To the straight A students...what’s your secret?

[itsallsmiles]

Hi everyone,

This semester has probably been the most frustrating on yet. I’ve just been getting one bad grade after another and I’m really close to the breakin point honestly

The amount of time I’m putting in is not the issue - I believe it just may not be the most effective way?

What are you study techniques (specifically for science course) that help you achieve As on exams?

I’d appreciate any input.

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[bioboy23]

Anki

 

[dr_asdrubal]

Most if not all textbooks have practice problems after each chapter. Do them! Doesn’t matter if there’s 100 or 200 of them, you do them all.

 

[willow84]

For every class I hand write notes, and then I re-write things organized in my own way to better understand. In orgo 1 and 2, for example, I had my own notebook where I organized and re-wrote mechanisms, problems, etc. When I'm studying for an exam I keep a sheet or two where I jot down things that I'm struggling to retain/I think are important. I review that in addition to reviewing my notes. I also add additional notes to my lecture slides from the textbook.

For high-volume classes like biochem and genetics I reviewed the lecture the night of/the day after. Then at the end of the week I'd review that week as a whole. I never cram.

For classes like physics and orgo, I did all of the end-of-chapter problems. Sometimes twice. For physics I found that when you've done so many problems you aren't as thrown off when you sit down to an exam full of crazy questions.

 

[JMilo]

Go to your university's learning center. They will be more helpful than anyone on here.

 

[MedicalDoge]

My techniques involve doing as much practice as possible until I get it. I am not a passive learner, I learn best by doing the task until it sinks in for good (rewriting mechanisms, drawing out biochemical process, doing stoich until I get it, etc.). Try this route if you have't yet. Just doing the time isn't enough, you have to spend it effectively. As someone said above, if I don't get a chapter or topic, I do as many practice problems as possible and if I can't get it, I look at the answer to see how I would get there.

 

[DelayedGratification]

Here is the most important thing I have learned:

• Try to develop a genuine interest in everything you learn
• Try to relate everything you learn to something you already know, or have seen elsewhere.
• Try to not just memorize, but think critically. You should always ask yourself WHY?
• Repetition, do your best to see material multiple times in different situations. What I find helps me is going to class, hearing it, reading textbook, taking notes while I read the textbook, and then using those notes.
• Read the news

 

[scpm]

This advice helped me a lot, especially about trying to predict test questions as best as you can.

 

[OSUbee355]

Hey! Sorry to hear that! I experienced something similar to yours before (working 3 jobs while taking max credits, mostly major classes).

My strategy to stay sane and maintain high GPA is to find good students in your class. I was fortunate to have two great friends who are very good at taking notes and explaining abstract concepts. Also I went to office hours a lots and built pretty strong relationships with my professors. It's very difficult to get straight A while volunteering + doing research and community services, so make sure you get a supportive and smart group of friends

and try yoga, resistance training, it helped me stay calm

Hope this help you

God is good

 

[Dr. Snow]

Use online resources / practice questions in addition to your textbooks / notes.
Also, take the first exam in each class very seriously to see how hard they are. Then, study enough to maintain A's on each test but don't over prepare at the same time. There are better things to to with your time. 93% is the same as 100% in my eyes.

 

[DelayedGratification]

Use online resources / practice questions in addition to your textbooks / notes.
Also, take the first exam in each class very seriously to see how hard they are. Then, study enough to maintain A's on each test but don't over prepare at the same time. There are better things to to with your time. 93% is the same as 100% in my eyes.

This is tricky if 93 is the cutoff for an A. You want to score as high as possible on early exams so you can have a "buffer"

 

[kb1900]

The fact of the matter is that I studied far more than almost anyone else in my classes despite working partime-full time. The way I saw it, if grades are on a bell curve, and you want a 90th percentile score, you should be working harder that 90% if your classmates at the very least. (I have since taken this attitude to medical school and it seriously has paid off). When sheer grit wasn’t enough, I worked with the learning center and previous students in that class on study methods.


in studying more and practicing problems more, I got more efficient and had a stronger foundations that others leading to a cruise through senior year and the mcat. (And hopefully the same thing will happen for pathophys second year and step 1)

