study habits?

[highlyfavored]

What are yours like?

Do you study for hrs, or do you study more days for less time?
Do you set your study sessions based on material to cover( goal of 1 chapter per night) or time (study every night for 1hr, and just cover what you can in that time)?
Do you make notecards?
If studying for the PCAT, do you study all of one area then move on or do you mix it?

Post whatever it is that you do.

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[CauBePharmD]

I always try to study until the last minute before the exam; however, i always pass with a B for every class. Now, i am trying to get rid of my bad studying habis

 

[Kaya31]

Study?? What's that?

 

[calrx]

What are yours like?

Do you study for hrs, or do you study more days for less time?
Do you set your study sessions based on material to cover( goal of 1 chapter per night) or time (study every night for 1hr, and just cover what you can in that time)?
Do you make notecards?
If studying for the PCAT, do you study all of one area then move on or do you mix it?

Post whatever it is that you do.

I try not to do anything last minute, especially when it comes to studying. I'm also really anal so I like feeling prepared for things. I usually study for a couple of hours, take a break, and then study for a few more hours. I can't study for hours and hours without taking short breaks to clear my head. I usually have a goal to accomplish X amount of material by the end of the day. Ex: Today is my math and bio day. I'm going over calc problems and reviewing all of my biology notes... again. I learn best by writing everything over and over (which can be time consuming.) For bio, I read through all of the Kaplan book and took notes. Now I'm just using my notes to study from. I hate highlighting. I need to write and rewrite everything myself. When studying for the PCAT I definitely mix the subjects up. I would get terribly bored studying one subject for a week straight. It doesn't work for me to study chem for a week, then bio for a week, then math for a week because by the time I'm done with math, I'm a little fuzzy on certain chemistry issues. I think the material is fresher in my mind because I revisit it evey other day or so.

 

[LittleMissB]

What are yours like?

Do you study for hrs, or do you study more days for less time?
Do you set your study sessions based on material to cover( goal of 1 chapter per night) or time (study every night for 1hr, and just cover what you can in that time)?
Do you make notecards?
If studying for the PCAT, do you study all of one area then move on or do you mix it?

Post whatever it is that you do.

I study for hours as opposed to more days for less time. I find that I learn better, especially with the sciences, if I study the material in large quantities.

I typically do the "1 chapter per night" thing you mentioned.

I used to make notecards in general biology. With genetics, biochemistry, and molecular biology I did a lot of writing on a whiteboard I bought myself. Then when I got to cell bio and physiology reading the book and just understanding everything as I read it seemed to work best for me.

On the PCAT I studied one area at a time even though I didn't feel it was necessarily more effective than mixing it up. I was just more into seeing how thick the pages got as I progressed though my Kaplan book. It made me feel, "Yay me... I'm getting somewhere and am almost done going through the book once."

 

[xnc123]

My Calc teacher plays classical music in his class. He told us he researched it and classical music, w/o words played low, while studying/reading opens up the analytical part of the brain.
Of course I thought he was full of it. Last night I was struggling for some time trying to figure out my physics homework, so I took a tv break for about 15 mins and put on the classical station on satellite thinking what harm could it do, then went back to physics. Lo and behold, everything started to make sense almost immediately! I'm going to start doing this everytime I study.

 

[iheartpandp]

The first week I try to figure out what we are going to cover and make a plan, to do certain things each day. If I don't plan it out, it won't get done. I don't always accomplish it all, but it gets me going instead of just putting it off. I've found that if I wait to a couple days before the test, I get stressed, other tests will pop up ect. and I do worse. For science courses I like to read the material and outline it as I do it, because it helps me work through the material instead of skimming it.

 

[CauBePharmD]

1. Be prepare for every class
2. Study ahead
3. Study with a group of friends
4. Ask the teacher

 

[Khushi]

i normally read all the pages assigned for each lecture that same day and highlight the more important stuff. for exams, i`d start studying a good week before, studying for a couple of hours a day instead of cramming two days before that.

it really helps to study with a group of people. my friends and i get together in the campus lounge in the evening and have dinner and studytime. (yes, i study well when there`s food around.)

also, you can ask your professor if he/she is planning on having a review session (mine usually do this for finals only).