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Thread: Study tips

  1. #1
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    Default Study tips

    The basics of studying The point of studying is to remember things as well as possible. You might want to learn things for personal interest, or to help you do better in exams or just to get a better grade in class. Whatever your reason for wanting to improve your learning, the same techniques apply.

    These are some general techniques that will help you remember facts better. They probably won't work very well if you're trying to improve anything that involves creativity, but for rote learning, these can really speed things up:

    Mnemonics. Do you remember learning to spell 'because'? We were always taught 'Big Elephants Can Add Up Sums Easily'. The phrase was a lot easier to remember than the whole word, so all we had to do was remember the phrase. Mnemonics work by making up a phrase where the first letter of each word is the first letter of something in the fact. For spelling, it's very simple - the first letter of the word is the next letter you need to use. Mnemonics can be useful for more things than just spelling, though - if you're trying to remember a string of facts or an order in which to do something, they can help you remember it better.

    Making up stories can also be useful. Let's say you have to remember a list: oranges hairclips mascara lampshade comb. You could probably manage to recall that list pretty well, since it's so short, but what about a longer list under the pressure of an exam? Would you be able to remember that list tomorrow? I can't even remember it now. If you make up a story, though, it fixes it in your mind for much, much longer. The orange used hairclips and mascara to make the lampshade look like a comb. Isn't that much easier to remember? You're much more likely to remember that than just a series of random, unconnected objects.

    Pavlovian triggers. Once upon a time, a man called Pavlov had a dog. He would ring a bell and then he'd feed the dog. Over time, the dog began to salivate at the sound of the bell. It had learned to associate the bell with food. You can turn this effect to your advantage by doing the same thing just before you start to concentrate. In my case, I normally have my hair tied back, so I tighten it and push it out of my eyes just before I knuckle down to work. That gesture lets my brain know that it's time to concentrate. You can do the same - it helps you get into 'the zone" in a fraction of a second.

    Mind maps. I'm sure you know what they are already, but just in case you don't, I'll explain again. A mind map uses colour, text and symbols to help you remember connected facts.

    The subject in the middle is what the whole mind map is about. The branches are different areas of that subject. For example, in the example above, the subject of the mind map is cats. The red branch is 'care', and more branches come off that. Branches can keep branching for as long as you want them to (well, actually, you're generally limited by the size of your paper). You can also link ideas from different branches in whatever way you like. In the example, I've drawn big blue circles around two connected ideas and drawn a big line in between them, but that might not fit into a bigger mind map.

    Notice how the mind map also uses pictures - both in the 'pictures" branch (well, it would have pictures of cats if I had any) and in the 'care" branch, where I've illustrated 'fish" and 'water'. Diagrams are a great way to remember stuff.

    Teach what you know to someone else. Grab a friend, parent or sibling and explain some of your work. If you've made a mind map, then you could take them through it, explaining how the ideas are linked together. The advantage of explaining things to someone else is you're forced to think about every little thing, rather than skipping over things you already know. It can also help you think about the knowledge from the point of view of someone else.

    Get someone to test you. If you've got friends studying the same things, then get together for a study session and test each other. If you have to learn things by heart, get your family to test you (this works especially well for foreign vocabulary). Make test exam papers for yourself and take them a month later to see if you can still remember what you studied.

    Don't push your concentration span! Your concentration span is roughly your age plus or minus five minutes. For example, I'm fourteen now, so I can concentrate well for around nine to nineteen minutes. If you're sixteen, then it's from about eleven to twenty-one. Remember to take breaks when you study: if you're pushing yourself too hard, then you're not going to take in anything at all. That goes for studying when you're tired/hungry/ill, too: it ain't gonna work, son!







    Where and when to study It's official: the best place to study is in front of a blaring television playing a gory action film with all your family around you arguing while you do your studying in the middle of the floor in the dead of night with no pens, paper or equipment.

    Well, actually, it's not. That's the absolute worst place you could study (barring hanging off a cliff, in the exam itself, at a wedding, etc.). I'll go through each of those things and explain why it's definitely not helping you to retain any information.

    The blaring television. So many people try to study while watching. I'll tell you a secret here: it doesn't work! You'll remember so much more if you're not concentrating on whether Joel will kiss Nina or whether Dan's going to escape from the burning building. Before you strike out the idea altogether, though, remember the commercial breaks. One of my teachers once told us to keep our revision guides on the coffee table and read a page then try and write out as much as possible of it from memory during the commercial breaks in TV programmes, and my improved marks in that exam are testament that this really works. If you like to have music on while you study, that's generally okay, as long as you can concentrate on studying as well and it's not too loud. A good way of telling if music is good for you while you study is to put some on and try to read a novel. If you can't keep your mind on an easy-to-read book, then chances are you can't keep your mind on studying either. And don't forget the Mozart effect!

    Having all your family around you. When you were very little and studying meant learning your times tables, it was probably okay for you to be in a room where everyone was walking in and out. If you're trying to learn more than the three times table, though, it's probably only going to distract you. If your family is one where people tend to interrupt or enter rooms without knocking, then let them know that you don't want to be disturbed while you're studying. If you can go to someone where you won't be disturbed, like your room, then that's good. If there really isn't anywhere you can go, then investigate using a classroom or library at school or a public library.