 

[IdkwhatIshouldput]

Record lectures if allowed... You will never be able to get all the information the first time around

 

[Principia]

In addition to what has already been mentioned, I always found it helpful to try to make the difficulty of my semesters flow "downhill." Do everything in your power to make high A's on your first round of assignments, quizzes, and exams. Study harder than you think you should, utilize every resource that is available, and prepare yourself for the most difficult questions stemming from the material. Then, once you get a feeling for the expectations of the course, you can scale back your time as needed. Of course, this is easier said than done, but it is so much easier to maintain good performance than to try to dig yourself out of a hole.

I know this may seem obvious ("to make A's in your classes, make A's in your classes, duh!"), but having this mindset really helped me to do very well in my coursework, Plus, if you do well early on in a course and maintain that momentum, it makes finals week much less stressful.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Figure out how you learn best. People learn differently. Anki/flashcard type things don't work for me at all. I'm all about work smarter, not harder (note that this does not mean you don't work hard--it means you don't work harder than you need to).

 

[BTC0821]

Rewrite your notes in a more concise way after your initial notes to summarize what you've learned. Go over the material (without your notes in front of you) as if you're teaching it to someone else. If you can't explain it simply, you don't know it well enough. Once you can do this, do as many practice problems as you can get your hands on. Write down what you learn from the problems you get wrong. Expand on what you get right if applicable. If you have the time, you can take all of these things together now which can become a complete study guide for the material.

 

[RickRossHe'sAnMD]

In addition to what has already been mentioned, I always found it helpful to try to make the difficulty of my semesters flow "downhill." Do everything in your power to make high A's on your first round of assignments, quizzes, and exams. Study harder than you think you should, utilize every resource that is available, and prepare yourself for the most difficult questions stemming from the material. Then, once you get a feeling for the expectations of the course, you can scale back your time as needed. Of course, this is easier said than done, but it is so much easier to maintain good performance than to try to dig yourself out of a hole.

This!!! I cannot emphasize this enough! The biggest lie I've ever heard in school is "well I can still keep an A if I make a 100 on the final". Each semester is like a life cycle, so maintain peak performance while you're still young in order to retire with relative ease.

 

[BigBoss]

Repetition and practice. Applies to everything in life really.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[BTC0821]

This!!! I cannot emphasize this enough! The biggest lie I've ever heard in school is "well I can still keep an A if I make a 100 on the final". Each semester is like a life cycle, so maintain peak performance while you're still young in order to retire with relative ease.

This is probably the best advice in the thread. Working as hard as possible at the beginning will make the end of the semester so much easier. Walking into a final knowing that you only need a 50% to finish the class with an A is a wonderful feeling. If you can get that to happen in a few different classes, finals week suddenly doesn't seem so stressful and you know you're doing something right.

 

[naway]

Building myself up in the beginning of the semester was my go-to strategy as well. By the end of the semester, I was typically so burnt out that my performance started falling, but it didn't matter because I gave myself plenty of leeway to do so. One time, I didn't take an entire exam because I could still make an A in the class without it, and my time was much more wisely spent studying for classes that had finals that counted for a large percentage of our grade. I did check with the professor to make sure it would be okay to skip the exam. I didn't just not show up. He was like lol good for you, you earned the ability to skip this test.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Is this really what everyone else does? All I do is study the lecture notes/syllabus. I think most of the comments posted are great, but most people don't have the time for doing that much work, so working efficiently has always been really important to me. That's just my $.02

That’s all I do. I do practice problems in courses where it’s indicated. Other than that, lecture slides and notes. I don’t even read the textbook.

 

[Deleted member 737595]

Is this really what everyone else does? All I do is study the lecture notes/syllabus. I think most of the comments posted are great, but most people don't have the time for doing that much work, so working efficiently has always been really important to me. That's just my $.02

Seriously, you are right. Most people think they are studying a lot when in fact they are severely unfocused. All it takes is a daily habit of reviewing what was learned in class, understand it, regurgitate it and apply it.

Good work done = time x intensity.

That's it. Find good strategies for studying, shut up, and do the work.

