Studying?

[jas]

I have long since come to the conclusion that I have the attention span of a small child and a level of discipline that seems to be inversely proportional to the importance of whatever it is that I have to do. I came to terms with this unfortunate, life-blighting truth long ago and I've learned to live with it.

BUT, now I have more to do than I know how to cope with; it's my final year at university and, frankly, I have no idea how I'm going to fit everything in. The problem isn't fitting in time to study (well, it is, but that's not the worst of it), the problem is actually getting anything out of the time I spend slogging over books. It seems to be becoming more and more time-consuming yet less and less productive.

So, for the students or ex-students here, how do you go about studying? Or rather, how do you get the best out of a study session?
Do you prefer to study with or without music? Short, frequent sessions or one enormous study blowout? Writing stuff down or typing it up? Drinking obscene amounts of coffee or doing the sensible thing and not inadvertently giving yourself the shakes? (No points for guessing which of the latter option I'm usually guilty of.)

Any and all advice will be welcomed and grabbed with both hands.

Jas

[zheer]

Hard work thats all it takes, This means 8 - 12 hours every day,sorry but thats haw it is.

[Torp]

I have long since come to the conclusion that I have the attention span of a small child

the problem is actually getting anything out of the time I spend slogging over books. It seems to be becoming more and more time-consuming yet less and less productive.

Short, frequent sessions or one enormous study blowout?

Based on what you have said in the excerpts I selected I would gather that enormous study blowouts would be very counterproductive for you.

Since you've made it to the last year in university it is obvious you have at least figured out "some" sort of methodology to at least pass your classes.

When I reached my last year in college I looked at every class I had to take and realized that there was absolutely no new information that I needed to learn.  The only thing I had to do was to apply what I already knew to different and more complex situations.

My methods for staying on top of my studies:

1) I made an agreement with myself that I would never stay up past midnight studying.
2) I went to every class and paid attention to the types of questions the teacher was asking, the types of problems being discussed in class, and what sections of the text the teacher was refering to most often. (This will tell you what's going to be on the exams)  I was always amazed at people who would take an exam and walk away saying things like, "I had no idea what was going to be on the test."  Of course, these were always the people that never showed up for class too.
3) When I needed to, I would use what I'll call an Outline Method of Redacting information in text books.  I'll see if I can describe it here in any type of meaningful detail:

I would first skim a chapter of a text book looking only at the major headings and/or sections.  Most, if not all, of the text books I ever had were broken down this way.  So, now I've got the Chapter title which tells me more or less what to expect in the chapter and I've got a general idea of the major sub-categories in that chapter.  This will take all of 2 minutes.

Next, I "read" the chapter.  I use quotations here because I never read the chapter word-for-word.  What I'm doing is looking for the "key" concepts within each of the major sub-categories.  You can skim a section pretty quickly and figure this out.  I would underline or highlight the key phrases in each of the sections.  Since most chapters in the text books were only 20-50 pages long, I could usually do this in about 15-20 minutes.  Most of the time I would do this between classes.

OK, when it comes time for the exam, most of my exams generally covered anywhere from 4-8 chapters in a text book.  To this point, I've been to every class, I've skimmed the chapters, and I've located the areas within those chapters that contain the key information I need to understand that section.  I've invested anywhere from 1-2 hours in the text book side of things.

Now, depending on the type of exam I'm expecting, my study habits from here can be quite varied.  A written exam will generally be approached somewhat differently than an exam that requires computational work and very different from a multiple choice exam (not that I would expect too many of the latter in my last year of university).

As a general rule, however, I would pull out a note book and hand-write an outline of the chapters.  This would include the title and the sub-category.  I would go to the first sub-category and see if I could describe, in my own words, what the gist of that category was.  To the extent I could do that I would.  If I couldn't, I would review the key areas I had underlined previously and then write out, in my own words, what I thought I needed to know from that section.  In most cases, this was simply one or two sentences.  I would complete this process for each chapter that was covered in the exam.  Since I was using an outline methodology, I could start and stop any time I wanted.  If I felt I was making progress I could continue; if I was getting bogged down I could go to another subject or go do something else.  The key was to only do this while it was leading somewhere productive.

