions and how to apply the concept. They haven’t wired their brain for this type of thinking. They go into the test thinking they know the material but in reality they just know definitions. They have not absorbed the information, so without their notes and textbook they perform below average. Noticing that a numerous amount of students were putting in a lot of effort with a low level of success, Professor Dewey offers suggestions on how to avoid “the six hour D”. It isn‘t more time spent studying, its time spent smarter. The two main ways suggested to prevent students from falling into “the six hour D” rankings is to 1) block off the text and 2) attempt answering a study question. Dewey tells us that the road to success is led by self-testing. The best strategy to implement the two main ways to prevent a D while self-testing according to