The Way of Learning / Studying

[oompa loompa]

yeah, i can probably help you.. been there done that.. still doing that technically, and experimented a lot - and ive had some pretty good results myself. you need to tell me your subjects first , and what exactly your problems are.. like my problem is - when it comes to studying something like econ or history, absolutely cannot concentrate beyond an hour or so.. there are a lot of ways to get around this, unfortunately most of them involve the horrible task of disciplining yourself in some way or the other - just add a few specifics

[grey_moon]

I suffer from goldfish memory... About 2 weeks not seconds after exams I forget everything.

What I tend to do is read through the notes once. I get the past exam papers and any hints that have been given and guess what is going to turn up. Then I get perfect answers and do them over and over until I know them perfectly.

This works really well for IT certs like CCNA etc. With academia its a little harder as the amount you need to learn is normally much more.

For studying itself. Do stuff that helps you. Some people can keep at it for hours and still learn stuff, I am one of them. Others need breaks every 50ish minutes or they start to wander and that is wasting time.

Set a good time table and stick to it.

Don't be scared to reward yourself.

What ever you do don't burn out. If you can't do 20 hour stints, then don't especially right before the exam as you might confuse yourself, be too tired, or even worse panic.

Good luck!

*EDIT*
Anime shows teaches us to never use study period to pull a girl you like. Save it for afterwards! Of course someone else might "help" her study instead, so you need to choose what is more important. Nose bleeding is not a good study aid

[tripperazn]

Originally Posted by EXEs

Does anyone on Animesuki know any good studying tips and habits for forthcoming June examinations? I need to get good grades for them, because they send them off to universities to see if they'll accept you or not. My current studying ways are...not very effective, as I'm easy to distract, and lazy. So help plz and thx.

Oh, lol, those. It's why I moved to America

Most importantly, know that (1 hr/day for 5 days) > (5 hrs in one day), so don't cram it all in the last few days. You end up forgetting some things by the end of the test since the memories are so weak ("I knew how to do this two minutes ago!", bad, VERY BAD). Spread it out as much as possible and do it at a set time of day (get your parents to force you to study from X to Y hour). Check off your calendar for everyday that you actually study for that long, keep the streak going.

[oompa loompa]

Originally Posted by tripperazn

Oh, lol, those. It's why I moved to America

Most importantly, know that (1 hr/day for 5 days) > (5 hrs in one day), so don't cram it all in the last few days. You end up forgetting some things by the end of the test since the memories are so weak ("I knew how to do this two minutes ago!", bad, VERY BAD). Spread it out as much as possible and do it at a set time of day (get your parents to force you to study from X to Y hour). Check off your calendar for everyday that you actually study for that long, keep the streak going.

really? i was always told they really grind you in the US.. in the IB at least.. of course making a calendar is easier said than done lol.. if youre in school, dont skip your homework and listen in class and youll be fine..

for exams, depends on the subject.. for memorizing subjects like history, reading should do the trick, reading well that is. read through it and every 5 mins just try and connect what youre reading to what you read 5 mins ago.. its akward at first but ull have to get used to it.. on the 2nd or 3rd revision, everytime you start reading something new, try and recollect everything you read, then read it again, fill up the gaps you were missing

for maths, logical subjects.. practice. theres no way out of it.. grinding practice.. im fine with this cos i can go for hours on end studying maths, i get obsessive about problems im stuck on lol..

as for a schedule, i have a concentration span of about 1 hour - 1 hour 15 mins when i can really concentrate.. which isnt a lot.. so heres how i do it,

you study for that one hour, take a break for 20-30 mins.. go watch tv, hell go watch an episode of an old anime (i used kenshin ) and relax.. the point of this is in a whole day, you can put in 6-8 hours of quality studying, where you really concentrate. i say something youve seen before, or done before so it doesnt distract you too much.. for my finals i would study from 9:30 in the morning all the way up to 1-2, with extra time spaces after breakfast lunch and dinner

however, i dont believe stuff about not cramming everything in the last day. no matter how much ive studied ( this is just for me though.. ) i need to put in extra on the last day, everything really sticks so much better.. unless its maths or english i dont go with too much sleep either, the later i study into the night, the more of that i remember the next morning before the exam.. its no biggie if you only sleep 3-4 hours before an exam.. youll be very surprised how far you can push yourself if you want to

[tripperazn]

Originally Posted by oompa loompa

really? i was always told they really grind you in the US.. in the IB at least.. of course making a calendar is easier said than done lol.. if youre in school, dont skip your homework and listen in class and youll be fine..

however, i dont believe stuff about not cramming everything in the last day. no matter how much ive studied ( this is just for me though.. ) i need to put in extra on the last day, everything really sticks so much better.. unless its maths or english i dont go with too much sleep either, the later i study into the night, the more of that i remember the next morning before the exam.. its no biggie if you only sleep 3-4 hours before an exam.. youll be very surprised how far you can push yourself if you want to

Depends on which school in the US, if it's ranked, there's a fair amount of work, since APs are harder than IBs in high school. College course load is also highly variable depending on major and your school. Electrical engineering at MIT is worlds apart from language studies at your city college.