 

[willow84]

Is this really what everyone else does? All I do is study the lecture notes/syllabus. I think most of the comments posted are great, but most people don't have the time for doing that much work, so working efficiently has always been really important to me. That's just my $.02

People learn in different ways. Some are visual, auditory, etc. How I studied did not take that much work... I had plenty of time for myself and ECs. I was efficient in learning material the way that works best for me.

 

[Drekan311]

Like a lot of people have already said, everybody studies very differently but here is my go-to advice when anybody asked me about my 4.0.

1) Pick your classes and professors wisely (IF you can) - now, this isn't to say that you should pick easy professors or easy classes to get your easy way out. What i meant was using any rating web your school has for professors and pick those that are either well regarded by students or known to be good teacher of course. Talking to students who took the classes before you can also help you gage how good is the professor and how to approach the course. In term of picking the class, if its an elective course, try to pick something you are interested in because that automatically promote effective learning and likely better results. If you can't, go back to the "pick the better professors."

2) Talk to people! find out as much information as you can about the class, the professor's way of teaching/testing. This is not to say that you should go find out what is on the exams but more so what are the important concepts, how the tests are written, how did they feel about the class/professor, how much time they spent studying etc. Now again, everybody will give you slightly different answers but based on them, you should be able to articulate a strategy and study schedule.

3)Time Management (I don't think i need to stress this any further lol)

4) Practice: I think most schools have some form of a test bank where if the professors allow, old tests can be shared there as practice. Use them as practice (You are not cheating...it's good practice)! If old tests aren't available, talk to your professors about practices if required!

5) group study: if you decide to group study, always study by yourself first and spend your group study time on relearning from others, teaching others and resolving your confusion! Teach back method is notoriously known to help students internalize materials for long period of time (a lot of med school do this too)

6) Don't go on a tangent! Usually, professors will only test what they emphasize on class --> you should focus on the lectures or whatever materials the professors hand out! don't waste time exploring because you don't have that much time anyway. Create a solid foundation on what the professors emphasize is your goal! ( i usually only need the lectures + study questions if given and rarely any book materials)

7) Work hard at first.. play harder later (another poster already mentioned this) lol! It's super true!

8) Talk to your professor! Get comfortable to ask for clarification during office hours - This will help you get letter of rec anyway and your learning at the same time.

9) Don't forget your TA - They are your insiders! Talk to them, ask them what is the primary contents to learn in order to prepare for the tests, ask them questions etc. Get to know them! Network for your future courses - Many TAs teach multiple courses

10) Lastly, a 4.0, 3.9, 3.8 are essentially looked at equally in the eyes of ADCOM (anyone can correct me on this but this is based on my own experience). So don't freak out if you don't have a 4.0! 4.0 is a dime in a dozen anyway like Goro said!

Good luck studying !!!! Hope this help!

 

[Deleted member 737595]

Like a lot of people have already said, everybody studies very differently but here is my go-to advice when anybody asked me about my 4.0.

1) Pick your classes and professors wisely (IF you can) - now, this isn't to say that you should pick easy professors or easy classes to get your easy way out. What i meant was using any rating web your school has for professors and pick those that are either well regarded by students or known to be good teacher of course. Talking to students who took the classes before you can also help you gage how good is the professor and how to approach the course. In term of picking the class, if its an elective course, try to pick something you are interested in because that automatically promote effective learning and likely better results. If you can't, go back to the "pick the better professors."

2) Talk to people! find out as much information as you can about the class, the professor's way of teaching/testing. This is not to say that you should go find out what is on the exams but more so what are the important concepts, how the tests are written, how did they feel about the class/professor, how much time they spent studying etc. Now again, everybody will give you slightly different answers but based on them, you should be able to articulate a strategy and study schedule.

3)Time Management (I don't think i need to stress this any further lol)

4) Practice: I think most schools have some form of a test bank where if the professors allow, old tests can be shared there as practice. Use them as practice (You are not cheating...it's good practice)! If old tests aren't available, talk to your professors about practices if required!

