Studying Techniques

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Jul 7, 2012
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So I find I'm a very inefficient studier finding reasons to not study during the semester and also during exam revision. What techniques do you employ to help you study and revise throughout the semester and during swot vac? And what do you do to stop yourself from procrastinating?
 
I reckon the big procrastination exercise is reading. You read part of the textbook, "yeah, I've got it, all good", get on BF. IMO it is more effective to be doing recall and then reading to fill the gaps in knowledge. If you've done the work through the semester then this is just about making sure you have key concepts organised in your mind.

1. Put together a list of topics to study and set a schedule around those topics. Short bursts then move on.

2. Weight your study towards things your struggling with.

3. Set short tests to recall key concepts. Write things down. Old exams/mock paper ftw.

4.have regular breaks, sleep well, etc.

My aim was that for any topic I had 3-5 key points I could recall immediately and then expand on to answer a question.
 
Nov 17, 2013
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1. Take notes during lectures/classes. Sitting idle will make your mind wander.

2. During semester, try to revise the material from that day's lecture each night, just for 15-30 mins. you'll find yourself retaining a lot more.

3. Similar to above, try to read up on the material before heading into a lecture. Prior to starting semester, have a read through the textbook/practice exams to get a rough idea about the course.

You'll be able to sit through a lecture with some raw idea of what it is about, and hence understand the bulk of it better.

4. Do not touch access your computer during scheduled revision time, EVER. Even if its only to quickly check something, there's a good chance you'll inevitably spend the next hour surfing the net. Remove your phone and/or tablet from your study area.

5. Study in blocks of about 45 minutes with a 15 minute break. Permit time for lunch.

6. Make a study plan. Stick one copy on your desk, and one on your fridge. Get your parents/housemates/partner to make sure you stick to it.

7. If you have access to them, complete practice exams. You'll know how questions are structured, the assessable content and can practice your timing under self-imposed exam conditions.

8. Do NOT study on the day of an exam or the night before. You'll get stressed out when you see something you don't understand. If you ever find yourself stressed prior to an exam, stop revision for the rest of the day and relax. Exams are as much a mental test as they are a test of knowledge.

9. Eat prior to commencing a study period, take a toilet break and fill up a drink bottle. Otherwise, you'll be making excuses to leave your desk.

10. Take one full day off every week, regardless of what work is assigned. Everyone needs one day to laze around guilt-free.

11. Sleep & eat well
 

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Floor Pie

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All good advice.

But I think an important piece of advice is;
Don't wait for motivation to study, don't look for motivation to study, don't rely on anything at all for motivation to study!
You don't need motivation, you just need to do it.

You don't need an excuse to study.

You just study because you can.


It sounds pretty s**t, but really, think about it as you have the ability, right now, to study. You are reading bigfooty content. Stop, set 30 mins on your phone, and knock out 30 mins right now.
 

Colin D'Cops

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Between 1:50 and 2:50 may do the trick

 
I think the biggest thing with study is motivation. You have be to motivated by something in order to do well at University. For me, it was about taking pride in my work and putting the effort in. I wanted to do the best job I possibly could do without pushing myself too much. I knew my limits in the end and didn't go beyond them. In the end, I said to myself, "I did the best I could, and whatever result I get I will be happy with". It is really satisfying to get the results that you worked hard for. Plus, I thoroughly enjoyed my time at University and in fact, am still studying right now doing a post-graduate diploma and honours soon.

Other things that really help with study are:

1) Exercise. Make sure you take exercise breaks whether that means a walk, run or kicking the footy around, even if it's for 30mins. Exercise will give you clarity of mind and you will pump oxygen rich blood to the brain.

2) Meditation. 20 minutes of quite, meditation time is the equivalent of 5-6 hours of deep sleep. There are plenty of free meditation tracks out there to download.

3) Diet. Cut all sugary, processed foods out and adopt a healthy diet consisting of lots of fruit, vegetables, nuts and seeds. You have to feed your brain the right foods and a McDonald's quarter pounder is just counter-productive to what your brain needs. You are what you eat. I cannot emphasise this point enough! Eat real food and not that plastic s**t!

4) Stop studying at around 10pm. Go to bed. Forget it all. Switch your brain off. If you're a night owl, then choose another time. Or, if you get up earlier, then go to bed earlier. Don't have late nights to catch up. They will ruin you.

5) Schedule your study load. You have to be organised. Have time for play, study and work. You will find that you can be more flexible when you have a schedule to.

