Included here is student advice on How to Do Well on the Tests, How to Do Well on the Museum Paper, and General Advice.
Listen to what the instructor tells you, especially the artist's life/story. Participate every class. Stick to the course packet.
I found one important factor of your grade is the slide portion. If you miss one on the slides, you are now down to at least a "B" on the exam. [Note from Mr. Hudelson: that's not true. If you miss one slide, that's a total of 4 pts. out of 100. You could miss two full slides, which would be 8 pts., and still have a 92%, which is an "A."] Learn how to spell artist, title, producing period, culture, or style, location, and/or meaning from artist. If you focus on these items for the slides, and do your reading, you, too, can earn an outstanding grade from Mr. Hudelson.
Most importantly, attend every class and pay attention. Almost all test material is covered in the lecture. Take reasonable notes. Don't worry about trivial details. Taking too many notes can distract you from the lecture. Be sure to memorize all of the major artists (ie., Michelangelo, Van Gogh, Picasso) and most of the others. It probably won't effect your grade too much if you let a few of the more obscure names fall through the cracks. You can usually tell how important any given artist is by the amount of lecture time devoted to them in class. I found it helpful, when preparing for a test, to make a simple list of all the works of art, (and the artists that made them), that were covered in the class lecture. I would then concentrate on memorizing this list and associating the titles and artists with the corresponding picture from the text.
Start early. Go over and over, put info by category on note cards. As often as possible, starting about 2 weeks before a test, open the book and just turn the pages, looking and speaking aloud the artist's name and the picture titles. Use different color pens: 1 for period/style, another for artist, another for the title.
In order to be prepared and do well on exams it's advisable to not miss any classes. Pay attention when viewing slides and take good notes.
Make sure you take good lecture notes! This is of the utmost importance! Drill it into your head that you need to be here every class and take good notes. He tells you everything you need to know for the test in lecture. Go over your notes after every lecture. It also helps to go over the works from your book after every lecture. Skim the chapters.
Keep up with reading! Read ahead just in case of questions.
Read your study guide along with your textbook. Make photocopies of art pictures and make flashcards with them. Get into study groups. Read everyday for 3-4 hours. Quiz yourself.
Commit the slides to memory. Simply cram it into your brain and know names and artists and who did what.
Describe the work, less subjective opinions.
Take the time to stop and write down your thoughts about several different works before you make your final decision. I found out by trial and error, that if I just wrote down even the shortest thought, I could get the feel for what Mr. Hudelson would like us to do. Just look and evaluate the works of art. Everything else will follow after your visit.
The best advice here is to carefully choose the piece you are going to write about. Choose one that really stands out to you and try to think of things that you can write about it before you leave the gallery. If you can't think of much there, it'll be even harder later. Also, some of the bigger museums sell slides or postcards of the works they exhibit. You may get lucky and be able to take home a copy of the piece you want to write about for a few bucks.
Start early. Write down everything that comes to your mind. Pick a work of art that has been covered (the art period) in class so you at least have some preliminary information regarding it. Be willing to revise, revise, revise.
Just make sure you do it according to the specific guidelines and be descriptive.
Notes, notes, notes! And write on something you really like or hate. Something you have strong feelings about.
Give honest opinion and make sure it's something you really like or really hate.
Pick a painting that really interests you. take notes on everything you see. If you don't have at least one page of notes, find another painting. Be sure that you can find enough details, that way you will be able to write the paper.
Get hands on a hardcopy of art piece. A photo, book, pamphlet, replica. Compare this with notes on original. If you forget something while studying, you can refer to the copy.
It's a fun class.
Try to get a good seat in class, and try to do your readings before class. I found I could follow along with Mr. Hudelson in class better. As a result, I only had to take less detailed notes, and focus on the slides along with Mr. Hudelson. Most of the important information is in the readings. From class you document the important areas Mr. Hudelson focuses on, that's what's on the exam.
Attend class, take thorough notes. Spend time.
Study often in short segments instead of once for a long period of time.
Enjoy it, have fun! Mr. Hudelson is a great teacher, his stories about the artists or work's history is very interesting. If you sit back and listen it is interesting and fun and you learn at the same time.
Mr. Hudelson is a very good listener, be sure to ask questions and he'll answer them properly. He never misleads you when you're trying to find something out.
Bring coffee in the winter. You'll probably get sleepy while the slides are running, especially if it's dark out.