5) group study: if you decide to group study, always study by yourself first and spend your group study time on relearning from others, teaching others and resolving your confusion! Teach back method is notoriously known to help students internalize materials for long period of time (a lot of med school do this too)

6) Don't go on a tangent! Usually, professors will only test what they emphasize on class --> you should focus on the lectures or whatever materials the professors hand out! don't waste time exploring because you don't have that much time anyway. Create a solid foundation on what the professors emphasize is your goal! ( i usually only need the lectures + study questions if given and rarely any book materials)

7) Work hard at first.. play harder later (another poster already mentioned this) lol! It's super true!

8) Talk to your professor! Get comfortable to ask for clarification during office hours - This will help you get letter of rec anyway and your learning at the same time.

9) Don't forget your TA - They are your insiders! Talk to them, ask them what is the primary contents to learn in order to prepare for the tests, ask them questions etc. Get to know them! Network for your future courses - Many TAs teach multiple courses

10) Lastly, a 4.0, 3.9, 3.8 are essentially looked at equally in the eyes of ADCOM (anyone can correct me on this but this is based on my own experience). So don't freak out if you don't have a 4.0! 4.0 is a dime in a dozen anyway like Goro said!

Good luck studying !!!! Hope this help!

Also, about 4.0 vs 3.9 vs 3.8, I honestly think 0.1 difference can be attributed to pure luck; good professors, bad professors, sickness et cetera. Just to emphasize that GPA is a rough tool and you want to be in the ballpark of 3.75-4.0. Its amazing what a horrible professor can do to grades.

 

[RNtoMD87]

For every class I hand write notes, and then I re-write things organized in my own way to better understand. In orgo 1 and 2, for example, I had my own notebook where I organized and re-wrote mechanisms, problems, etc. When I'm studying for an exam I keep a sheet or two where I jot down things that I'm struggling to retain/I think are important. I review that in addition to reviewing my notes. I also add additional notes to my lecture slides from the textbook.

For high-volume classes like biochem and genetics I reviewed the lecture the night of/the day after. Then at the end of the week I'd review that week as a whole. I never cram.

For classes like physics and orgo, I did all of the end-of-chapter problems. Sometimes twice. For physics I found that when you've done so many problems you aren't as thrown off when you sit down to an exam full of crazy questions.

This is what I do. If I write it, it becomes ingrained in my memory.

 

[Select All That Apply]

Because people have given most of the straight forward answers, I would state that it doesn't hurt to be familiar with what's available OTC when you have a sudden headache that's preventing you from focusing or an upset stomach that for some reason wants to give you a hard time. I have figured out that "studying only when I feel good" wasn't cutting it on days where I had to study because there was too much content to review.

 

[Prometheus123]

Is this really what everyone else does? All I do is study the lecture notes/syllabus. I think most of the comments posted are great, but most people don't have the time for doing that much work, so working efficiently has always been really important to me. That's just my $.02

That’s all I do. I do practice problems in courses where it’s indicated. Other than that, lecture slides and notes. I don’t even read the textbook.

I think the ability to study this way might come with experience. When I first went back to school, I made and practiced Anki and/or did practice problems diligently for the first few years. Now I find that because so much class material is a review of MCAT material and/or other classes, I can do well in most classes in less time. For instance, I can see how genetics would be really hard for a newbie, but once you've taken gen bio, stats, molecular, cell, biochem, and the MCAT, it's not that bad.

That being said though, if it's completely unfamiliar material, then I have to study just as much as anyone else.

 

[Prometheus123]

Because people have given most of the straight forward answers, I would state that it doesn't hurt to be familiar with what's available OTC when you have a sudden headache that's preventing you from focusing or an upset stomach that for some reason wants to give you a hard time. I have figured out that "studying only when I feel good" wasn't cutting it on days where I had to study because there was too much content to review.

Good point. Management of one's own physiological needs, emotions, and thought patterns is an often overlooked but essential part of studying well imo.

 

[TypeADissection]

My strategy in med school:

1. Get A's.
2. Don't not get A's.

Voila.

