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Spring 2002

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Extended Family

NO-DOZE DAYS - HOW YOU STUDIED
Our winter-issue reply card wondered how you prepared for tests at UMass.

Howland Atwood ’38S, Hendersonville, North Carolina, “In the 1930s, by achieving top grades I was exempted from most finals, except perhaps business law. I think I ranked sixth or eighth in a class of 125. It really pays to keep up your daily work, hence good grades.”

Wallace Powers ’41, ’51, Waterford, Connecticut: “As most of us back in those days did (late 1930’s), I studied! Imagine!”
Alan Gevers ’42, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: “Memorize notes, read the book until you know it. Tests were essays out of ‘bluebooks.’ No short-answer exams then.”

Joanne Newman Kohn ’52, Prides Crossing: “Until I met my future husband in my junior year, I studied frantically only when there was a test or exam. He (Gus Kohn ’51) was very organized. People even borrowed his notes; he was that neat. We used to study together at the library and at food tech. From then on my grades went up-up-up.”

Bernard Doherty ’57S, (’59, ’64G, ’96S), Boston: “I was a procrastinator. Although I took good notes in class, I waited until 48 hours before exams to study. I survived on No-Doze pills and Coke and studied up until an hour before the exam and then crashed. I vowed each time to change but never did! True today, also.”

Gerald Lupton ’61S, South Tiffin, Ohio: “I used to get a flask of vodka and a quart of orange juice to break the surface traction of the knowledge transmitters. It would also mute background noise. Rapid infusion of intelligence resulted without fail.”

Paul Bisesti ’62, Springfield: “Would sit downstairs in the Butterfield café with books, pen, pad, and write myself questions on the topic – a variety of questions that I thought would be asked of me. Then I would outline an answer, thus learning the material and being able to present it in a variety of ways. Kind of like a cookbook of recipes for the same basic dish – example brownies – my favorite.”

Laura Patlove ’62,’63G, ’83G, Austin, Texas: “I was one of the ‘plan ahead’ people – I’d figure out a few weeks in advance how many pages I’d need to read each day to finish for the exam – no ‘all-nighter’ for me! I’m still that way, guess that’s why I became a planner.”

William Avery ’63, New York City: “I took voluminous notes. Then spent the night before reviewing. Not very integrative, but I had a good memory and I wanted to have a youth full of good times.”

Anonymous ’66: “In the ’60s, you sent the fattest girl to the infirmary to get a prescription for amphetamines and then everyone took one, pulled an all-nighter, and studied for exams.”

Norene Roberts ’68, Goshen: “I went to Goodell Library for six-eight hours and studied – maybe three days in a row before the ‘big test.’ Fewer distractions than Dickinson dorm in Orchard Hill.”

Don Willoughby ’68, West Boylston: “Preparing for an exam was a science in itself. First – an hour or two at Barselotti’s drinking five-cent drafts. Then – a stop at the Newman Center for a burger. Then back to the dorm lounge for a visit with friends. Then – stock up on the No-Doze and study till dawn.”

Irene Lang ’74, Waltham: “I remember pulling an all-nighter in my junior year with my best friend, Marcia Villaume Laird ’73. She had a paper due the next day – she would write a page, I would type it (yes – on a typewriter!). Ultimately she dictated as I typed. As I recall it was a terrible paper!”

Joseph Morsman III ’74G, Deerfield: “Had great teacher, Dr Wymaker. Reread classroom and text notes over and over and over again. Tried to anticipate and prepare questions and answer them before test. A great experience.”

Margarete (Schwabe) LaRoche ’78, Parrish, Florida: “Learning begins in the home. Parents need to teach goodness and acceptable behavior. Trust between people must be built and examined. Grades are relative to what is being taught. Skills become obvious in vocational/professional fields. All life is a progress report, in war-time, survival skills are important.”

Stephen Peskin ’81, Houston, Texas: “Usual test procedures: study the night before for 6-8 hours, followed by at least three hours of partying.”

S. Thomas Greeley ’82, Framingham: “To study for a big test I would get up at 4 a.m. and study in the living room of Zeta Psi Fraternity, or if there was a party still going on I would hide myself at one of the desks in the campus library until test time.”

Stephen Keegan ’82, Palmer: “Memorized a ton of index cards and stayed up all night doing so.”

Damian Dupuy ’84, Millis: “I remember the Butterfield crew and the many all-nighters with M&M’s, Doritos, and Pepsi prior to almost all exams.”

Daniel Maselli ’84, East Haven, Connecticut: “I always tried to listen well in class and I was there the days before the test. The professor usually highlighted some of what we needed to know on the test. Other portions were what we discussed in class as opposed to all that was in the text. Ask questions to get hints what is on the test.”

Lauryl Anne Jacobs ’86, Brookline: “I used to procrastinate, panic, run, cram, and usually do pretty well . . . most of the time.”

Anonymous ’87: “One time I used the large-format copier/printer at Kinkos in town to make a fake classified page from the Collegian on newsprint. All the blurbs contained coded answers for my test. I brought my ‘newspaper’ in to the test, dropped it at my feet and was able to glance at the cheatsheet in order to get an AB on the exam. The ends justified the means as I now work in insurance fraud.”

Stephanie Tuttle ’92, Richmond, Virginia: “I used to plant myself on the fifth floor of the tower library – for some reason I didn’t get much studying done in the basement of the library.”

Peter Moore ’93, Irving, Texas: “I studied a little bit everyday and didn’t cram the day before the test. Oh, to go back in time and have the chance to do things again. I will always wonder whatever happened.”

Roseann Cohen ’96 and Elenaa Rozzi ’96, Belmont, Tina Johnson ’96, Sturbridge: “Prepare? That is an understatement. We would start at 8 the night before – books, highlighters, notes in hand – so far so good. But then a game of hide-’n-go-seek would start in the apartment building. Then a rotisserie chicken would drop from our neighbor’s balcony above. Next thing you know, the studying, which now actually began, would be substituted with singing the Muppet Show sound track, throwing eggs back at our neighbors, or having to go to Super Stop & Shop at 2 a.m. for Oreos.”

Peter Carr ’97, Bloomfield:“I prepared for tests by reading my notes into a tape recorder. I would listen to the tapes as I walked to and from classes…up to the test. Unfortunately, I didn’t start doing this until I was a junior!”

Sarah Crozier ’98, Somerville: “To prepare for a big test I would always rewrite my class notes and highlighted passages from the textbook. Putting learning into my own words was powerful. I am about to graduate from Cambridge College’s master’s of management program.”

Justin Hurlburt ’98, Gloucester: “You could always count on the SOM library buzzing with activity the night before any big SOM exam. It was also alive with activity minutes before the exam.”

Isadora Evora ’99, New York City: “My days in Melville dorm – four years – I went into the lounge days before a test, read and read, drank Mountain Dew, ordered D.P. dough – if nothing settled in my brain from whatever I was studying – lastly I’d call my mom back home in Puerto Rico for help! I graduate in May 2002 with an MSW from Fordham University.”

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UMASS GATHERINGS:Rallying the troops

SOUVENIR: library memories

PROFILE: The Lyons Family

PROFILE: Jim and Susan Tourtillotte ’85

PROFILE:Jeff Donovan ’91 and Kate Wilson ’89

NO-DOZE DAYS - HOW YOU STUDIED

IN MEMORIAM

Obituaries: 1914-1949

Obituaries: 1950 - 1969

Obituaries: 1970 - 1989

Obituaries: Faculty