Preferred studying method?

[Chelly]

pretty much same as skirkle

im pretty good at finding patterns though so if its math, i look at example problems and kinda memorize what i have to do in w/e situation

anything other than math, i dont really have to study for i guess
i have a pretty good memory but if i really have to study i'll just look over the main points and w/e i think will be on the test

think like your professor and guess what will be on the test

[Vandole]

forming questions then answering them/memorizing

[Moridam]

For most stuff, paying attention in class and taking decent notes is enough for me. I'll re-read them a couple times in the days leading up to an exam, but that's about it. As long as I'm good about going to lectures I can make an A without breaking a sweat, but I've been really bad about my attendance the last couple semesters and my GPA has taken a bit of a hit as a result >_>

Math is definitely the exception though, I need to do practice problems/homework to really get anything down.

[Vade]

Teach others. Best way to learn

[Silenka]

One best way to find out whether you know the stuff is to explain it. If you can, you have learned it.

This is how I judge whether I've really learned something.

Except math. Math can go suck a cock.

[Neosutra]

1. Whiteboard (Have a big ass whiteboard in my living room).

2. Mozart.

3. ???

4. Profit.

[Mici]

I said reading because its all I know to do.
With that Winamp and XXL radio, techno makes a lot of noise with nothing to really listen to.

[Colm]

I forgot, but Vade reminded me: Teaching others is a huge help. If I can explain a concept or problem to other people and get the right answer (or know how to get to the right answer), then I know I know it.

[Dareus]

I just listen to the lectures and take good notes. If I don't feel like I know the stuff I just reread the notes a few times during the week prior to the exam and try and play the same music every time. So when I go into the test and can't remember a certain thing I can think of the band I was listening to and it pops right into my head.

[Maguspk]

I always study with friends from the class, usually we'll just go to KEP (a building where most of our classes are) and steal a room and just use the huge whiteboard and write down everything and just work out problems/note take as we go over things. Sometimes we skip this step entirely and just end up going to someone's apartment and studying there while snacking/watching youtube. Oh yeah, we always study the night before, it hasn't failed yet.

Last study session for example, Wednesday night, test is on Thursday, at friend Christen's apartment on a couch that makes you not want to move ever again. We go through a review list the prof made up discussing/answering the topics, as we go through Christen records everything on her laptop. We stop lots throughout and make snacks/talk etc. and by the end we are still relaxed, ready for the exam and have a study guide to look over before we go to bed/class.

I think the more relaxed you are the better you do. I'm totally relaxed when I'm at my own or friends apartments and it keeps my head clear, and ready to take in information. Also, teaching the material helps a ton too, for lots of classes I end up teaching my friends stuff or explaining it. For Diff EQ I taught my entire study group and I made perfect scores on every test, except one due to a careless integration.

[Lexa]

It depends. I'm an awful fucking student, so I need different tricks for different material, raging from awful metaphors to reading it out loud, to writing it over and over and over. I'm the sort of person who will remember EVERYTHING about a subject I'm really into, but retain NOTHING about stuff I'm not interested in. I have room for absurd amounts of movie trivia in my brain, but ask me to learn half a fucking page from any random boring college book (biology, earth science, math, would be prime examples), and I have to study it for weeks on end.

[Elesirdur]

Given that I studied History and Political Science at university, these methods may not apply well to more scientific or technical disciplines.

I found that re-reading my books and papers, going over my notes, and writing down important information that would be used for an exam (or forming an outline of core arguments and supporting facts if I got exam essay questions in advance) were my main modes of studying. I also found that talking to others about the subject to be very helpful.

The mind works in different ways when writing, reading, and speaking and talking out loud or having a dialogue where you defend your knowledge can be extremely valuable. I often found myself thinking of different ideas and concepts that I had not previously identified during a dialogue on a subject.

