[quote]jimmyjames66 wrote:
See that’s the thing right there. I plan my time out like you do, study after class, do homework right away and stuff. However, when it comes test time I still feel like I don’t know enough of the material and am forced to cram anyways, despite studying weeks beforehand. Basically my memory is not that strong and I constantly need to study to drill that shit in.
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Sounds to me like the real problem is your confidence and not your memory.
Your memory will suffer if you don’t get enought sleep and that will make your studies harder. Good nutrition is important as I was anemic at one point when I was in school and lacked energy for anything. Another thing I learned, while learning a foreign language of all things, was repitition . Some people have a gift for memory, others do not. Repitition is important.
One last point, I have an advanced degree in Finance which came very easy to me, but I struggled greatly when writing research papers… really any kind of papers.
I have a horrible memory and I’m a math major, I find understanding the material helps me a lot better than pure memorization. These are the basic steps that I take when I study for math.
Step 1:
Read the material and understand all the definitions and Theorems. I cannot stress this enough, take as much time as you need to fully understand all the proofs for the theorems and understanding the definitions. Make a list of all definitions and theorems and review it as needed.
Step 2:
Do as many problems as possible and understand how they work. The more problems you do the easier it gets. Redo your assignments over and over until you know it like the back of your hand.
I’m an actuarial student and the first time I took the Society of Actuaries exam I bombed it so bad, but after 400+ hrs of studying and over 1k problems later the next exam was a breeze. On a side note, it’s no fun memorizing pdfs, cdfs and mgfs of 10 different distributions.
You need to examine the WAY you study. This is no joke. Have you ever taken psychology? If so, you will understand the primacy/recency concept. I apply this to studying. I would study for an hour go to the gym, study another hour, go to my girl’s house, etc. Think about how you can remember every little detail of an episode of the Simpsons versus those of a movie. As a graduate student of engineering, an hour is usually not sufficient time to hammer out even one problem. I viewed it as if it did not matter whether or not it was completed. Also, going back over what I did previously (sometimes I was verrrry intoxicated) acted as a refresher. This is how those students who claim they hardly ever study get by with it. It is simple. They achieve a balance.
When I looked at the material I learned to view the concepts primarily and the rest was just details. This also cuts study time drastically. I was an engineering major and as an undergrad took 16-17 credits per semester while working about 30 hours. It was very taxing at first, but when I learned that enjoying life was just as (or more) important to me than studying, studying became easier. Yes, I studied less and did better because I viewed it as a part of my life instead of consuming it (even though it consumed most of it). So, you need to figure out how you learn and run with it. This works with everything. I was always a tutor, even to those people in the same class as me. That is because I learned that if I can explain the material to someone else, it reinforces what I know and come test time I could hammer it out easier.
Another thing, when you get more advanced in your degree, it gets easier. That is because all the material in all your classes will ‘‘magically’’ fit together. You will feel like you are learning the same thing over and over again, just from a different standpoint.
Mostly, you are an undergrad. This is one of the best times in your life. Enjoy the hell out of it. So many single women! So much to do for free! Free booze everywhere! Total freedom of expression! It is like a perpetual Woodstock without all the hippies running around. Dude, live it up while you can. No, prolonging it will not be a bad thing.
During my BSc, when things were getting really thick, I tried to get around 10 hours of sleep each night. The more you are learning, the more sleep you need. The less you sleep, the harder you will find it to learn new things.
Like someone else suggested, calm down, relax a couple of hours each day (take a few half hour breaks or something), EAT WELL, sleep as much as you need (ie, you sleep enough that you wake up on your own if the alarm doesn’t go off).
As for how you study, you need to experiment. Obviously, what you’ve been doing so far isn’t working, so try something new. I found that if I re-write my notes every day after class, I practically don’t need to study. Every day, I sat down with my notes and my text book, and re-oeganized it into a more logical flow, filling in info from the text book that wasn’t in the notes. It took a few hours each day, but it produced the first 100% I ever got in university. For me at least, writting commits information to memory much, much better than just reading it. And the re-organization, that will just do wonders.
Just so you know, I went from a 2.x GPA, and just scraping by, to straight A’s and dean’s list awards. What I describe above, in addition to not skipping class, changed EVERYTHING for me.
Dude… You are way better off than a smart person who has no work ethic. I know TONS of slackers out there with S.A.T’s in the 1400’s G.P.A.s over 4.0 and they have shitty 30K/ year jobs working in retail. or worse yet altogether unemployed… (unless you count packing fat bowls in their parents basement as a job). The world belongs to GRINDERS. People who maybe haven’t been dealt perfect hands but who refuse to give up. Give yourself a break… You’ll be just fine
(nice frank grimes reference btw… )
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Our friend above is right. Believe it or not, if you keep your work ethic, you will prevail. Show me a successful man, and I’ll show you someone who is not afraid to work. Persistance is everything.
Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated failures. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. — Calvin Coolidge 1872
As someone who has alot of work ethic and talent (IMHO), and as someone always looking for the edge, I can recommend a few things.
Spike. The stuff does amazing things. Take it when you’re STUDYING, as well as on the actual exam day.
Creatine/DMAE. Not sure about the creatine really, but the stuff is being reearched alot and they are finding more and more good benefits so why not take it? DMAE - helps increase blood flow to your brain. Makes it easier to concentrate. Elevates mood. All good things.
Green Tea/Herba Matte (sp) - I prefer these MUCH more than coffee. Once again, use while studying as well as on exam day. Be consistent.
Harry Lorayne’s Page-A-Minute Memory book. Indespensible for memorizing vocabulary words and mnemonics.
Exercise - get sweaty for at least 30 minutes a day - excrete bad toxins and release endorphins.
Make a practice exam and take it under the exact same conditions you would on exam day.
If you have notes, rewrite the important ones IN YOUR OWN WORDS. Be able to reproduce them on a blank piece of paper without any help.
If you can use a graphing calculator, buy a connector cable and download relevant software pertaining to your subject and/or store equations.
Hard work alone will not necessarily get you there. Smart hard work almost always will.