MEGA - Studying, Exams, Stress, and coping with them

For most courses I re-write my notes later the same day, expand on points I'm not clear on, etc...

Then I read them over and sit down with a pad of paper and try and write out as much as I can from memory. I'm a very visual learner so any time I can make a diagram I do that.

Also I go over as many practice questions and old exams as possible, usually the questions on old exams are indicative of what to expect on the upcoming midterm and final.

I also read the textbook and highlight the important parts, sometime I'll make notes out of the text, basically condense a chapter into 3 or 4 pages of key points.

Sometimes I study alone, sometimes with friends, having people around can be distracting but isolation drives me crazy. Also I drink a cup of coffee or some tea, it helps me focus.
 
I just read the text once, attend lectures and take notes that only make sense to me. When people ask if they can borrow my notes I generally have to tell them no, and they think I'm being rude but in reality my notes are just random terms and dates and doodles and I synthesize all the information in my head somehow. So like, my notes wouldn't make any sense to someone who wasn't me. Does that make any sense? I don't know how my brain does it really, but it seems to work. Studying with other people drives me crazy. I have a photographic memory.

However, for people who are normal, re-copying notes is an excellent way to retain the information.
 
I used to re-copy my notes, and I found it useful for a while, but I've since stopped doing it as it was taking too long for too little benefit. It used to be a necessity for me because I was a terrible note taker - I'd scribble and draw over everything and it just ended up being an illegible mess. A few years ago I managed to break the habit and my notes are now very organised.

I usually read over them a couple of days after class and make flashcards of anything I'm having trouble remembering or think may be important later on or for exams. I make a lot of flashcards. I colour code them. It's pretty embarassing. I get a lot of shit for it, but it works. I usually just flip through them when I'm on the train, and if I do it regularly the information just sticks in my brain. I get my boyfriend to quiz me with them before exams, too, which drives him nuts but helps me a lot.

I always go to class (seriously - in the last three or four years I think I've only missed one) and I generally read everything that's required. I try and do all the readings before class, as having a general idea of what's being discussed really does make remembering and understanding the material a lot easier, but I tend to be a bit slack about it if I'm short on time. Studying or reading with other people drives me crazy too. It's great to have someone to ask questions to - and I find answering my friend's questions helps me too - but I get too distracted.

The most important part of studing for me (apart from my flashcard obsession) is starting early. I start studying and researching stuff right from the first week of semester. Bizarrely, I think this stems from lazyness in a way - I absolutely hate cramming or spending whole days on a single assignment, so I try and space it all out as much as possible. I also work full-time, so I don't really have the option of spending a whole day (or night) doing an assignment at the last minute.

It's taken me seven years of uni to learn good study practices, though. My first degree I did nothing but drink and take drugs and not do any work. For me, trying to force myself into useful study patterns was pointless without the underlying motivation and desire to do well.
 
>>How about you guys?>>

I reread my notes and highlighted sections of the book on the occasions that I feel I need to study.

ebola
 
I condense notes into a study guide. Retyping all the important shit helps me a lot.
Then I quiz myself with that study guide.

Oh, and study only for about a half hour to forty minutes at a time, then take a break. Study last thing before bed, first thing when i wake up, and then once before the test. That usually gets me a good grade.
 
Depends on what your studying. If your studying something non-technical(english,history,etc..) READ!!!!! If your studying something technical(engineering,chemistry,etc...) do HOMEWORK problems. And definatly study in short bursts like firefighter said. You can't lift weights for 2 hours straight, so why would you expect your brain to be able to absorb info for 2 hours straight.
 
I dont study very well. for things like microbiology, biochem, physiology, i look over notes/textbooks the week before and try to stuff it in.occasionaly ill rewrite stuff.

the stuff thats more tangible like nutrition and community health and all that bullshit, i remember more easily. i also read over and write notes and read handouts and articles. i have a terrible time trying to study and its ridiculously frustrating. one year i went to a perfect circle concert the night before, then studied from 3-5am, wrote the exam at 8am. i have no idea how i have a 3.1 GPA.

im starting my ADD testing tomorrow too..yay!
 
it's safe to say that due to a severely fucked up attention span i don't know how to study--not to say that i haven't ever done well in school! but it's hard to be a good student & get yourself to jump thru the hoops when you're fucked up emotionally :\

for a long time during college i actually had to be on drugs to get schoolwork done, and that sure as hell caught up with me. twas amazing though...i would sit in class and hardly take notes, just memorizing almost everything, and usually i'd only read a chapter once. this actually worked for a long time, i was getting As and Bs.....then tolerance set in, i quit doing drugs, everything started going to shit and i eventually ended up doing a medical withdrawal.

