Studying issues....

[deleted647690]

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So I've always had these weird issues with studying ever since I started college, and I'm more than halfway done, so I guess it's late to bring this up now. I'm always disappointed in myself. My GPA is mediocre, like a B to B+ average maybe; I get way more B's than I do A's. I feel like I always need to be studying. I'm not confident enough in myself to ever spent time doing anything else [except studying], even though I know my "studying" is for the most part not efficient. I never do associate with people outside of friends in my classes when we work on school related stuff, and I always spend all of my time at the library. I stay up till like 2 or 3 am "studying", and then I force myself to wake up early, fearing that, if I wake up late, I will waste the whole day away. With the lack of sleep, I usually end up passing out in the library while "studying", and wasting a bunch of time. Usually, my studying is not super focused. Sometimes, I do get some work done. However, I never feel satisfied with what I've accomplished. I always feel behind everyone else. Also, I often get distracted by the computer or my phone; if a random idea about something pops in my head, I feel the need to search online about it. I browse SDN and waste a lot of time. I'm always thinking about how disappointing my time has been while here in college, and I think I'm going to regret how I did things later down the line. I just really wish I could force myself to study efficiently and smartly so that my entire life doesn't need to be swallowed up by it. Anyone have advice?

 

[efle]

So I've always had these weird issues with studying ever since I started college, and I'm more than halfway done, so I guess it's late to bring this up now. I'm always disappointed in myself. My GPA is mediocre, like a B to B+ average maybe; I get way more B's than I do A's. I feel like I always need to be studying. I'm not confident enough in myself to ever spent time doing anything else [except studying], even though I know my "studying" is for the most part not efficient. I never do associate with people outside of friends in my classes when we work on school related stuff, and I always spend all of my time at the library. I stay up till like 2 or 3 am "studying", and then I force myself to wake up early, fearing that, if I wake up late, I will waste the whole day away. Usually, my studying is not super focused. Sometimes, I do get some work done. However, I never feel satisfied with what I've accomplished. I always feel behind everyone else. Also, I often get distracted by the computer or my phone; if a random idea about something pops in my head, I feel the need to search online about it. I browse SDN and waste a lot of time. I'm always thinking about how disappointing my time has been while here in college, and I think I'm going to regret how I did things later down the line. I just really wish I could force myself to study efficiently and smartly so that my entire life doesn't need to be swallowed up by it. Anyone have advice?

Have you considered that you may have ADD?

 

[Holmwood]

Your school should have some learning assistance center. Go over there.

I admire your work ethic. So get this figured out with some professional help and you'll get those As that you totally deserve.

 

[aalamruad]

So I've always had these weird issues with studying ever since I started college, and I'm more than halfway done, so I guess it's late to bring this up now. I'm always disappointed in myself. My GPA is mediocre, like a B to B+ average maybe; I get way more B's than I do A's. I feel like I always need to be studying. I'm not confident enough in myself to ever spent time doing anything else [except studying], even though I know my "studying" is for the most part not efficient. I never do associate with people outside of friends in my classes when we work on school related stuff, and I always spend all of my time at the library. I stay up till like 2 or 3 am "studying", and then I force myself to wake up early, fearing that, if I wake up late, I will waste the whole day away. With the lack of sleep, I usually end up passing out in the library while "studying", and wasting a bunch of time. Usually, my studying is not super focused. Sometimes, I do get some work done. However, I never feel satisfied with what I've accomplished. I always feel behind everyone else. Also, I often get distracted by the computer or my phone; if a random idea about something pops in my head, I feel the need to search online about it. I browse SDN and waste a lot of time. I'm always thinking about how disappointing my time has been while here in college, and I think I'm going to regret how I did things later down the line. I just really wish I could force myself to study efficiently and smartly so that my entire life doesn't need to be swallowed up by it. Anyone have advice?

You don't really need our advice, you've already identified the problems and the corrections are obvious. If you care enough about succeeding, you'll simply make the corrections, and if you don't, you won't.