Once I had these handwritten outlines, I rarely, if ever, looked back at the book.  I would simply review my outlines.  From the outline, written in my own hand, and in my own words, I often felt the information was internalized.  I felt comfortable I could answer just about any question in a written or multiple-choice format.

For exams that required computational work I would generally use a similar process but I would tie in key practice problems as well.  Additionally, I would try and find someone who needed help in the class and act as their teacher or mentor.  I found that the process of helping someone else figure out a problem, I had to know it inside and out.

In reading back through this it all sounds very time consuming.  For me it wasn't.  I worked full time, went to school full time, and was married.  I didn't have a lot of time to study, nor do I find it particularly enjoyable.  I probably put in, on average, about an hour a day, some days none, and other days more of study time.

Studying, and more importantly how we process information, is a very personal thing.  If any of what I've written here sounds like it might help, use it, if not, discard it.  My ultimate goal in reducing all the information was to get to a point where I could look at the title to a chapter and pretty much know everything of importance that could be asked from that chapter.  This, in conjuction with going to class (which allowed me to guess the likelihood of something being asked) allowed me to walk into exams with a fairly high confidence level that I had studied the right things.  I was virtually never surprised by what was on an exam.  And, I had a life while I was in school too.

Jef

[zheer]

yes you are probably right Torp, and thats haw it should be, but for me and for most people its about doing the extra hour.

[Torp]

yes you are probably right Torp, and thats haw it should be,

I have no idea what it is I'm right about or what it is that "should" be a certain way.

but for me and for most people its about doing the extra hour.

I don't think I'm any different than anybody else.  I found a way to get through school that worked for me.  It is very possible if someone copied what I did they could have disastrous results.  Different people process and retain information in different ways.

One of the things I learned from college was that the information I learned wasn't all that important.  The more important lesson I learned was "how" to learn in a way that worked for me.  Now I'm confident that I have a methodology to approach new information.  What I offered above was simply an overview of what I did.  It is certainly not presented as some sort of dogmatic theory as to the epitome of study technique.  I know people who didn't study at all, with varying results.  And I know people who studied ALL the time, again with varying results.

Spending time on anything isn't, in and of itself, good or bad.  It really comes down to how productive that hour is.  If you spend an additional hour on something and you see a worthwhile, incremental improvement, then by all means, spend the time.

[gorbee natcase]

If you can make it fun to slog over books then you have solved your problem

[jas]

Thank you for your replies.

This means 8 - 12 hours every day,sorry but thats haw it is.

This is what I've been doing but it's been proving a bit ineffectual so far!

Torp, thank you for such a helpful post! I'll try doing it your way and see how it goes. My study is woefully disorganised. I have no idea how many different notebooks and Word files I have, or what's in  most of them...

If you spend an additional hour on something and you see a worthwhile, incremental improvement, then by all means, spend the time.

I rarely do, to be honest! It's not really putting in the hours that bothers me; it's the awareness that time is pushing on and I just don't see how, given my lack of results from the hours and hours of study time, I'm going to manage it all. However, it's very possible I've just been going about it the wrong way, so I'll try your method and see if there's an improvement. I'm sure I have an unopened packet of dividers somewhere...

If you can make it fun to slog over books then you have solved your problem

The only foolproof way I can see of doing that is by covering them in chocolate/pictures of Orlando Bloom/a blanket so they're completely out of sight, but I fear that may be a bit of a distraction... It depends what I'm studying, really. Some things I'm perfectly happy to read up on. It's the ones I'm not so interested in that the problems I mentioned above relate to. Mostly.

Thanks again,

Jas

[Tash]

man i feel your pain, i just spent the past 2 years at uni not doing exams, and now i've found i have a 2hr ed psych exam and i'm like agh i can't remember how to study!!! so cheers to torp you've mildly enthused me to study, eventually...

