Study Tips

[Dasquian Belargic]

So right now I'm on a break from studying for an exam, and I was wondering... does anyone have any special techniques or methods they use for absorbing all that information and passing? Besides sneaking a cheat sheet in :mneh

[Miranda Tarkin]

I study oddly. Basically not only do I read everything, I say it out loud. That way I visualize and hear it. Working two parts of the brain to retain the knowledge :)

[Dasquian Belargic]

I spend a lot of time re-wording and re-writing what I'm reading... but I've never tried reading everything aloud. I might give it a go, at the risk of annoying my housemates :lol

[Zem-El Vymes]

Chocolate-covered, cream-filled doughnuts. The only time I ever ate them was the week leading into exams, but I'd buy a half dozen and that would be my brain fuel.

It also pays to not try and micro-manage the stuff you study. You need to filter the content through the teaching style of your instructor, and the objectives of the course. You will get plenty of hints as to what you are expected to know, and what is detail-laden fluff. Follow those cues for the most part. If you get the major bullet points nailed, you can go on to some of the less obvious things.

[Karl Valten]

What class is it and do you know the exam format?

[Dasquian Belargic]

The class is called 'Theorizing Difference' - it's about different types of literary theory. Our study material has been essays on topics such as feminism, gender studies, post-colonial theory, etc.

The exam is split into two parts: a close textual analysis of an extract (provided in the exam paper), and then an essay on another one or more extracts which we've studied through the module.



Personally, I like Charley's suggestion of eating donuts :D

[Jeseth Cloak]

Well, I have extreme ADD, so I've had to develop some really interesting study techniques. Maybe some of these will help you:

If I don't need a computer to do my work, I get far away from it. Being too close to something with a constant stream of information is too tempting for me, and it takes my attention away from studying.

I'll make sure I have a quiet environment, with a layer of unchanging background noise; a fan, air conditioner or heater is usually good, but I suppose something like rain and thunder would work too. Then I pour myself a hot cup of white tea, or a nice shot of sake.

Then I write down what I'm trying to learn over and over again. I won't bother to write down everything, and just mostly take notes on the most essential items. For example, if I'm trying to learn a formula, I'll write it down over and over and over again, until I've memorized the formula - even if I don't really understand it yet. Once I've done that for about fifteen minutes, I work on trying to understand the problem one step at a time.

If the subject is more along the lines of a foreign language, I'll make sure no one else is around and then I'll start carrying on a conversation with myself, or with my study book. For writing a foreign language, I use my technique of memorization through repetition. I learned how to write Hiragana, Katakana, and a little over 200 Kanji using this method. It's important to challenging yourself to writing down larger and larger portions of what you've learned, until you can write out the entirety of what you know in one attempt.

If you're learning history, then I'm not sure if I can offer any suggestions. I suppose you could try to memorize facts through repetitive writing, but since I've always found it easy to remember things I've read, it's never been something I've had to work hard on. Sorry. :\

Post-script: Highlighting key points to draw from when formulating your thesis for an exam paper is very helpful, too.

[Zem-El Vymes]

Personally, I like Charley's suggestion of eating donuts :D

Most of my studies involved finance issues, and sugar is really good for that sort of left-brained stuff. There is a reason why offices stock junk food, as much as I begrudge it.

[Morgan Evanar]

Depends on the subject. If it's reading heavy, I read the chapter, take notes from the chapter, go over my notes. That's normally enough for me.

If it's math based, I do a crapload of math :(

[Karl Valten]

The class is called 'Theorizing Difference' - it's about different types of literary theory. Our study material has been essays on topics such as feminism, gender studies, post-colonial theory, etc.

The exam is split into two parts: a close textual analysis of an extract (provided in the exam paper), and then an essay on another one or more extracts which we've studied through the module.



Personally, I like Charley's suggestion of eating donuts :D

Yeah, Charley's is good. I really don't know how to study for these types of tests. I had a similar class this semester, but our final was just a 7-15 page paper.

Sorry, but I don't think I can really provide any positive advice. :(

[Taja Loraan]

I don't think I've ever actually "studied" -- my so-called exam preparation has always involved scanning through the lecture slides once each (twice if I have time), starting from around 2/3am the morning of the actual paper. It also involves skipping half the key topics, reading through what little is left very very fast, and filtering out most of the important sections ... not to mention suffering through immensely high blood pressure and stress levels.

I wouldn't recommend it.

[Dasquian Belargic]

YOU!!

:glomp

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Taja!!! :glomp

As for studying I always crammed the night before for maximum retention the day of. Try not to stay up too late - sleeping in through the class is a bummer, especially if you've prepared. :p

I re-wrote notes and usually had a partner to quiz/quiz me on things we thought would be on the test. Even if you don't have someone in the same class, if you have a housemate willing to lob a few questions at you to test your memory this will help immensely.

[Kraehe Branwen]

I always did a lot of cramming the few days before the test and it did wonders. I have a short term memory so that always worked better for me... lol

[Darth Binky]

I've never been much for studying but I do have this to say. Don't stay up studying the night before. Its better to get a good nights sleep so you're better able to remember shiz come exam time.

[Dae Jinn]

I've always said that you don't know it before the exam, you definitely wont remember during. Which is probably why I took mostly art in school. Since I'm seriously scatterbrained, I write things down everywhere. I find once I put something on paper, I can remember it much better.

[Dasquian Belargic]

you don't know it before the exam, you definitely wont remember during.

:lol I don't know why, but the simplicity of this is making me laugh. Too much, perhaps.

[Dasquian Belargic]

Well, I'm off to my first exam of the year very soon... May the Force be with me.

[Taja Loraan]

Consecutive hugs from both ze admins. Man, I am cool. B)


Don't stay up studying the night before. Its better to get a good nights sleep so you're better able to remember shiz come exam time.

I disagree. <_<


you don't know it before the exam, you definitely wont remember during.

I disagree. >_>

[Morgan Evanar]

Consecutive hugs from both ze admins. Man, I am cool. B)


Don't stay up studying the night before. Its better to get a good nights sleep so you're better able to remember shiz come exam time.

I disagree. <_<


you don't know it before the exam, you definitely wont remember during.

I disagree. >_>Disagree all you want, your health says otherwise.

I generally take good notes. I'm very lucky that I have the ability to speed read, so I usually cover the relevant material once or twice and make some fresh notes. Almost always more than enough. I study my notes before the exam, and that would be that.

:hug:

[Lilaena De'Ville]

^^ what he said. I was always a terrific note taker as well. And an awesome test taker. Remembering much of anything a week after the test... well that's what the notes are for. :p

[Cat X]

I never studied. I just made stuff up. Worked really well!

[Morgan Evanar]

Oh also I stay waaaaaay away from the computer. Too damn distracting.

[Dasquian Belargic]

I can't stand hand-writing notes, so I always have to be at the computer. My hand-writing is too scribbly scrawly.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

I don't know how typing notes would work, but for studying it helps you retain the information if you handwrite/re-write the relevant information. Really. :) Saying it out loud helps too.