Oh, you can definitely cram before the exam. Just don't sleep in class and wait until the last few hours to actually learn the material. Cramming for review works wonders, but cramming to learn fresh material doesn't. Definitely the easiest way to pass that history course on your requirements.

[Z3120]

"Ideas aren't concrete unless they're written down"

Like writing a good English paper, annotating and having a discussion between you and the material you're reading is key into getting a better understanding of it irregardless of the subject. What I find helpful in studying is to mark comments or questions I have for like English and Philosophy that mysteriously sticks to me. If the material fails to invoke any feelings, try looking up the article and such to see the significance of it and write down your impressions. Write down your ideas, questions, remarks and thoughts on a piece of paper or use graphing tablet synced up to your computer, just jot everything down. If you're having trouble with correlating with the text, try questioning why. Sometimes marking down words you don't know and looking them up for their definition can help improve both your vocabulary and understanding of the text.

For subjects like Math, practice makes perfect.

Originally Posted by tripperazn

Oh, you can definitely cram before the exam. Just don't sleep in class and wait until the last few hours to actually learn the material. Cramming for review works wonders, but cramming to learn fresh material doesn't. Definitely the easiest way to pass that history course on your requirements.

Unless your history teacher happens to give you a study guide of what will be on the test and those questions will be on the test except with very few questions changed to give differentiation from the study guide. Also, if you history teacher is quite lenient on grading, you'll be either too bored to work for the A or you do so casually. (I'll admit. I seldom used textbooks for both Econ and American History. Like twice at most. Open book final exam WITH classroom discussion. Ahh, how miserably easy high school was).

[ZeosX]

I usually have to actually do something to retain it. I can't just read something, or listen to something, and remember how to do it well or at all. So what I do is simply practice whatever I'm trying to learn rather it be a specific programming language, math, English, or whatever else. I retain the information much better that way.

[oompa loompa]

Originally Posted by ZeosX

I usually have to actually do something to retain it. I can't just read something, or listen to something, and remember how to do it well or at all. So what I do is simply practice whatever I'm trying to learn rather it be a specific programming language, math, English, or whatever else. I retain the information much better that way.

i cant say about the rest, but programming language / maths ---> practice. iron rule of studying them

[ZeosX]

Definitely. However if you understand the theories of Computer Science learning a new programming language isn't hard at all. You just need to learn the specific syntax the language employs to implement these theories.

[teachopvutru]

Originally Posted by grey_moon

I suffer from goldfish memory... About 2 weeks not seconds after exams I forget everything.

I'm not sure but doesn't that happen to a lot of people? I happen to suffer from that, too, although it must be due to cramming... Earning grade's difficulty range between easy to medium but retaining information is rather hard.

My AP exam for World History class is in two months, and I'm not prone to and never have taken notes before on independent study (beside being forced to, I've never done it). How do you actually retain historical informations, though? I find that I only have a faint image of what I've read for my reading assignments, and sometime while reading, I quickly forget what I've read on previous paragraphs... lol... I imagine just sitting stuck not sure what to write on the essay parts of the exam, whereas I could guess for the multiple choice part...

Too bad there's no magical cure beside taking note, eh?

[Z3120]

Originally Posted by tiachopvutru

How do you actually retain historical informations, though?

Personally, I would correlate the fact I'm trying to remember with something I've experienced to recall the fact easier. For example, I'll always remember the Opec Crisis of 1973 because its been 30 years since then when we had to ration fuel, and we're still now starting/trying to find alternative forms of fuel and fuel efficiency in the last few years while California has lead and already begun the frontier into such methods since the last decade, if not, years earlier than the U.S. government's campaign for it (someone correct me if I'm wrong). By remembering Bush, Ford cars, alternative fuels, expensive gas and natural resource, I've connected that one minuscule fact with something I'm thinking of currently. Then I remember other small facts such as ethanol fuel and how much of a waste it is to use a product like corn to produce it because there's more advantages to using as food rather than fuel. And to go even further, that's why food prices have been going up lately.

The best thing to do to remember facts is to relate it to something that gets you interested whether it's positive or a negative opinion.

[Yaoi_Daisuki]

i study beside my shonen weekly and ribon mag. I simply cant continue studying for more than half an hour. For every 30mins i will flip around the mag or start drawing for about 15-60mins depending on my mood and continue this repetition. Works well for me, simply because im a no lifer and could spend 18 hours on my beloved chair daily. In this way i get to study quite abit and dont feel fuked at all