On a more serious note, I took the very labor intensive route of reviewing each lecture from each day everyday. For example, with an exam every 2-3 weeks, I would do Monday's lecture on Monday night. On Tuesday, I would do Monday's lecture and Tuesdays. On Wednesday, so on and so forth. On the weekends, I would spend a good amount of time in the mornings reviewing the week and then spend the afternoon going to the gym or watching sports/going out with friends, etc. By the time I would get to exam time, there was no cramming, just another evening of review. Wouldn't even stay up late. I'm just not that naturally talented, but through sheer grit and effort I knew that I could get a good result. It just sucked every time a test ended, because I knew I would have to rinse and repeat again. Cheers.

 

[Promethean]

The time spent studying is actually the secret.

You think that you are spending time with the material, but are you? Are you really? How many hours are you spending in quiet, thoughtful study? How many hours are you spending taking notes on passages read from the texts, or from class, or from videos? How many hours do you spend re-writing those notes... not just recopying them, but actually reading through what you wrote and restating the material in a new way? How much time do you spend thinking about how you would communicate the material to another person?

Is your phone off? Facebook closed? If you study with someone, are they actually also studying, or are you chatting about unrelated things?

No matter what the other variables, if you put your undivided attention on the material for enough time, and engage with it meaningfully (thinking about it, asking yourself critical questions, planning how you could explain each topic) for enough hours, you will hit your personal potential.

If you honestly and sincerely do this, without cutting corners, and you still can't get good grades, then there is a big problem and you need more help to diagnose it than this forum could provide.

 

[WIMNFamilyMed]

Good point. Management of one's own physiological needs, emotions, and thought patterns is an often overlooked but essential part of studying well imo.

Yes love these! Stay hydrated and take some form of caffeine if you need it to get going in the morning. When you stop making progress, get up and go for a walk. I studied for the mcat in a large library study room where I could sprint from end to end to wake back up - and having to be so inactive by studying all day was hard for me. I also have a series of stretches I can do on my bedroom floor with a book in front of me.

 

[Deleted member 737595]

The time spent studying is actually the secret.

You think that you are spending time with the material, but are you? Are you really? How many hours are you spending in quiet, thoughtful study? How many hours are you spending taking notes on passages read from the texts, or from class, or from videos? How many hours do you spend re-writing those notes... not just recopying them, but actually reading through what you wrote and restating the material in a new way? How much time do you spend thinking about how you would communicate the material to another person?

Is your phone off? Facebook closed? If you study with someone, are they actually also studying, or are you chatting about unrelated things?

No matter what the other variables, if you put your undivided attention on the material for enough time, and engage with it meaningfully (thinking about it, asking yourself critical questions, planning how you could explain each topic) for enough hours, you will hit your personal potential.

If you honestly and sincerely do this, without cutting corners, and you still can't get good grades, then there is a big problem and you need more help to diagnose it than this forum could provide.

This is excellent, OP. Herein lies the key to success. Focus 100% on the task at hand.

 

[mistafab]

You start to get straight A’s once you fathom the crippling reality; we are ants - nothing we do matters...

Yet here we are.

[existential crisis - would not recommend]

 

[bananafish94]

You start to get straight A’s once you fathom the crippling reality; we are ants - nothing we do matters...

Yet here we are.

[existential crisis - would not recommend]

I imagine I'll be singing a similar tune when I'm two days out from Step too.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

The time spent studying is actually the secret.

You think that you are spending time with the material, but are you? Are you really? How many hours are you spending in quiet, thoughtful study? How many hours are you spending taking notes on passages read from the texts, or from class, or from videos? How many hours do you spend re-writing those notes... not just recopying them, but actually reading through what you wrote and restating the material in a new way? How much time do you spend thinking about how you would communicate the material to another person?

Is your phone off? Facebook closed? If you study with someone, are they actually also studying, or are you chatting about unrelated things?

No matter what the other variables, if you put your undivided attention on the material for enough time, and engage with it meaningfully (thinking about it, asking yourself critical questions, planning how you could explain each topic) for enough hours, you will hit your personal potential.

If you honestly and sincerely do this, without cutting corners, and you still can't get good grades, then there is a big problem and you need more help to diagnose it than this forum could provide.

Unless that's not how you study best.