i'd say i'm still gonna have to be on drugs; only this time it'll be psychiatric drugs, a more workable solution.

actually maybe i really *do* know how to study, but i've been too "lazy" to do so in the past, because of how fucked up i was. :eek:
 
Though I've already graduated, when I was in school, I found the best way to study was to make marginal notes in my books--and hence, make my own book a kind of Cliff Notes--or barring that, to condense reading material or longer notes into a few short, concise handwritten pages for easier reference. And for language classes, homemade flashcards are a must, IMO.
 
there are not any tests in the graduate program i'm in, so it's been a while, but in college i was lucky enough to discover the best way for me to study.

during class, i'd write down EVERYTHING. i took tons of notes. i found that i didn't remember anything by simply hearing it- i needed to read it too. the night before the test, i'd organize and rewrite all my notes in different colors. for example, if the test was on several psychologists, i'd write the information about each one in a different color. then i'd just study off of that. i never went back to the text- that didn't do anything for me.

during the test, i was able to visualize the color the answer was in and where it was on the page... and eventually i'd remember what was written there.

i didn't 'learn' how to study until college, when i had to figure it out for my own. i really think that high schools need to do something to teach students various methods for teaching and help them discover the most effective way for them to study.
 
during undergrad my studying consisted of going to class and then reading the book a few days before the test.

now in law school i take tons of notes and do all of the reading and take notes on the reading. and then i compile it all into a giant outline (70+pages for the 5 unit classes) and study from that. and then when it gets closer to the test i take a bunch of practice tests that the professors give out. its a lot of work and im not a huge fan, but its not as bad as i thought it would be!
 
Going to classes really helps, because when I start attending only once a week for a 3 day a week class, I end up studying/reading the entire chapter several times through and hope that there is no extra material on the exam. I usually am not this bad, but having 8:40s and an hour commute can get difficult for a sophomore ;).

Flashcards, the more the better. Color coding and repetition REALLY helps me. Although I have gotten much better, I still cram more than I should. 5 classes (none of which are fluff) can get really overwhelming and I push some reading back until right before the exam.

Learning is still learning in progress for me.
 
Taking notes during lecture, rereading the text, and making additional notes while rereading the text.

Rereading the text after a lecture can be freakin' amazing. A lot more of what you're reading will make a lot better sense once you've been through it once and have had it explained to you verbally.

A huge part of successfully studying is being thorough and consistent from week one, and always attend every single lecture, no matter how much you may want to skip.
 
i had this idea study info easily. It consists verbalizing my notes into a recorder, then instead of reading u could jus chill and listen to it on the bus or wutevr. I think im an auditory learner so thats what inspired me to think of that. but ya i jus rewrite notes, then reread. people are right on here u gotta spread out the studying or the info in ur memory will suffer ineterference, stuff wil get lost.
 
I used to re-write my notes, filtering out the stuff that wasn't important. It is also important that when you re-write them you do so in a fashion which will stimulate the brain and allow it to make connections. Just writing paragraph after paragraph in one colour isn't the best way to do this. Try diagrams, different colours, font etc

Also, i used to buy books of past papers, which is basically a book of previous exam questions with answers. So i'd do one or two of them a week and then mark myself.
 
Depends on the class format.

For example I'm in Anatomy and Physiology, and the professor makes very long detailed powerpoint lectures. This last test was over sensation, the endocrine system, and blood....and there were around 300 slides to study.

I found that the best method was to alternate the format of the information a lot. Like start out by reviewing 3-4 pages of the textbook, then switch to the same topic on the powerpoint slides, and then maybe look up a couple of ambiguous terms/concepts on wikipedia or something like that. And then do this for each major concept, etc etc. Of course, a lot of A&P is memorization (especially the lab portion). For this, it's simple repetition.

There is no way to conceptualize learning the name of every muscle in the body (trust me).

For a hard science like chemistry....you just have to suck it up and work through the problems. By doing that, you internalize the concepts.

For humanities/social sciences....you just have to read carefully.
 
>>
There is no way to conceptualize learning the name of every muscle in the body (trust me).
>>

That's a good point. I guess I just haven't encountered much material that requires rote methods.

>>For humanities/social sciences....you just have to read carefully.>>

Or spout out pretentious language in essay form come the test and not worry about studying in the first place.

ebola
 
The OMG Finals Are Making My Brain Explode Mega-thread

So finals are bearing down on me this year like never before I am studying frantically, what are you guys doing to prepare for your exams this year? Do you have anyrthing that works well like strategeis... besides cxheating I mean..
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top