[invictus]

Its actually really simple

1) DO YOUR HOMEWORK
No matter how lazy you are, if you do your homework, you actually save A HELL LOT of time by not having to study as much.

2) Listen in Class
You learn much more than just textbooks and cramming. Listen and remember, yes multitasking, it should come to you after some practice, saves more time for practice.

3) DO YOUR HOMEWORK!!!!
As in (1)

4) Take Notes.
Ok, this may sound obvious, just take down whatever the teachers says or write, yea? WRONG WRONG WRONG/
Whatever the teacher write on the board, LISTEN first, THEN write it down, unless you can multitask

This is how I study

Scan through the text

Read through the text thoroughly, highlight key points
Ask yourself this question:

WHY?

Answer the questions without referring to previous text, note the questions you could not answer (answer on seperate sheet of paper so you can do the questions again)

Refer back to the text to answer the questions you couldn't answer, think again, WHY?

Make up a few questions of your own to answer and answer some of the teacher's questions (should be in your notes)

BTW: Take frequent short breaks, like 5 minutes every 15-30(up to you) minutes of studying, after 15 minutes of studying, our learning rate starts decreasing, take a break and study again.
NEVER STAY PAST MIDNIGHT STUDYING

Then Pass the exam with flying colors and enjoy

[jas]

man i feel your pain, i just spent the past 2 years at uni not doing exams, and now i've found i have a 2hr ed psych exam and i'm like agh i can't remember how to study!!!

What's ed psych? Mine are about music, which isn't so bad ... but none of the subject areas are the ones I find really interesting.

1) DO YOUR HOMEWORK
No matter how lazy you are, if you do your homework, you actually save A HELL LOT of time by not having to study as much.

2) Listen in Class
You learn much more than just textbooks and cramming. Listen and remember, yes multitasking, it should come to you after some practice, saves more time for practice.

3) DO YOUR HOMEWORK!!!!
As in (1)

4) Take Notes.
Ok, this may sound obvious, just take down whatever the teachers says or write, yea? WRONG WRONG WRONG/
Whatever the teacher write on the board, LISTEN first, THEN write it down, unless you can multitask

Options 2 and 4 I can do fairly easily -- when I come out of a class I usually have several pages of notes. Option 1 (and 3) ... erm ... well, I always have good intentions, let's put it that way! I don't really get homework, as such. I do have to do a lot of work outside of my classes, but I've only got two more classes left now, anyway (how scary!).

Jas

[Torp]

1) DO YOUR HOMEWORK

I have a staunch belief that required homework at a college level is asinine.  I often got into arguments with my professors who would use homework as a way to help students bolster their scores in the class, i.e. through easy extra points.  Generally, most of my professors were open to simply grading me on my test scores and they wouldn't hold it against me for not doing the home work.  Other professors weren't so open minded, in which case I would suffer through the added time of completing and turning in the homework.  Personally, I found that I could do one problem and understand it, but professors would assign 10 of the same thing in an effort to "reinforce" the concepts.  For me, that was an incredible waste of time.

Having said all of the above, I do agree that doing homework, especially in classes that require computational testing, is beneficial.  I would often do "homework" in order to better understand the mechanics of the problems.  However, I feel it should be up to the student to use whatever means work for them in order to earn the types of grades they want.

Jef

[Derek]

due to immense fortune of circumstances I have been able to get through college with slightly better than decent grades without exerting nearly the amount of effort most people are required to to reach the same level.   The best part is i'm not even majoring in music, and I still have plenty of time to pursue that...I've really been blessed.

I've never learned how to study for things I don't like, though...I'm probably better than when I started college but my brain is like a very large boulder. When it has momentum in something....it never stops.  When it is at a standstill and I try to move it, it is nearly impossible.  Therefore, the things I have already been pursuing for years out of love, namely programming and music, I have considerable facility in.   Dilligent study of textbooks however....that boulder barely budges an inch no matter how many large planks are inserted underneath it with tremendous leverage.