 

[Kr#36]

Is this really what everyone else does? All I do is study the lecture notes/syllabus. I think most of the comments posted are great, but most people don't have the time for doing that much work, so working efficiently has always been really important to me. That's just my $.02

Consider yourself fortunate that your school isn’t one that requires you to learn information that isn’t included on the slides. Some of the more difficult science departments require exploring concepts further via the textbook/other outside resources in order to be a high performer

 

[Deleted member 737595]

You start to get straight A’s once you fathom the crippling reality; we are ants - nothing we do matters...

Yet here we are.

[existential crisis - would not recommend]

wut

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

wut

He’s about to take step. His mind is cracking.

 

[Promethean]

Unless that's not how you study best.

It truly doesn't matter how you study best. What matters is the time and attention that you put into whatever it is that you do. If taking in material, making notes on it, and then consolidating those notes isn't "how you study best," then you do you.

But ya still have to put in the hours for that. And that requires strict honesty about where your attention is. If a person is attending to anything else but the material, through whatever modality, and then they come here begging for someone to explain how to get A's, then I have no sympathy. Most of the time, they didn't really put in the hours that they thought they did. Having tutored dozens of people over a period of years, this is what I have found is the number one reason why people feel like they are putting in time and getting poor results.

A lot of people who claim that they can't study in focused, disciplined quiet are just unfamiliar with it. It isn't high stimulation and it isn't as social / fun as group "study." So, because they've never really applied themselves to the process, pushed through the boredom to get to the results it can provide, they claim that "that just doesn't work for me."

Bull, but whatever, let's go with it and pretend that you can get the same or better results from having a video running in one window and facebook open in the other. I definitely study that way sometimes, and know for sure that is more fun, but is a lot less effective and time efficient. Two hours of study with other distractions going on is roughly equivalent in actual learning and retention to less than half an hour of focused attention, in my experience. So, if OP is saying that they do put in hours and hours of study, but that time is spent with split attention, then that person is lying to themselves about how much actual study time they are putting in.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Bull, but whatever, let's go with it and pretend that you can get the same or better results from having a video running in one window and facebook open in the other.

Actually, it's not bull. People who have issues focusing on a single task often do better with background noise. It's very common for people who have issues studying in silence or focusing on a single task to see an improvement in focus and performance when they can add background noise, often in the form of a movie or tv show they've seen a million times.

On a more personal note, I have tried to study that way where I focus on nothing but what I'm studying. I often find that after an hour or two, I have gotten almost nothing done because I keep getting distracted. When I started putting episodes of Scrubs or some other show I've seen a million times in another window where I can listen to it, my productivity skyrockets. This was also recommended to me by a physician who has the same issues.

So it may be less time efficient--for you. Solipsism is not a great world view.

 

[Deleted member 737595]

Actually, it's not bull. People who have issues focusing on a single task often do better with background noise. It's very common for people who have issues studying in silence or focusing on a single task to see an improvement in focus and performance when they can add background noise, often in the form of a movie or tv show they've seen a million times.

On a more personal note, I have tried to study that way where I focus on nothing but what I'm studying. I often find that after an hour or two, I have gotten almost nothing done because I keep getting distracted. When I started putting episodes of Scrubs or some other show I've seen a million times in another window where I can listen to it, my productivity skyrockets. This was also recommended to me by a physician who has the same issues.

So it may be less time efficient--for you. Solipsism is not a great world view.

It truly doesn't matter how you study best. What matters is the time and attention that you put into whatever it is that you do. If taking in material, making notes on it, and then consolidating those notes isn't "how you study best," then you do you.

But ya still have to put in the hours for that. And that requires strict honesty about where your attention is. If a person is attending to anything else but the material, through whatever modality, and then they come here begging for someone to explain how to get A's, then I have no sympathy. Most of the time, they didn't really put in the hours that they thought they did. Having tutored dozens of people over a period of years, this is what I have found is the number one reason why people feel like they are putting in time and getting poor results.

A lot of people who claim that they can't study in focused, disciplined quiet are just unfamiliar with it. It isn't high stimulation and it isn't as social / fun as group "study." So, because they've never really applied themselves to the process, pushed through the boredom to get to the results it can provide, they claim that "that just doesn't work for me."

