Great post, Hades.
Even smart, motivated students in quantitative subjects can take for granted how important "drill and kill" is, and speak derisively of memorizing formulas and practicing techniques. However...
Could you be a great Salsa dancer if you have to think about the next step to take? No.
Could you be a great tennis player if you have to think about your service motion every time? No.
The banal must be automatic and seamless if one hopes to gain mastery at something.
And as you noted, 50 minute exams are actually 1.5 hour exams in disguise. Any hesitation or "wrong turn" can be fatal, especially in an upper division or graduate course at a top program, where some of your classmates are world beaters and will wreck the curve (even non-explicitly curved classes are de facto curved).
Even smart, motivated students in quantitative subjects can take for granted how important "drill and kill" is, and speak derisively of memorizing formulas and practicing techniques. However...
Could you be a great Salsa dancer if you have to think about the next step to take? No.
Could you be a great tennis player if you have to think about your service motion every time? No.
The banal must be automatic and seamless if one hopes to gain mastery at something.
And as you noted, 50 minute exams are actually 1.5 hour exams in disguise. Any hesitation or "wrong turn" can be fatal, especially in an upper division or graduate course at a top program, where some of your classmates are world beaters and will wreck the curve (even non-explicitly curved classes are de facto curved).
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