Student Services at CSU is a great source of information and help for students experiencing difficulties. You can access a lot of their services through their webpage. You can contact Student Services via phone or email- information about contacting Student services.

FASQ: Frequently Asked Student Questions

Problem: "I can't understand these economists at all. They don't think like regular people."

Answer: Economists do not talk or think like regular people. An economist will look at a situation in a very different way than most non-economists. In order to start "thinking like an economist", most people will need a lot of training. Some good books to read are:

David Friedman, Hidden Order: The Economics of Everyday Life (Harper, 1996).
Steven E. Landsburg, The Armchair Economist: Economics & Everyday Life (Free Press, 1993).

These are non-technical books that might help you understand how economists look at the world. Two more recent best-seller books that contain a lot of unusual insights are:

Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything (William Morrow, 2005).

Tim Harford, The Undercover Economist (Oxford University Press, 2006).

Problem: I hate my assigned economics textbook. I can't understand any of its explanations.

Answer: There are a lot of textbooks out there. Most textbooks at the undergraduate level (and especially at the first year principles level) cover the same material and only differ in "flavour". Go to a library or bookstore and browse through a few. Find a writer that you like.

Problem: I don't understand any of the maths.

Answer: Student Services at CSU has a webpage for maths problems. You should also consider taking a maths course from STUDY LINK which is free for most CSU students.

Problem: I need help with my writing.

Answer: Student Services runs regular workshops to aid students with their writing skills. They also provide tutors who will review your assignments and provide feedback on your writing (not on the economic content though).

Problem: What should I study for my exam?

Answer: Review your lecture notes, especially the notes from your review session. Practice exam questions from previous exams (without reading your textbook or notes). Find some more practice questions from your textbook and/or study guide. Practice, practice, practice.

Problem: Do you have any exam tips?

Answer: These are the exam tips I give for every class.

• Read the question. Read carefully.


• Answer the question. Don’t answer the question you think was asked. Answer the question that actually was asked. Most exam errors happen here. Remember to read the question.


• After you are done, go back and reread the questions. Make sure you answered them.
  
• Be sure to answer all of the question.
  
• Don’t put down too much. Don’t provide a whole background of a model unless the question asks for it. If the question asks you to analyse a scenario, go straight into the scenario.
  
• Don’t put down too little. In an essay question, provide your reasoning and analysis. Draw a relevant graph and talk about the graph. Don’t just say “Yes.”
  
• Don’t panic! Relax and breath. You do not need to write for 3 hours to do well in an economics exam. Often a well-ordered sentence is worth more than 2 pages of semi-coherent babbling. Stop and think about your answer.
  

You should also check out the Exam Success page on the CSU Student Services website.

Problem: I have received my distance education materials yet!!!

Answer: Here is a response from our Learning Materials Centre:

If students don’t have their materials then they should look at the help page at Student Services where it states among other helpful items that subject materials are being despatched as quickly as possible after a minor holdup with production. This will continue till session begins on 20 February 2006.

For tracking the dispatch of your subject material go to the following site:

my.csu - subject info - my study material - - get subjects.

A date will appear in the Teaching Material Despatch Date box the day that your package leaves the university.

Contact the Student services help desk on 1800 67 0679 (if the despatch date is long past and they still have not received their materials) and leave their:
o name
o student number
o email
o phone contact
o details of their problem