As for setting, my personal preference is somewhere quiet, maybe with some instrumental music on (electronica, ambient, classical, etc). I could never study properly in a busy cafe or in the dining halls at my university, though the library usually worked okay. However, I have friends who grew up in very busy households and can't study in a peaceful setting; they need to be around noise and energy to get anything done. Considering I am an only child, I find all that noise and activity distracting. Shit is situational.

[Wintermute]

Whenever I used to study I'd make sure to listen to an album I'm fond of or just got a hold of. I found that if I think of the album/specific tracks mid-exam I'd recall the info I studied and needed since my brain linked it to specific songs.

[fstfrk13]

aderall

2nd, it makes a world of difference. before my discovery of adderall, i would literally get a 60 on every final and ever since i have made A's on everyone. It really is a godsend. How else could you skip a month of physics 2 and diff eq's, just study for 4 hours each and score an A while the average is a 50. i finally figured out how people are able to get A's at this god forsaken school.

[Korietsu]

Work the problems. Work every problem from a chapter if I have to till I understand it, as for philosophical classes I have no need to study for. I shoulda been a liberal arts major.

[Conrad]

bleh, I've always been against the use of addies on the sheer virtue of it being an unfair advantage. It's always been the same thing as a cheat sheet or copying the answers to me, and I've never used it. The only time anyone I've known has used them was a friend of mine who was studying for the LSATs, and he said he had to overcome his own guilt to take them. So yeah I guess they're effective, but just something that tips too far over the line of dishonesty for me.

[TheShadyMan]

I read what I'm supposed to learn, rope my one of my retarded friends and explain it to them until they understand, and then it'll stick for me too, since I had to repeat all of it like seven fucking times.

[aznmajiktaru]

Yea it really depends on what you're studying. If it's formulas and shit the only way is to do a ton of problems and understand what you need to use where and just plug it in; or do what I do and put all your formulas into your ti-83 graphing calculator (*'-').

If it's other shit like definitions or knowledge on the subject, I usually just reread it a lot right before the exam cause I've got a decent short term memory; I guess you can always try to tie stuff you read to stuff that interests you like play on words or something you know etc.

[Kaylia]

Any method is fine, as long I'm away from a computer.

computer = source of infinite distraction.



To study, the best way I found is to rederivate every equation (maths/physics) by myself, assuming I've enough time to do it.

[Nirokun!]

People like to say they have photographic memories but they really dont~ I just remember a lot of things in good detail when I pay attention :D I just listen in class and take sparse notes (pertaining to important things, not everything they say that isnt on the outline.) I listen like its a conversation, and try to follow their train of thought as to why things are the way they are. More often than not, they've found an intuitive method for remembering something, and that is how they teach it back to their students.

When I go over my notes, I recall points in class when they are read and remember the ideas surrounding them. The hardest stuff for me to get down are things that dont really have an "understanding" about them. Math and chemistry, when they got beyond tangible concepts (things I could "see" and work out in my head), were hard. Things with non-intuitive steps (even long-division and putting certain numbers in pre-defined places) were hard for me to pick up initially. That isnt to say that my math is terrible, I consider drug calculations free points on exams :D but they're understandable, and I can see the "parts" easily and work with them. Like math and chemistry, i have problems learning everything there is to know about drugs, too much stupid memorization. Therapeutic effects/side effects/adverse effects. Uses/off-label uses. Contraindications. Available forms. Crush? Not crush. Nursing considerations. I bet im missing more crap, but thats ok. Fuck drugs, thats why we have drug books nirokun~

Give yourself time. Go over your notes (once or twice, if made the time.) Then test yourself with questions/problems. Then go to sleep. Then wake up and go over your notes again, then do the same questions/problems. Builds confidence, decreases stress, helps you pay attention to what you're doing in the exam :D Then you'll be like, fuck this shit, saw this last night and this morning. Then finish. Then go over each problem again that you werent 100% sure (i make little dots next to the number of the question/problem.) Decide on an answer (hopefully you were given some insight on a later part of the exam) and move on. Write down your answers/fill out your scantron, and go about your merry way