Solving Practice Problems

Working through the practice problems is the best way to make sure you understand, and can apply, what you learned in class. I recommend the following strategy:

Step 1: Know the terminology

     It can be tempting to avoid thinking about words, symbols, or phrases in questions when you aren’t completely confident that you understand them, especially if they look vaguely familiar. You’ll benefit a lot more from each homework or practice question if you intentionally avoid doing this by asking yourself if you can explain what each word means in the context of the question. If there’s a word or a symbol in the question, and you aren’t 100% sure what it means, look it up. Look for examples of how it’s used in context. After you look it up, write down what it means in your own words, without using any technical genetics terminology. Draw a picture of what the word means. After you’ve done this for every word in the question that you’re not sure about, read the question again.

Step 2: Determine what the question is asking

     This step sounds obvious, but sometimes it’s the hardest part of a genetics question. Paraphrase the question in your own words using as little technical terminology as possible (at least do this step in your head, if you don’t have time to write it down on paper). Think about what your answer should look like. Will it be a number? A word? A genotype?

Step 3: Figure out what tool the question wants you to use

     Each question is designed to test whether you understand, and can apply, one or more tools you learned in lecture and/or from the chapter. Choosing the correct tool is the key to getting the correct answer. I recommend making a list of the tools you learn in each chapter, right before you start working through the problems.

Step 4: Use the tool, and solve the problem

     Plug the information provided in the question into the appropriate tool, and the answer will materialize. If you get stuck at this step, make sure you’re using the write tool, and double-check to be sure you know what the question means. If you have the right tool, but you don’t remember or aren’t sure how to use it, ask for help, and look for example problems in the book.

Step 5: Check your answer!

     This step is very important because, when you do get a question wrong, it’s important to figure out why you got it wrong. If you figure out why it happened, then getting a question wrong is one of the best ways to learn how to use the tools you need, and you’ll know how to avoid making similar mistakes in the future (on the exam, for example).