Study tips

[Beefy187]

Oo almighty Orgahs. I need your help once again

I have a uni entry exam in few days time. I'm not too stressed about that though. Sure I may suck at writing essays but I am pretty confident that ill get in. If not, ill have to wait for another few months so I can give it a try to other schools.

Thing is. I know I'm lazy. I epically failed one subject, miraculously passed two. I got a decent grade on others without much study in high school and I don't want my parents and brother combo shouting at me and insulting me (Asian families.. sigh) as I surprisingly have high esteem (only against my family..)

I have two main source of problem. That being the endless hours on EB. And endless hours of lurking on the Org.

The only study tip that I know is what I learned from a teacher in grade 3, "Imagine your text books are like ladies clothes. Each time you read a page.. She strips one clothes off" and god knows where that teacher ended up in..

Any Org geniuses out there know a good study tip to maintain concentration and work efficiently?

[Strike For The South]

Dont!

[rasoforos]

The only study tip that I know is what I learned from a teacher in grade 3, "Imagine your text books are like ladies clothes. Each time you read a page.. She strips one clothes off" and god knows where that teacher ended up in..

Ignore this one. The last thing you want to do is to end up with a sexual fetish about books

[Legosoldier]

I may not be a genius, but I know a good study method that my current History teacher taught my class. He taught us to use the Cornell note taking system, which has three transfers:

1) Take notes on information that you do not know already.
put special markings for things like vocab words, stuff you don't understand, and things that you think is going to be on whatever test you are taking. Use abbreviations, as long as you remember what they stand for. make sure that you don't take notes of any irrelevant information that has nothing to do with whatever you are learning.

2) Write a short summary of whatever you took notes on
Put everything that you took notes on into a short summary at the very end of your notes.

3) Make some test questions on information you think you will be tested on
this is the last transfer where you will be studying for your upcoming tests. just answer your questions, and if you got them wrong, go back and read about it again in your notes.


This method has worked wonders in my other classes, obviously because they don't have as high standards as my history teacher.

Some other things my teacher emphasized:

1) Train your brain
Do things that improve your brain, such as doing puzzles or juggling.

2) Process
Basically this means that the way things are done are more important than the outcome.

3) Have a Battle Plan of the Day
Keep an organized schedule

4) Link
apparently, this is the highest level of thinking, which is connecting one thing to many things. Seeing that you play EB, you could try to connect events to their causes and their effects.


Hopefully, I have helped you in some way...

[Beefy187]

Ignore this one. The last thing you want to do is to end up with a sexual fetish about books

Don't worry. It never worked for me.

@ Lego Soldiers

Thanks heaps. Ill copy paste and try this method

[Crazed Rabbit]

I'll add; find a spot where you can study without interruption. Being away from distractions helps me immensely.

CR

[Scurvy]

A few things that help me study:

write down the time your gonna work, even if its in 5mins, so like, 10am-10.30 wtc. just so you brain gets ready to learn at that time, so you dont have 5-10mins trying to motivate yourself to work while playing mtw or whatever

work out the best way you work individually, ie. do you learn better by reading or writing etc. but also vary occasionally

I'v never liked working in silence, so usually have radio on, or even work away from desk, in cafe's etc.

[shlin28]

Unplug the Internet.

Are there any past papers you can practice on? For my exams I just download a couple of them, print them out, do the questions and see what areas I need to improve.

[Cute Wolf]

Don't forget the positive thinking about yourself and some nice optimism....

[Rhyfelwyr]

I always study at my desk with the computer. That way I quickly browse the forums every once in a while, and taking short but fairly frequent breaks mean that I can study efficiently for long periods of time.

EDIT: Sorry to contradict half the other posts!

[TosaInu]

There are many studytips, some work (for some) some don't work at all.

Sometimes it just works to start studying the whole day prior to your exam: lock yourself up and absorb the whole book. You may pass with an A or fail miserably. It's not a recommended method though, if only because you'll more than likely forget everything again very soon. That might not be a problem now or even next year, but at some point you'll regret it.

It's better to study a little bit during the entire course and repeat. It's like training for a marathon: the guy who runs 5, 10, 15, 20 miles a day has a much bigger chance of succes than the guy who only moves 40 miles the day before.

Which time of the day is best for you to study? Morning, afternoon, evening? There's a best time for everything. Use the best time for study, the best for eating, the best for sport, the best for hobby, the best for sleep.

Food will influence performance. A large amount of food puts your body in must digest mode. It's not recommended to sport or study after a big meal. Your body will fail to focus and you won't achieve anything.

Not only the amounts of food matter, the type matters too. Some food will make you sleepy, others will alert you (I mean normal food/drinks).

Music can help a bit. You have to tolerate it of course, but some instrumental classic music can boost the brain a bit while learning/working.

When you grab a book to study, do not just open it and start reading at page 1 and so on. Browse the book first. Start simple: check the title, turn the book around. Open it, check the TOC, the chapters, is there a preface? Motivate yourself to dive in, at least pretend for yourself that the book is interesting and good and that you'll learn a lot from it. Quickly read the first chapter, it's ok if you don't understand the whole of it. Read the first chapter again, more closely. Sometimes chapters have a summary, you can read those first and/or last too. The benefit of this seemingly clumsy method is that your brain will get some sort of deja vu, you already know what you are going to read/learn (whether you realize it or not).

Best of luck with the study Beefy187.

[Beefy187]

@ Crazed Rabbit

My laptop is the main source of distraction. So thats true. Cheers

@Scurvy

I've made a few timetables for the daily schedules. But I've always found a reason to ignore it. Silly me

@Shlin

Not going to stop me EBing but that should help...

@ Cute Wolf

My entire family is saying "think of the plan in case you failed.." and its annoying the hell out of me

@ Rhy

Thats what I try to do but my quick browse usually end up being 1 hour internet surfing session..

@ Tosa

I can study best in the mornings from about 9- 12 ish. But the problem for me is always lunch as It always makes me sleepy... My afternoon session starts around 4 pm but I can only get my self going until 5 pm or so.. Evening is when all the good tv shows are on

Thanks for you advice everyone. If anyone knows how I can get my self to keep awake after lunch, that will help heaps. Maybe I need to get my self a cup of coffee..

[Legosoldier]

If you're gonnna get some coffee, just smell it, don't drink it. Smelling coffee is enough to keep yourself awake.

[||Lz3||]

If you can... get as far as you can of the computer!

[FactionHeir]

Go to the library. Everyone else is studying there and you'll be away from distractions (except from social ones that is).
Best if you even find a quiet corner there, which should be possible.

[Beefy187]

Go to the library. Everyone else is studying there and you'll be away from distractions (except from social ones that is).
Best if you even find a quiet corner there, which should be possible.

That would help too

Cheers