Study Habits

[aurovon]

Just curious to know how your personal study habit is like? Do you prepare ahead of time so you know whats going to be lectured in class? Or do you study the material after each class lecture mainly? If so, do you do it asap or wait until its getting close to your exams? Or do you have other ways you feel comfortable with? Any info would be great!

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[laura_mideon]

I learn the best when I stay ahead of the teacher and basically use the class as a review session....but most of the time I am too lazy to do that, so I just go to class, then soon after the class I rewrite my notes into like, question/answer sheets, then I study them before the exam.

 

[TrojanAnteater]

I hardly ever read the material before the lecture, but I always make sure I study as we go along (pretty much every day). So if its a MWF class, I'll study the Monday stuff either monday night or tuesday and so on. For midterms and finals I always start reviewing 1 week before the test.
That system seemed to work pretty well.

 

[PharmD4Me]

I read the book once through highlighting. Before I move ahead, I make sure I know the previously read material. When test time comes, I hit the highlighted parts and if i don't understand then I will read that section again.

As far as learning in class goes, I go if the professor is a good teacher and I focus on him/her more than I focus on note taking. Bad teachers are a waste of my time, so I put that skipped class time into extra reading for that class. Maybe not the best strategy, but it has worked for me through 4 years of undergrad. I have always learned the best from the book.

 

[PowerBar]

Depends on what the class focuses on, if it focuses on the textbook, then you have to put your time into reading it a few times over. If they focus on the lectures, then it would do you good to bring a recorder and use the recordings as the basis for studying. In fact, I think either way, the recorder will be your best friend.

 

[Smilescali]

If the class is descriptive like Physiology or Biology then using a recorder is the way to go. I listen to the lectures in the car and at the gym/running. Things like chemistry you just have to study using notes from lecture and the text. I also find helpful websites that help " break down" the concepts and test you on the material.

 

[aubieRx]

I generally let the teacher lectures first before reading a textbook.

why?

1. because if you know what the teacher concentrated on during the lecture you can focus on that during reading

2. if you have some background info it makes reading the text easier to understand

Some teachers test straight from notes and I don't even read the textbook...well except maybe to look at relevant pictures or clarify something i don't understand.

some subjects are best learned sitting and reading a textbook though. Like the physics class I have now. The teacher confuses the heck out of me but the textbook does not so i focus on it.,

 

[yatzek]

love the thread!

i usually pick one class a semester (the hardest one), record every lecture and relisten to every class, stopping and pausing for my notes... so far i never got less than a b in the classes I did that- but its a bit overkill

 

[ilovepharmacy]

Yeah I've tried the whole "be ahead of the professor" thing and I usually got too lazy after the third or fourth week of school and by then I realized that the prof wasn't going through half the crap I was reading! So, now I just read/review enough each week to do assignments, etc. (and sometimes there's nothing) and then I go into serious study mode about a week before a midterm or final. Someone else mentioned websites - I like to refer to them too because they can explain things in different and simpler ways than books and profs - but I usually make it a point to checkout more than one site in case some dimwat put up incorrect info. There were a few classes where I ended up actually studying every week: o chem and physics - so glad that's all over..

 

[ZpackSux]

Studying ahead of time and keeping up with the lectures are ill-effective management of precious time while most of you guys are in your early to mid 20s.

You will only be that young once. And once the time goes by, you can never get it back. Don't waste it by studying.

Night before the exam, procrastinate, and cram. Learn to do it.

And play as much as you can.

You can skip school and classes. You can't do that when you're working.

 

[CuRy]

I generally let the teacher lectures first before reading a textbook.

why?

1. because if you know what the teacher concentrated on during the lecture you can focus on that during reading

2. if you have some background info it makes reading the text easier to understand

Some teachers test straight from notes and I don't even read the textbook...well except maybe to look at relevant pictures or clarify something i don't understand.

some subjects are best learned sitting and reading a textbook though. Like the physics class I have now. The teacher confuses the heck out of me but the textbook does not so i focus on it.,

I totally agree with Aubie's strategies of learning. However, we want to participate in the disscussion (for getting your instructor's attention ), so we need to scan the materials as shown on the syllabus before each class. There are just a few new concepts introduced at a time, so it won't discourage you from reading ahead.

 

[Kawen]

Virtually all of my courses in the first year had objectives for every lecture. The objectives were written in question form, so after the lecture, I would go through and answer the objective questions for the lecture. Then a few days before the test, I would go back and review the answers to the objectives and any other study guides that people in my class had made. Everyone in my class really worked together to make sure that if one person made a study guide then everyone would have access to it...that's why we decided as a class to do our own website so that everyone would be able to get anything they needed to study. It worked out really well since it cut down on the work that I had to do and made studying a whole lot easier.