In Need of Studying Tips

General Discussions
#1

I’m in full swing with my midterm exams and I’m having a little bit of trouble. Tomorrow is my bio exam and I am starting to freak out a little bit. There are 5 chapters of which 2 I know almost nothing about because they were early in the year and another of which I am not super familiar with.
For my spanish class I can just study this little packet the teacher kindly made for us but for biology I am a little stuck.

For the past few years I have been able to just look at my notes and somehow memorize them, but it’s not working with this class for some reason. It’s like my brain refuses to soak in any more information. Of course I haven’t filled it up that will probably never happen.
I have my textbook and piles of notes and, of course, the internet.
What are some studying methods that you guys use?

I would be grateful for any suggestions.

Thanks

#2

Biology, aha, had an 86 then got a 95 on the final to finish with an A 8)

Tips, don’t use the computer to study, it will distract you. Don’t just read through stuff, test yourself and most importantly do practice problems. Don’t go numerically through chapters, start from the stuff you remember the most.

#3

Nice, I bet that made you happy :smiley:

Practice problems as in those random problems in the textbook?
If so there are plenty of them…

#4

I seem to be a more auditory learner sadly, which is hard for studying.
Thanks for the response though, these are good tips.

#5

I feel you, I have finals next week in AP statistics, Literature as Entertainment (a really awesome class where we read and watch modern books/movies) and intro to business. As of right now, AP stats seems like it’s going to be the hardest, but Intro is right behind it :frowning:

School is tough, but I think I really study the best when I just make myself do it for 30 minutes, take a break for around 15, quiz myself on the stuff I just learned and then study for another 30 minutes… It seems pounding it into my head is the only way I learn!

#6

One of thing I know is true (one of my professors gave the study but I do not remember it) is that if you do not go over the material you just learned within 24 hours after learning about it, you lost almost everything. So for math classes, before hitting the sack, try a few problems even if you get them wrong.

Next tip is to do all practice problems in the book even the even ones. Some professors literally pull them right from the book.

I have one more final, Fundemetials of Game Programming which is really Making a Physics Engine With Outdated Technology. Very math intensive. It is more like how to read PHD papers as that is all we are given to solve problems. Good luck btw.

#7

These all really helped :slight_smile:
I may be a decent programmer, but I suck at studying… Well I have the exam today, and I actually feel pretty prepared.
Wish me luck.

#8

So was I. My biggest problem was that while I was studying, my mind was focused on getting it over with quickly so I could start playing computer games again :confused: And I always waited until the last moment to do all the studying. Only years later when I went back to school after having worked for a couple of years I learned from my mistakes; I studied by choice (which takes away any rebellion against doing it), I did it far more ordered and spread out and I studied together with classmates; I learned the value of a team while on the job.

The main difference between my near-failure and my later success was that the second time around I had learned how to focus. If you don’t have that, you might as well call it quits. So what can you do the next time to get and maintain that focus? an important question to answer for yourself as soon as possible.

#9

Get some previous papers and select the chapters (not questions) that were touched frequently. Before dinner, just read those chapters out to your brother/mom/dad/friend and go to bed and sleep well. Wake up early in the morning and see the questions in the paper and say the answers to yourself. This is the method I follow and I’ve never got less than 90% in school.

MOST IMPORTANT! DON’T TURN ON COMPUTER THAT DAY! IT DISTRACTS YOU AND YOU MAY FORGET WHAT YOU READ

#10

Spanish and biology… I hate them. What works for me is waking up at around 5am, turning on the radio, getting a coffee and studying for about 2-3 hours writing notes and answering questions. I’m great with anything that involves logic; maths, physics, programming etc… Any time past noon for some reason I can’t concentrate much on anything else though. Writing notes and answering questions is a must, but I guess you should do whatever else works for you.

#11

Procrastination is key, go on an internet forum and ask questions about studying

:persecutioncomplex:

#12

Good tip.

I study java ebooks(on my mobile phone or computer) 1 hour everyday, I practice what I learned and this is it.
At school… I hate portuguese(I’m brazillian), but I’m good with english(maybe because I play games everyday? LOL).

And tip I could give to you… Write many questions based on what you studied, answer them, read sometimes the answer, then ask the questions to yourself, that’s what I do to study =]

#13

Guess what? You guys were right :slight_smile:
94% on the exam. A for the semester.
Thanks alot to you guys that responded, those helped me then and I’ll continue doing this stuff as it really works for once :wink:

#14

Congratulations!