These are some of the things that helped me greatly. Again, however, the main motivation for me was to do well and take pride in my work. When I based my motivation on this, the above strategies came naturally.

All the best.
 

Stratton_Gun

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In Y12 and Uni I wrote down notes and then spent time memorizing them off by heart. I worked out it took around an hour per page (hand written)
Also do it in morning not night
 

Nallad

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Think of the $2,000 - $8,000 it may cost you to repeat the course if you fail
 

Meow

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How do you learn best? Are you a visual, kinaesthetic or auditory learner? You might learn best by creating mindmaps/charts/diagrams relating to particular topics, you could memorise notes, devise study cards, create songs/rhymes, listen to podcasts/watch videos, or simply answer questions from a textbook or past exam paper. There are a myriad of different ways to study out there - it's all about finding the techniques that best assist you to retain and apply knowledge and, as such, it can be a matter of trial and error.

Also, are you a VCE/HSC or uni student? Many VCE subjects can be largely rote-learned, whereas uni differs significantly in the volume and content of knowledge taught. What works during school may not necessarily work during uni (and vice versa).

Different students will also require differing amounts of study to retain information. I've taught/tutored many students who received good ATARs (i.e. 70-80) after doing seemingly minimal homework throughout the year, and I've taught others who have had to work significantly harder to achieve similar results. Although motivation and dedication is certainly necessary, ability does play its part.
 

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DT2000

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Good advice here for me later on, I'm in Year 9 so my study is mainly reading text books, researching net and/or doing assignments. My parents make me do two hours of study or assignments every night but I break it up.

home from school
fap
study
chores
snack
exercise (run or swim)
dinner
shower
study
fap
sleep
 

HappyChappy35

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Good advice here for me later on, I'm in Year 9 so my study is mainly reading text books, researching net and/or doing assignments. My parents make me do two hours of study or assignments every night but I break it up.

home from school
fap
study
chores
snack
exercise (run or swim)
dinner
shower
study
fap
sleep

That seems rather excessive IMO. Unless you go to some elite private school, I strongly doubt there is two hours' worth of stuff per night to cover at Year 9 level. Studying is all good, but in doing this much a night you're probably still receiving the same benefits as you would by completing only 60-90 minutes.

Heck, my study routine during Year 12 consisted of Facebook, YouTube and finishing assignments/cramming for SACs the night before.
Result= 82.80 ATAR, 41 in English and 40 in Legal Studies at a school with a median study score of 26

(admittedly, I did a fair few practice exams during September/October after coming to the realisation I was screwed if I didn't pull my finger out)
 

DT2000

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That seems rather excessive IMO. Unless you go to some elite private school, I strongly doubt there is two hours' worth of stuff per night to cover at Year 9 level. Studying is all good, but in doing this much a night you're probably still receiving the same benefits as you would by completing only 60-90 minutes.

Heck, my study routine during Year 12 consisted of Facebook, YouTube and finishing assignments/cramming for SACs the night before.
Result= 82.80 ATAR, 41 in English and 40 in Legal Studies at a school with a median study score of 26

(admittedly, I did a fair few practice exams during September/October after coming to the realisation I was screwed if I didn't pull my finger out)

Yeah, it is a discussion I am always having but my parents are very strict with this kind of thing. My big brother is in Year 11 and he his workload went up a fair bit and so I think they think they are preparing me for that but really, I am lucky to get like 2 hours where I can watch TV or just chill and rock some tunes. It kind of feels like they just panicked a bit because my bro took a few months to adjust to all of the VCE stuff. I'm not allowed to have a smartphone until I am 16 and the computers are in a family room because they are super strict with monitoring our usage and stuff.

In school holidays and whatever they are pretty good though, all four of us (brothers) can do what we want and we don't have to do any chores at all during them.
 

HappyChappy35

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Yeah, it is a discussion I am always having but my parents are very strict with this kind of thing. My big brother is in Year 11 and he his workload went up a fair bit and so I think they think they are preparing me for that but really, I am lucky to get like 2 hours where I can watch TV or just chill and rock some tunes. It kind of feels like they just panicked a bit because my bro took a few months to adjust to all of the VCE stuff. I'm not allowed to have a smartphone until I am 16 and the computers are in a family room because they are super strict with monitoring our usage and stuff.

In school holidays and whatever they are pretty good though, all four of us (brothers) can do what we want and we don't have to do any chores at all during them.