[e60m5]

The first principle of effective studying is that the best method will depend on the kind of material that is being studied. By kind of material I do not mean subject matter; rather, the medium of information that is being studied. In other words, studying from a textbook is different from studying from a journal article, a score, a law report, or revision notes. I gather that you are studying music, but am not familiar with your course content, and so I won't hazard a guess as to the types of materials you deal with - but I should clarify my advice and give a disclaimer that this is coming from a law student, so the types of material I deal with may be very different to the types of material you are encountering in your studies.

When studying from a textbook, several things should be kept in mind. A textbook is a reference that attempts to set out the subject matter of the relevant topic in such a way that the reader will be able to understand the topic from reading the textbook. Therefore, pay attention to the structure of the relevant chapters. Read the relevant chapters over quickly without taking notes, but attempting to build up a broad picture of what is being explained in the text. Aim to gain a broad understanding of the subject rather than a scattered, unstructured amalgamation of random little facts picked up here and there. Remember that in a textbook, particular examples are used to demonstrate points. Do not, therefore, attempt to remember every single fact presented in a chapter. Rather, use these facts to illustrate the principles that are being demonstrated; understand the principles, and you will have no need for illustrative examples.

If you read from journal articles, keep in mind that there are (literally) thousands of journal articles on every subject imaginable, and if your tutor or professor has put a journal article on your reading list, it will be because that journal article has been singled out above all the other thousands of articles on the subject - it will be important. It is more important to take note on journal articles because they tend to be less expository than textbooks; note down the structure of the author's argument in such a way that you will be able to remember it. Journal articles are written by authors with a purpose - to make an argument, to present a viewpoint, to provide an analysis - much more so than textbooks, which are written mainly to explain (and, depending on the textbook, admittedly to critique).

...I probably don't need to give advice on how to read law reports here. 

In general, several points should always be kept in mind. Firstly, when reading, always read actively. It's absolutely useless just to read a book and let the words float through your head, in one ear and out the other. You won't get anything done. Read with an aim to understand what you are reading. Read with a set of questions in mind; continually ask yourself how this fits in with other areas you have studied - are there any common principles? Do you agree with what is being said? If you read like this, constantly questioning and analysing, you will be faced with issues that you will not understand. Failing to understand something is the most important part of constructive studying. When you come across something you do not understand, write it down; note down what it is you do not understand, and why - what are the phrases that confuse you? When the opportunity arises, ask a professor or a tutor about these areas. The more areas you do not understand, the better.

Secondly, know when studying is effective, and when it is not. No matter how much you may want to study or how much you may need to study, studying for the sake of studying is absolutely useless. If things are not going in, if your mind is not taking in new material or if you are unable to sit down and concentrate, don't try - go and do something else. Your studying will not be effective if you are not in the mindset, and there is no use in trying to force your brain to take in information or question material when it is not in the right mood to do so. Go and do something else - stop by a friend's room, hit the common room / student lounge / equivalent, grab a bite to eat, watch a movie, play the piano, anything. It's a fact of life that sometimes we are just not in the correct mindset to study effectively. Don't deny it, and don't try to fight with it. Accept it and do something else.

Thirdly, what works for other people will probably not work for you. All of our brains work differently. I've tried to keep things as general as possible in this post - I haven't divulged my particular methods of studying (and would probably lose a lot of credibility if I were to do so; they have lately involved protracted bouts of Mario Kart...) because what I do would probably not work for you. Experiment, and don't be afraid to try new study methods - find out what works for you and stick with it.

Finally, enjoy your studying. Don't treat it as "something that has to be done". If that's what it is to you (which I do not think it is - this is a rhetorical question) then the question must be asked, what are you doing even bothering to study? This is something that I regret not doing in high school. Studying can be an enjoyable and stimulating experience, if only you let it. It's true that there are occasions where you won't be able to do this - the night before an exam, some form of revision will be necessary, whether or not you are likely to enjoy it. But as a general rule, enjoy your studies, because there will come a time fairly quickly if you are in your final year where you won't be able to study any more!