You get distracted by your phone and the internet while studying? Turn your phone off and don't study near your computer. You stay up until 2 or 3 AM and get up early? You fall asleep during study sessions from being so tired? Go to bed earlier and get enough sleep. You don't study efficiently? Research good study techniques (i.e. pomodoro; quiz/recall; active learning through teaching the material to a friend, a teddy bear, or just talking to yourself; Anki; review material immediately before and immediately following class; use mnemonics and imagery to tackle memorization-heavy material; go to office hours or seek tutoring for conceptually challenging subjects, etc.).

Also, it's incredibly difficult to do well if you don't find a balance of school work and relaxation/fun time. You'll get burnt out too quickly (in fact, you probably already are). Dedicate some time to having fun. Exercise regularly and eat healthy.

All you need to do is decide whether or not it's important enough for you to do these things. If it is, do them. If it's not, you'll probably continue on this path of boredom and exhaustion until you give up.

If you try all of these things and you still truly can't overcome your barriers, perhaps look into what @efle said about ADD.

Good luck.

 

[tea guzzling traveler]

I also highly recommend kanbanflow, it's an app based on the pomodoro timing technique, but it helps with not browsing the internet (you don't get points if you stray). Do that, focus on high yield info, seek tutoring and office hours, teach others, and that should help. Also sleeping, eating and exercising are all very important and should not be sacrificed too much, as learning how to balance those in a busy week is vital to the path of medical training (weeks will get a lot busier in the future).

Best of luck!

 

[IslandStyle808]

Three main points.

1) You are in a vicious cycle that is metaphorically eating you alive. You don't sleep well. You don't take breaks. You don't get enough sleep. You get distracted. I would suggest getting 8 hours of sleep as a first step. Then try to not get distracted studying (turn off all distractions, get some program that will stop you from opening your internet etc.). Take breaks when you need to (rule of thumb 50 minutes studying and 10 minutes break). Set a certain amount of time to cover the material. Don't over study!

2) Your study techniques are not effective. You need a learning specialist/counselor to speak about how to study (I don't mean tutoring that is totally different). One big tip is comparing and contrasting material (ex. how does the features of a mollusk differ from an anthropod). This will make you think in test mode as you study the material. Blindly writing your slides/book notes over and over again is low yield, you are not thinking about your material.

3) Reevaluate how you study. You should be always looking for new ways to better understand material. The way you learn for one class will be different from another. Be proactive. Look at your exams, listen to the words "this will be on the test," and read up on the internet/books on "how to learn."

Good luck!

 

[frosted_flake]

So I've always had these weird issues with studying ever since I started college, and I'm more than halfway done, so I guess it's late to bring this up now. I'm always disappointed in myself. My GPA is mediocre, like a B to B+ average maybe; I get way more B's than I do A's. I feel like I always need to be studying. I'm not confident enough in myself to ever spent time doing anything else [except studying], even though I know my "studying" is for the most part not efficient. I never do associate with people outside of friends in my classes when we work on school related stuff, and I always spend all of my time at the library. I stay up till like 2 or 3 am "studying", and then I force myself to wake up early, fearing that, if I wake up late, I will waste the whole day away. With the lack of sleep, I usually end up passing out in the library while "studying", and wasting a bunch of time. Usually, my studying is not super focused. Sometimes, I do get some work done. However, I never feel satisfied with what I've accomplished. I always feel behind everyone else. Also, I often get distracted by the computer or my phone; if a random idea about something pops in my head, I feel the need to search online about it. I browse SDN and waste a lot of time. I'm always thinking about how disappointing my time has been while here in college, and I think I'm going to regret how I did things later down the line. I just really wish I could force myself to study efficiently and smartly so that my entire life doesn't need to be swallowed up by it. Anyone have advice?

Holy S*it. You described my "study habits" to a T. Are you me??!

