Struggling to improve from first semester, advice for study habits

[bigfella]

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After last sem ended, I really wanted to improve my grades. I knew I did honestly did not put in enough time studying and also crammed for exams. I asked my chem prof how to do well but the advice was generic- do the homework problems, go to class... I have put in more time doing problems and studying earlier now (although I'll admit it's only 3-4 days, when I should be doing 1-2 wks in advance).

I already go to all my classes and pay attention, go to office hours, and work with others. This sem I went to a few group study sessions but it was not time efficient. One new thing I learned is to look up online resources like Khan or youtube concepts. And I've heard of Anki, but for chem I know its mainly practicing problem solving.

But I keep getting average grades on tests and essays and I still can't get As. I'm worried that if I can't find a way to do better, I will do worse in upper division classes, when I will have less time as well (I am not volunteering or active now in ECs). And even if I perform the same it won't look good. I'm also worried its been over a semester and a half and I still haven't found out how to succeed academically in college.

Thanks

 

[E.Hemingway]

First of all, don’t be discouraged. It takes a while to develop effective study skills and habits. Keep working at it and you’ll find something that works for you. Once you develop good habits, you’ll study more efficiently, and you’ll find you have more time to dedicate to ECs while also earning better grades.

What worked best for me (which will not necessarily work best for you) was studying for 2-4 hours every day (not just in the week or two leading up to an exam), and spending most of that time doing practice problems and exams. Reviewing lectures and slides should only constitute like 20% of your study time - the other 80% should be problems and practice tests.

It’s important to actually try the problems. Don’t just look at a question, give up before writing anything down, and then look it up in the back of the book and think to yourself, “oh yeah I did know how to do that.” You’ll never learn that way, and I was definitely held back by that bad habit for my first year or two. If you don’t know how to do a problem, try anyway. Put pencil to paper. Get it wrong. After doing a couple dozen variations of one type of problem, you’ll discover what mistakes you tend to make and how to avoid them. You’ll discover the “algorithms” that lead to the right answer. I think the best way to learn is through mistakes and repetition. Focus on understanding why the right answer is the right answer, rather than just memorizing facts (although often you have to do both).

Again, what worked for me may not work for you, but I think this strategy is generally quite effective. Hope this is helpful for you.

 

[Cornfed101]

It also totally depends on the class. Microbiology requires a totally different strategy than organic chemistry. Chemistry is lots of practice and biology is more memorizing and making connections. Figure out what your teacher tests on and make sure that is your focus

 

[E.Hemingway]

It also totally depends on the class. Microbiology requires a totally different strategy than organic chemistry. Chemistry is lots of practice and biology is more memorizing and making connections. Figure out what your teacher tests on and make sure that is your focus

This is a good point. My advice is geared more towards classes like genetics, chemistry, calculus, and physics. A lot of the time, biology is mostly memorization. But understanding underlying concepts will still make it easier to memorize a large volume of information.

 

[stickgirl390]

My organic chem teacher gave me some good advice. She said don’t worry about doing 2 hrs each day, or some number like that, as it can quickly become overwhelming. She said commit to doing “something chemistry related every day”. That can be a 7 min Kahn video, 3 hours of practice problems, or anything in between. Basically what happens is you start off small, and then as the semester goes on you’re just itching to practice and see if the method is working, so you end up “tricking” yourself into enjoying longer and longer study sessions. Also, you know you can stop whenever you want to because your commitment is only “something every day”. But you don’t stop, because chemistry is awesome!

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

You’ve gotten some good advice here. I will add this. Have you experimented with different learning types? Some people are primarily auditory or visual or kinetic learners. Some people learn different topics best with different methods.

 

[Select All That Apply]

@bigfella If you don't learn forwards, then learn backwards. Instead of spreading yourself too thin with too many materials, you need to look at your results and figure out what works for you. Be flexible, be intelligent, and try to start thinking about constantly getting the most out of each study session.

The first thing that you are asking about is awareness. Self-awareness starts with work, it's a self-refining process. Only you can really identify what are the success factors that will drive you from test to test. These arbitrary numerical metrics are useless if you don't understand the material. Being 8 hours in a library can be equal to someone else spending 30 minutes at home if they are focused on maximizing their time spent for knowledge learned. As you refine your learning process you will become more efficient, smarter, and proficient. But you need to believe that you are capable and competent. Anki cards? Depends. Are you someone who does 750 cards and feels like it it worth it for a single exam? These are questions that pertain to who you are and what you believe to be true. No one else can speak to this.

The second thing that you are concerned about is external validation through your grades. Instead of allowing a B to stand for bad, you should look at it as balanced or basic. This means that you have a grasp of the core, but not a refinement of what the test is looking for in terms of mastery. Looking at grades as the end all and be all also spells out B for Burn Out. You cannot understand how you test until you understand the test. Let's say the difference between a B and an A is 10 questions. We still don't know anything about why you got those 10 questions wrong. On the most basic level if you got it wrong because you didn't know then that's a problem with your scheduling/time efficiency in covering the material. On a higher level let's say it's an application mistake where you knew how to solve the problem, but you couldn't apply it correctly. That's a problem with your practice of the knowledge you have. Now, let's say that on review you completely didn't know the question even though you understood the basics and the application, then we have an assessment issue with identifying the question within the context of the material. I don't know how comfortable you are with tests, but if you are tying your study habits to outcome based results, then you need to start thinking about how those outcomes can be achieved through constantly refining your study habits.

Finally, I don't think the difficulty changes with higher division courses once you begin to target and refine your learning habits on a day to day basis. Personally, I am an advocate for splurging on additional resources even if you think it will boost your score by 1%. I think that facilitating how you think will make learning easier for you in the long term and you will be able to piece together strategies and generally be able to hold strong in upper division classes.