Studying

Missand:

We only need 5% of what we learn in school to have ajob, basic english and maths is only what employers look for.

I personally think that's, and please excuse the expression, just bull.
It's up to you to use it.
You don't want to use any of it.
Okay, no-one will ask you about world history when you'll get a job, but really, is a job and money all you want to care about? Don't you need to know where you came from and how you and your ancestors got here?
Pff.
I think we need to learn more in school, not less.
Our history, our culture, our knowledge make us human, not our jobs.
Robots can and most probably will one day do the jobs for us.
Our human spirit is such a wonder of nature, it's such a pity to stick to ''basic english and math'' just because we're lazy and that's what ''employers look for''. The moment our society will change its education system to only cover what employers look for and thus become completely profit-driven the human race will stop being homo sapiens but decline to homo profitus.

In may case the amount of study I do is proportional to how lazy I have been during the semester. The less lazy I am during uni, the less I have to study for exams. If I've read the texts, gone the lectures and done the essays, exam prep. usually only requires a short re-fresh.

However, having said that a friend of mine wrote a 2,500 word essay worth 50% of the unit drunk (then with a hangover) without any research and with no sleep for two days. She got a high distinction for it, while I spent a week working on it a scraped by with a credit. THAT, my friends, is neither fair nor natural.

I honestly believe it depends on the person. For example, one of my friends has to study for hours on end to understand things, and I do better just reading through it once. As long as I pay attention to what I'm reading/ being lectured on, I understand.

Although, I'm sure a bit of studying never hurt anyone. :tehe:

I don't know.
This girl I know panics in tests and things if she's not sure of all the answers, and I didn't realise how much she actually studies until today. I was sitting with her at lunch and she had a German test the period after, and she said 'I've only spent half an hour revising'. So she spent another 40 minutes studying hard just before the test, during her lunchtime.

This was a totally new thing for me as usually I don't even bother with assignments, let alone studying for tests and things.
She often says to me "oh you're so lucky you barely do anything and you get A+."
And I've always been all 'oh I do a little bit' but I didn't even realise people studied that much before tests. :shock:

I studied alot before tests but i end up not getting the marks i want :(

I never study. Studying makes me panic, and then I get all the facts mixed up. Its better for me to just read stuff through once and make sure I've got it, instead of cramming.

Very important, mates. I should be doing it now...

The point of school is to learn, not to just get by and pass. So if you want to keep things in your short-term memory and pass the test instead of transferring the information to your long-term memory and actually learning the material for use/recollection later in life...then go ahead and don't study. It's your decision really.

I think studying is important, but there are many different types of study. Studying isn't just looking over notes and reading through chapters in books. You can make flash cards to look over everyday. You can write notes in class, rewrite notes, recite your notes to yourself, listen to your textbook/material on cassette [if it's available], create images to relate to your information, and you can do all kinds of other things to study information, to help yourself understand and remember it. You need to try all sorts of studying and find out what's best for you to remember and understand the material because everyone is different when it comes to memory and understanding.

Maybe in high school, or at least for my high school career, it isn't very important to study to pass or understand the material. I got by pretty efficiently just paying attention in class and participating then. I barely ever brought a book home to read or study, unless I wasn't understanding the information at all, which was pretty much never.

But in college, studying is essential to understanding the material, especially since a lot of classes only have a couple tests the whole semester, and those are the only things your grade is based on. So you have to do really well on those two or three tests to pass the class with a good grade. Since many professors only lecture or tell you to read a chapter for class, you have to develop your own study skills and habits to learn the material. They will not do it for you.

I think a really good way to do this is to read the material the night before you're due to discuss it in class, if you know ahead of time what's coming up. In class, pay attention to the professor lecturing, and write notes as he or she talks, if you can. That night, you can recite the notes to yourself. Maybe a couple days later, rewrite the notes or type them up again. Continuously processing the information and going over it will make sure to transfer it to your long-term memory.

If you don't understand the information, ask your teacher during or after class to explain it better to you, or find someone else that knows the information and can help you. Don't continue reading over the material if you just don't get it. It won't help you understand it much more. Try some homework problems, if there are any, to put the information to use, or try to find examples of the principles in everyday life.

There are two things to remember when studying.

It is better for you to study in 20-minute intervals, with brief breaks in between, than it is for you to study for hours straight. Doing so helps the information stick.

Also, it is better for you to choose a good night's sleep over cramming until it's extremely late before an exam. Rest helps you perform better on the exam, and studies show that if you study right before bed, then have undisturbed sleep in which you go through the REM stage of sleep, your mind is more likely to remember the information you learned before bed because it goes over newly learned skills and information while you sleep and dream.

I. Love. Flashcards.

I had more than 500 learned for my exams last year. I don't find any subject easy. Some class lessons left me nearly in tears because everyone seemed to understand things or even find them easy, when I didn't have a clue. So, I studied for hours, and I eventually learned it. There would be no way I could have got straight As otherwise. I couldn't "pick things up" from classwork alone, and my memory is far from photographic, so I must have copied out each textbook douzens of times, did 10 years worth of past/specimin exam papers and learned 500 flashcards

I don't study
I pass
I pay attention and have a pretty snazzy recall

^ you're a lucky person
If I don't study AT ALL, I'll fail normally. Unless it's Psychology. But with Psychology, I could probably get an A this year if I really push myself. It's so hard to get motivated.
I used to hate flashcards but they became a godsend last year. I love flashcards, too. I'd make so many, and have a massive wad for one subject in my bag on the morning of the exam.
I think this year I'm going to stick bits of paper round my house and put post-its on places like my screen (I do it anyway for stuff I need to remember to do) and the fridge. It sounds geeky. I put french words on my wall. It was at eye level for when I lie down. I went from an E in my French speaking to a B.
Just reading over notes makes my brain switch off and I normally fall asleep.

I don't really study. I am in English Writing so I don't really have tests anymore. When I do have tests I try to study but I am very lazy. I do well in school. I have a 3.9 GPA right now.

I rarely ever studied. And I got through school just fine. It makes me wonder sometimes how I did it...but I guess I never needed to study... -shrugs-

Hm. I'm currently abusing the fact that I hace access to a library that stays open until midnight, so I suppose that says something.
I don't ever revise as much as I should, although I don't think I'll ever be entirely happy with myself until I spend every second doing it, which realistically isn't going to happen. In terms of the amount of academic work I do, I think I work quite hard. What depresses me is when I get grades that suck, but are still similar to what the rest of the class got, although I know for a fact they did their work in 10 minutes still hungover from the night before and I actually spent a few hours on it and putting a fair amount of effort in.

I think you've just got to go with what you need to do. There isn't much point studying loads if you're happy with the grades you get without studying. There isn't a set amount you should do or anything.

I never really had to stufy for school until this year. My grades are awful right now. I'm doing about an 85% in most of my classes. And I can't seem to get them up because I have so much homework for each class. blahhhhhh