I don't know how much of my advice may be relevant, given that we are studying two very different disciplines, from what I pick up. I do hope though that some of what I've said may be of help. All the best for your final year, and don't hesitate to ask me any questions if you have any!

[Derek]

In general, several points should always be kept in mind. Firstly, when reading, always read actively. It's absolutely useless just to read a book and let the words float through your head, in one ear and out the other. You won't get anything done. Read with an aim to understand what you are reading. Read with a set of questions in mind; continually ask yourself how this fits in with other areas you have studied - are there any common principles? Do you agree with what is being said? If you read like this, constantly questioning and analysing, you will be faced with issues that you will not understand. Failing to understand something is the most important part of constructive studying. When you come across something you do not understand, write it down; note down what it is you do not understand, and why - what are the phrases that confuse you? When the opportunity arises, ask a professor or a tutor about these areas. The more areas you do not understand, the better.

Secondly, know when studying is effective, and when it is not. No matter how much you may want to study or how much you may need to study, studying for the sake of studying is absolutely useless. If things are not going in, if your mind is not taking in new material or if you are unable to sit down and concentrate, don't try - go and do something else. Your studying will not be effective if you are not in the mindset, and there is no use in trying to force your brain to take in information or question material when it is not in the right mood to do so. Go and do something else - stop by a friend's room, hit the common room / student lounge / equivalent, grab a bite to eat, watch a movie, play the piano, anything. It's a fact of life that sometimes we are just not in the correct mindset to study effectively. Don't deny it, and don't try to fight with it. Accept it and do something else.

Thirdly, what works for other people will probably not work for you. All of our brains work differently. I've tried to keep things as general as possible in this post - I haven't divulged my particular methods of studying (and would probably lose a lot of credibility if I were to do so; they have lately involved protracted bouts of Mario Kart...) because what I do would probably not work for you. Experiment, and don't be afraid to try new study methods - find out what works for you and stick with it.

Finally, enjoy your studying. Don't treat it as "something that has to be done". If that's what it is to you (which I do not think it is - this is a rhetorical question) then the question must be asked, what are you doing even bothering to study? This is something that I regret not doing in high school. Studying can be an enjoyable and stimulating experience, if only you let it. It's true that there are occasions where you won't be able to do this - the night before an exam, some form of revision will be necessary, whether or not you are likely to enjoy it. But as a general rule, enjoy your studies, because there will come a time fairly quickly if you are in your final year where you won't be able to study any more!

I don't know how much of my advice may be relevant, given that we are studying two very different disciplines, from what I pick up. I do hope though that some of what I've said may be of help. All the best for your final year, and don't hesitate to ask me any questions if you have any!

These are all wise comments, and I've heard all of them before. But I guess that at some deep level I really revile and hate studying, because no matter how hard I try to force my brain to enjoy reading a textbook, it has never happened...and I'm beginning to think it never will.  lol....oh well.  I find for me if my hands are not in contact with the actual material, whether it be program code or music...I cannot absorb new information. 

Actually that is not QUITE true. Last semester I took an Operating Systems course. On two or three occasions, I recall being absolutely captivated by some passage or other in the textbook. I absorbed these topics well...but I find it so hard to keep that state of mind throughout the rest of the course.

Good luck to the author of this thread, though! hahaha

[Derek]

What I often find myself doing with great frustration is comparing myself to truly academically formidable people in my classes. These individuals study for up to 8 hours or more a day. I find on my absolute best days, I'm barely able to muster 3 effective hours of study.  Maybe I'm just a weakling, I dunno. All I can say is how the heck I got as far as I have in college without dropping out is a bloody miracle.

[Torp]

What I often find myself doing with great frustration is comparing myself to truly academically formidable people in my classes. These individuals study for up to 8 hours or more a day. I find on my absolute best days, I'm barely able to muster 3 effective hours of study.  Maybe I'm just a weakling, I dunno. All I can say is how the heck I got as far as I have in college without dropping out is a bloody miracle.

