Study Tips: Create a Glossary
Note To Instructor: This exercise is a fundamental study tool that can be used throughout the course. It should be done as close to the start of the course as possible. The exercise pertains to erecting batter boards, but
A glossary is an alphabetical list of words and their definitions. Usually, in books, there is a glossary at the back. The glossary defines words in the book that have special meaning. Sometimes those words are outlined in bold throughout the book.
Creating your own glossary as you go through the class provides several advantages:
- if you write down words you don’t know, then when prepping for your test, you only need to study from your glossary. You will likely know everything else, so you don’t need to read it. This saves a lot of time when studying.
- Simply writing something down is a way to help you remember it. Of course, everyone’s brain works differently. This gives the brain time to register what you are studying. The other benefit of writing is that it introduces some physical action (even though it is a very small physical action.) It is usual human nature for the brain to remember things better when they are accompanied by a physical action.
Trust Yourself!
A big part of preparing for this exam is trusting yourself. You come to this course with a lot of knowledge. Do not prepare for the test by just reading over the textbook. Trust the knowledge you do have, and only study what you don’t know. A personal glossary helps you do this.
To create a glossary, have a separate pad of paper, or a separate section in your notebook. Keep all the glossary terms together in this separate place. Some possible sources of glossary terms are:
- When listening in class, if the instructor uses a term you don’t know, write it down. You can either ask the teacher to define it right there or come back to it after class to look it up.
- When doing a practice exam, after the exam, if you encounter a question with a word you don’t know, write that word in your glossary so you can study it later.
- When doing the review questions in the student manual, if you encounter a word that you didn’t know previously, write it in your personal glossary.
- When reading the student manual or other information sources, again, if you encounter a word you didn’t know previously, write it in your personal glossary.
Exercise
Use the section “Erecting Batter Boards” from Chapter 28 in the Vogt and Nauth “Carpentry” textbook to practice creating a glossary
Step 1: Read
Read the section “Erecting Batter Boards” in chapter 28 of Vogt and Nauth “Carpentry”.
The following is an excerpt of the text:
Erecting Batter Boards
Before excavating is done, batter boards are installed to allow the layout stakes to be reinstalled quickly after the excavation process. Batter boards are wood frames built behind the stakes to which building layout lines are secured. Batter boards consist of horizontal members, called ledgers. These are attached to