Bull, but whatever, let's go with it and pretend that you can get the same or better results from having a video running in one window and facebook open in the other. I definitely study that way sometimes, and know for sure that is more fun, but is a lot less effective and time efficient. Two hours of study with other distractions going on is roughly equivalent in actual learning and retention to less than half an hour of focused attention, in my experience. So, if OP is saying that they do put in hours and hours of study, but that time is spent with split attention, then that person is lying to themselves about how much actual study time they are putting in.

I'm with @Promethean on this one. I think if you try to study FOCUSED and simply get distracted every ten minutes, you are simply experiencing the fact that you have not trained your brain to be able to focus for any appreciable stretch of time. Cal Newport talks about this in his book Deep Work.

Focus, like any skill, can be trained. The constant being connected and distracted (multitasking) is a modern invention that is intrinsically detrimental to productivity in tasks that benefit from undivided attention, such as studying or reading. The reason there is an improvement in focus or performance as you say with background noise is probably due to the fact that you're used to that suboptimal way of studying. Going from that to monastic silence and focus cold turkey has a steep learning curve so initially it would be very difficult.

But I also think its bull that being distracted while working can be more productive than training to focus on one thing at a time...

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

I'm with @Promethean on this one. I think if you try to study FOCUSED and simply get distracted every ten minutes, you are simply experiencing the fact that you have not trained your brain to be able to focus for any appreciable stretch of time. Cal Newport talks about this in his book Deep Work.

Focus, like any skill, can be trained. The constant being connected and distracted (multitasking) is a modern invention that is intrinsically detrimental to productivity in tasks that benefit from undivided attention, such as studying or reading. The reason there is an improvement in focus or performance as you say with background noise is probably due to the fact that you're used to that suboptimal way of studying. Going from that to monastic silence and focus cold turkey has a steep learning curve so initially it would be very difficult.

But I also think its bull that being distracted while working can be more productive than training to focus on one thing at a time...

Or not. Because you know, people are different:

The effects of background white noise on memory performance in inattentive school children

Different effects of adding white noise on cognitive performance of sub-, normal and super-attentive school children. - PubMed - NCBI

Listen to the noise: noise is beneficial for cognitive performance in ADHD. - PubMed - NCBI

Neuropsychological and neurophysiological benefits from white noise in children with and without ADHD. - PubMed - NCBI

 

[Kr#36]

That’s why I said I read the syllabus. By definintion then, I read the textbook and do any other outside work if needed in order to do well in the course. Getting good grades is not magic nor a complex formula, it’s only hard work and dedication

You are right, but the entire point of the thread is discussing strategies that maximize one's ability to be successful. "Just reading the lecture slides" and dismissing everything else is not a good strategy for difficult courses.

 

[Deleted member 737595]

Or not. Because you know, people are different:

The effects of background white noise on memory performance in inattentive school children

Different effects of adding white noise on cognitive performance of sub-, normal and super-attentive school children. - PubMed - NCBI

Listen to the noise: noise is beneficial for cognitive performance in ADHD. - PubMed - NCBI

Neuropsychological and neurophysiological benefits from white noise in children with and without ADHD. - PubMed - NCBI

This is white noise, nothing to do with being continuously distracted and multitasking on Facebook and watching a TV show while trying to reason through Glycolysis.

Also, these studies talk about inattentive school children who are not used to having to focus on demanding mental tasks. Super-attentive school children in that second report experience a decrease in attention with white noise. But honestly I don't have the background knowledge in this area.

All I'm saying is hard, focused work can remedy spending long inefficient hours and not seeing results.

 

[Mad Jack]

Most if not all textbooks have practice problems after each chapter. Do them! Doesn’t matter if there’s 100 or 200 of them, you do them all.

This is what I did. Practiced with every available resource and took super thorough notes

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

This is white noise, nothing to do with being continuously distracted and multitasking on Facebook and watching a TV show while trying to reason through Glycolysis.

I didn't mention anything about clicking through Facebook, so that's a strawman. I specifically mentioned putting on a tv show or movie that plays in the background to act as white noise.