If you can study 3 hours to their 8 and get the same results, you are more formidable than they.

Quantity of study time is rarely proportional to results, quality, on the other hand is usually directly proportional.

In my experience in college there were people who always proclaimed, as if it were badge of honor, that they studied enormous amounts of time each day, as if, somehow, the fact that they studied so much made them smarter.  There were also people who proclaimed exactly the opposite, i.e. they didn't study at all, again with the idea this somehow made them smarter.  I could have made either of those statements, depending on the subject.  There are some things that just seemed to make sense to me.  They required virtually no effort on my part to learn, retain, and regurgitate.  Other topics weren't so easy.  If I wanted to achieve similar results in the more difficult subject, it required more (or a different type of) effort on my part.

There is no reason to compare yourself to anyone else.  Are you getting the results you believe your capable of?  If yes, what's the problem?  If no, what's the problem?

[Derek]

I'm quite confident I could get A's in pretty much everything if only I was internally motivated enough to do so. But...as I said, without that much effort, and combined with incredible fortune of circumstance, I'm getting mostly decent (above average) grades (with a few ugly ones here and there)....so...I guess I shouldn't worry so much.  I guess I just feel because i've had it so easy maybe that will come back to haunt me later in life? I dunno.  Thanks for the reply though. Even though I wasn't the thread author. haha

[Tash]

What's ed psych? Mine are about music, which isn't so bad ... but none of the subject areas are the ones I find really interesting.

Jas

ed psych= educational psychology, it's a class all students doing any kind of education degree have to do

totally agree with doing your homework, the only reason why i ever did well in maths was cos i did my homework. it's logical really, just do things over again and amazingly, you'll remember it more!!

[jas]

Firstly, when reading, always read actively. It's absolutely useless just to read a book and let the words float through your head, in one ear and out the other. You won't get anything done. Read with an aim to understand what you are reading. Read with a set of questions in mind; continually ask yourself how this fits in with other areas you have studied - are there any common principles? Do you agree with what is being said?

I fully agree with this, and I think this is what I find most difficult. (Not reading! -- Stopping my mind from wandering.) As I said before, though, it depends on the subject. Unfortunately, the one I'm focussing on right now is to me supremely boring...

I haven't divulged my particular methods of studying (and would probably lose a lot of credibility if I were to do so; they have lately involved protracted bouts of Mario Kart...)

Don't tempt me! I fell into the abyss of Mario Kart and, having clawed my way out again, I'm trying to avoid it altogether. But let's face it, you could do much worse than Mario Kart.

I don't know how much of my advice may be relevant, given that we are studying two very different disciplines, from what I pick up. I do hope though that some of what I've said may be of help. All the best for your final year, and don't hesitate to ask me any questions if you have any!

It was very helpful! The "common sense" approach to studying rather than the haphazard, coffee-fuelled cramming approach is definitely something I'm going to try! (Although, having my computer face the kitchen probably doesn't help; I find myself making coffee on autopilot. )
Thanks very much for your post.

Jas

[pianistimo]

these are great replies.  i have one more to add.  it may or may not be useful - depending on how you operate.  for me - my eyes get tired - and if i have 'cramming' to do - i sometimes suffer more from writing out 5x8 cards than recording myself asking the question - pausing - and just saying the answer (taperecording). 

or, if you are unsure about some chapters in your book - trade books/chapters with a roomate and have them read and taperecord yours and you read/taperecord theirs.  sometimes listening to your own voice can be rough. 

anyway, that way - when you say - 'i've had enough' you can go to bed and put the earphones on.  same with your music.  make a tape and listen to it over and over to get the right inflections, rhythms, tempos - etc. in your head.  esp. with complicated music.

[johnads]

You know what I do, I pray to God to help me in my study. I pray before I study and I pray that what I was studying would be stuck inside my head... And guess what? It works everytime. That's all, I hope that helps.