 

[amazing tekkers]

I used to be like you but I changed up my study habits once I realized I was studying for too long, and I wasn't getting what I wanted. I highly recommend for you to look at Cal Newport's blog . Also he has this really good book called "How to become a straight-A student", I cannot stress enough how that book changed my life.

1.)Start for the basics. How do you study? Do you just look over notes while you've got facebook open in another tab?
2.)Study everyday instead of doing marathon studying on a weekends of everything you learned that week.
3.)Improve your studying techniques by using techniques such as the Feynman method to help you condense and solidify information.

 

[Glazedonutlove]

Talk to the learning center. also plan out your breaks. If you know you have a dinner or something planned in the evening it might motivate you to get work done so you don't feel like you are wasting time during the dinner. Don't jump straight to add unless someone trained diagnoses you with that.

Also use coldturkey.com to block sites (including Sdn) and give your phone to a friend for a couple hours at a time so you can focus

 

[amazing tekkers]

Also use coldturkey.com to block sites (including Sdn) and give your phone to a friend for a couple hours at a time so you can focus

Stayfocused extension works better for me

 

[deleted647690]

Your school should have some learning assistance center. Go over there.

I admire your work ethic. So get this figured out with some professional help and you'll get those As that you totally deserve.

I've been the the learning assistance people, and all they did was teach me to use a calendar to make me aware of upcoming important dates.

 

[Holmwood]

I've been the the learning assistance people, and all they did was teach me to use a calendar to make me aware of upcoming important dates.

Well crup.

As others have said, you really need to get your sleep schedule back. B/B+ suggests that you really do get the material, but you're missing some minor details because you can't maintain optimal focus during testing/studying. To do this, you have to first learn the most efficient way to study for each subject.

So what subjects have you been struggling with at the moment? Let us know so we can offer suggestions on how best to study for it.

And I suggest squeezing in a couple 15-20 min naps somewhere in your studying. Seems to work well in Japanese high achools, and lord knows how formidable their study schedules are. I personally take 30min naps after lunch.

 

[deleted647690]

Well crup.

As others have said, you really need to get your sleep schedule back. B/B+ suggests that you really do get the material, but you're missing some minor details because you can't maintain optimal focus during testing/studying. To do this, you have to first learn the most efficient way to study for each subject.

So what subjects have you been struggling with at the moment? Let us know so we can offer suggestions on how best to study for it.

And I suggest squeezing in a couple 15-20 min naps somewhere in your studying. Seems to work well in Japanese high achools, and lord knows how formidable their study schedules are. I personally take 30min naps after lunch.

Probably physics. I've mostly had B's in my chemistry classes, but I'm done with those now, except for biochem.
Also, I live off campus, so I don't like to go back during the school day because I think it's a waste of time. I don't study in my living space.

 

[Holmwood]

Probably physics. I've mostly had B's in my chemistry classes, but I'm done with those now, except for biochem.
Also, I live off campus, so I don't like to go back during the school day because I think it's a waste of time. I don't study in my living space.

Nap on a table mate.

For physics, watching youtube videos on how to apply the formulas helped me get through physics and chem. A 5 minute video saves me from looking at my lecture notes for hours trying to figure out the crup my professor wrote.


For testing, it's a matter of doing practice problems/exams to the point that solving those problems becomes second nature. You can find plenty practice for chem and physics online. Chem/physics/math/ochem are all subjects that you need to do alot of practice problems for. . . And it's ideal to space out these practice problems and practice a few problems a day throughout the week rather than to cram 90 problems on one topic into like a single day and only revisit them the night before exam. Perhaps others here can offer suggestions on what ersonally worked for them. 😛

 

[amazing tekkers]

Yup. For physics, just do practice problems and keep doing them until you can do them in your sleep. Make sure to understand why an action leads to another action, or why some formula applies, integration in key is physics -- as in integration of concepts for instance electricity relating to magnetism and relating those key concepts, or relating energy to forces etc.