I completely agree that if you are clicking through SDN, Facebook, etc., you are not going to be productive.

Also, these studies talk about inattentive school children who are not used to having to focus on demanding mental tasks. Super-attentive school children in that second report experience a decrease in attention with white noise. But honestly I don't have the background knowledge in this area.

All I'm saying is hard, focused work can remedy spending long inefficient hours and not seeing results.

These studies talk about children with ADHD/ADD. That isn't something you train yourself out of.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

My philosophy is that studying is like conditioning for a sport. If you aren't pushing yourself mentally to focus, learn and grasp concepts, then you aren't getting "stronger". If you're comfortable, then you're not "training" correctly. That being said, push yourself on high yield material. For me, practice questions are the highest yield material. Memorize what you need to memorize, but subsequent application will cement material as you make new connections and work through concepts. This is especially true for subjects like physics, chemistry, Ochem, and Biochem. For subjects like anatomy, micro, molec, etc, the memorization aspect will consume more time. But after the initial memorization, you must practice answering questions using that information.

Totally agree. When I do practice problems or whatever, I will make sure to do problems at the level that the test will be at, but I also make sure to do a bunch that are much harder. If you can do really difficult ones, you will push yourself to get better and find the problems on the exam easier.

 

[Promethean]

Or not. Because you know, people are different:

The effects of background white noise on memory performance in inattentive school children

Different effects of adding white noise on cognitive performance of sub-, normal and super-attentive school children. - PubMed - NCBI

Listen to the noise: noise is beneficial for cognitive performance in ADHD. - PubMed - NCBI

Neuropsychological and neurophysiological benefits from white noise in children with and without ADHD. - PubMed - NCBI

White noise hardly disproves my point about focus.

The point isn't to have absolute silence but to have nothing other than the material available to distract. The very nature of white noise is that it is non-distracting. White noise is essentially a variation on quiet. I usually have a fan going in the background, because it blocks out road noise from the busy street outside my window. That makes my study area more quiet, not less, even though the absolute decibels of the room are higher than without it. You really can't be so concrete a thinker as to not understand this distinction.

Edited to roll back an unnecessarily snarky response. Look... if you are getting great grades watching Scrubs while you study, then good for you. I still think you could do better by learning to focus instead. It is actually a skill that one can build. I used to say the same things that you are, that I did better with more than one content stream going at once... but then I found out how much better I could do once I learned how to really pay attention to one thing at a time. And if you are doing well like that, then you are probably not the person who was begging for help, huh?

That person (and anyone else who might wander along to read this, and almost all of the very many students that I've tutored over years) is probably falling into a trap of entertaining themselves so well with other inputs that they aren't really studying as many hours as they think they are. It is THE most common mistake that students make, when they believe that they are putting in 4+ hours daily of dedicated study and it really works out to maybe an hour, if they are lucky. Once you deduct all the other time they were spending watching that really good part of that one episode, or tuning into the lyrics and kinda signing along instead of reading... it really does cut down on the bandwidth you have to spend on thinking about the material being studied.

You can't actually multitask. Your attention doesn't really work that way, even if you think it does. At best, you may be acclimated to switching rapidly between tasks. It isn't impossible to succeed doing that. But it is far less efficient than learning to focus in larger and larger chunks on a single task.

 

[Promethean]

I didn't mention anything about clicking through Facebook, so that's a strawman. I specifically mentioned putting on a tv show or movie that plays in the background to act as white noise.

I completely agree that if you are clicking through SDN, Facebook, etc., you are not going to be productive.



These studies talk about children with ADHD/ADD. That isn't something you train yourself out of.

Now you are just wrong.

Behavioral therapies and personal coping strategies are absolutely valid and effective ways for folks with ADD/ADHD to change their outcomes and improve their attention spans. They are not helpless victims of broken brains that simply cannot learn to function differently. Yes, there may always be tendency for a brain to work a certain way, but there is also a great deal of plasticity. The way you use your brain affects structure and function. Attention is a skill. It is learnable and it improves with practice. Like many skills, it isn't always fun to do the work to build it. But there are rewards for those who do.