The stories you hear of hours upon hours of homework being required during VCE are, quite frankly, a load of bull. VCE is pretty much a test of your ability to regurgitate as much of a textbook as possible and to write complete and utter bullshit within time limits, so it can be largely rote-learned + crammed. Granted, I did my entire Year 12 at a TAFE institute where teachers didn't actively push students to complete set homework, so obviously your brother's experience may differ.

Anyhow, I wouldn't be judging the success of your study habits by the amount of hours per night, rather I'd be evaluating what you actually achieve during study sessions. Make a checklist of things to do and study solidly until you complete them. That said, my study habits mean I'm probably not in a position to give advice on this. :p
 

DT2000

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The stories you hear of hours upon hours of homework being required during VCE are, quite frankly, a load of bull. VCE is pretty much a test of your ability to regurgitate as much of a textbook as possible and to write complete and utter bullshit within time limits, so it can be largely rote-learned + crammed. Granted, I did my entire Year 12 at a TAFE institute where teachers didn't actively push students to complete set homework, so obviously your brother's experience may differ.

Anyhow, I wouldn't be judging the success of your study habits by the amount of hours per night, rather I'd be evaluating what you actually achieve during study sessions. Make a checklist of things to do and study solidly until you complete them. That said, my study habits mean I'm probably not in a position to give advice on this. :p

That's actually a good idea, thanks man. My bro wants to do law after school is done so he is really pushing himself for top marks, I have nfi what I want to do and I told my folks yesterday it is excessive so I think they are going to ease up a bit on me.
 

willba_victory

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That seems rather excessive IMO. Unless you go to some elite private school, I strongly doubt there is two hours' worth of stuff per night to cover at Year 9 level. Studying is all good, but in doing this much a night you're probably still receiving the same benefits as you would by completing only 60-90 minutes.

Heck, my study routine during Year 12 consisted of Facebook, YouTube and finishing assignments/cramming for SACs the night before.
Result= 82.80 ATAR, 41 in English and 40 in Legal Studies at a school with a median study score of 26

(admittedly, I did a fair few practice exams during September/October after coming to the realisation I was screwed if I didn't pull my finger out)

so much this. Completed year 12 last year and this was pretty much my study habit. No way is it necessary to be doing so much homework in year 12. Doing work in free periods in school and actually trying to do as much as possible during classtime can cut out a lot of homework :thumbsu:
 
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I'm studying now, well in 5.

1. Have a timer, set it for 30minutes.
2. Listen to white noise , zero distractions, No tabs open
3. Study for 30 minutes, then get up, walk around, listen to 5 minutes of music....repeat
4. Study for 30 minutes, repeat, but have 7 minutes break.
Keep repeating and increasing the break

I usually find this can help me go over 6-7 hours of lectures effectively. This is important when absorbing information.

There is a video on this on Youtube, explaining the rapid decline in brain power after 30 minutes. This way, your brain drops off, regenerates, and refreshes. You still decline over time but not as dramatic.

I'm going over every lecture one by one, putting everythign relevant colour coded in a word document. Then I'll take all the past exams under exam conditions, then revisit them until I get them all.




 
Sep 19, 2007
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Good advice here for me later on, I'm in Year 9 so my study is mainly reading text books, researching net and/or doing assignments. My parents make me do two hours of study or assignments every night but I break it up.

home from school
fap
study
chores
snack
exercise (run or swim)
dinner
shower
study
fap
sleep
Exercise before fap....ALWAYS
 

Cristiano Ronaldo

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wake up early, drink some milk, exercise, eat breakfast and start studying in 1 hour intervals with a 15 minute break in between for a fap or a smoke break or both if you can do it in time
 
Aug 12, 2012
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You people exercise too much. You only have so many heartbeats before the thing stops working, you know! :p

I've just started uni as a mature age student and had to figure out how I best study / learn too. I'm a bit lucky to be able to retain info pretty easily, but still found it best to figure out my 'style' of learning to make sure I don't short-change myself.

So basically, my advice is to figure out how you best retain information (since that's the most important part of school/uni - critically analysing concepts can't be done unless you 'know' them) and then make a plan around that. For me, I have found that a continuous cycle of taking notes during lectures and then just doing a quick read over them a little while later means I retain the vast majority of info and I'm good to go.

Whatever way you find best for retaining info, be deliberate about doing that every time you sit down to study and you will probably set yourself up for the best result and minimal stress. :thumbsu:
 

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