    Studying in the middle of the floor isn't a good idea either. Remember what we said about Pavlovian triggers? If you always study in the same place, then that can act as a Pavlovian trigger. If you always study in the middle of the living room floor, and your living room is also free of all the distractions we've already mentioned, then by all means go ahead and study there. For most people, though, the living room floor isn't like that. Find yourself a quiet, secluded place, like a desk or office, where you can study.

    Having no equipment isn't the best plan: you'll constantly have to break up your studying to get basic equipment. Try to have everything to hand before you start: pens and pencils, paper, textbooks and anything else you might need. It also might help if you study without many things on the desk, so that you've got plenty of space to spread everything out and you can keep everything to hand. If you're doing a research project, the best thing you can do is to get the biggest table possible, so that you can spread out all your sources and information instead of having to pile it all up. Don't be afraid to kick your family away from the dining table and commandeer the room for the evening if that's what you need to do!









    How often to study How often you need to study really depends on how much work you have to do. If you've got five essays to write, a big exam to study for and a dozen other assignments as well, you're going to be spending longer at your desk than if you've only got to colour in a map of Brazil. Pretty basic logic, really, but you'd be amazed how many people never twig.

    Look at how much work you've got to do each evening and work out how much time that should reasonably take you. If you set yourself a time limit, you're often going to get more work done.

    Remember what we said earlier about your concentration span? As a rough guide, twenty minutes is about the limit. Take a quick break, get a drink, listen to some music, have something to eat, and then in five minutes go back to studying. If you give your brain a break, then you're much more likely to be able to concentrate well.

    It takes practise to teach yourself to be able to go back to studying. If you keep making yourself, then eventually it will be easier not to get distracted and end up spending half an hour instead of five minutes. To begin with, try to avoid doing things that it's easy to lose yourself in - trying to spend just five minutes on this forum is never going to work!

    If you've got big pieces of work, then divide them up. Planning is key. Instead of diving in at the deep end and trying to do it all at once, work out how much time you've got and how much you need to do each day and it'll seem a lot more manageable.







    Where else can I get help? Your teachers are there to help you, not to make your life a misery! If you don't understand what you're supposed to be doing, or you're having trouble with a piece of work, then say so! If you're getting more work than you can cope with, talk to them and see if you can work something out. They'll be impressed at your effort and they can help you out as well.

    Older siblings can also be lots of help. My brother's taking his physics AS level right now, and whenever I need science help, he can always explain it to me. Your parents might also be able to help - my mother did French for A level and she can still remember enough to help me with my work. Ask whoever's around for help: you never know what they might know!

    Of course, you'll always have times when you don't know people who know the answers. That's when the internet and research books come into play. There's a lot of sites out there geared towards helping you with your schoolwork and pretty much everything you need to know at school will be written down somewhere. If you don't know how to find the book you need, then go to your school library and talk to the librarian. Most schools have more books about the things you'll study than about other subjects, and the librarian will probably know the best ones for you. Public libraries are also fantastic sources of information.

    Just remember, all that anyone can ask is that you put in your best effort. Your teachers will respect you much more for trying your best and failing every class than being a dickhead and getting straight As. Try your best, and remember to shoot for the moon - even if you fail, you'll land among the stars!









    Helpful links MATHEMATICS

    * Purplemath - Free Algebra Help

    * Physics Help and Math Help - Physics Forums - Physics

    * Math.com - World of Math Online - Various Math Subjects

    * http://www.mathematicshelpcentral.com - Various Math Subjects

    * http://www.nuclearfiction.com/ - Physics homework help

    * GCalc - Java Online Graphing Calculator - Free Online Graphing Calculator

    * Calc101.com Automatic Calculus, Linear Algebra, and Polynomials - automatic Calculus and Algebra help



    ENGLISH

    * SparkNotes: Today's Most Popular Study Guides - Synopsis and Overviews of many books for free. To be used to supplement your ideas and help you with reports.

    * Son of Citation Machine - Help with your Works Cited page.

    * (Redirect) - http://www.umuc.edu/library/tutorial...ch/intro.shtml - UMUC - Guide on How To Research a Paper



    FOREIGN LANGUAGE

    * AltaVista - Babel Fish Translation - Translator

    * Free Translation and Professional Translation Services from SDL International - Translator

    * Learn Spanish - Spanish Help

    N.B. - language translators like this are very unreliable - they are best used as online dictionaries to translate individual words. If you put in large chunks of text, then some of it will be wrong and it will be entirely unidiomatic in whatever language.



    HISTORY

    * Travel and History - United States History help

    * AP History Online - Advanced Placement History

    * Spartacus Educational - Home Page - High School/GCSE level history page...UK syllabus orientated



    TEST PREP

    * Number2.com :: Free Online Test Prep - SAT, GRE, ACT, Vocab Builder

    * BBC - Schools - Revision Guide - Great help in Key Stage 3, GCSE, AS/A Level, Scottish Highers and its also in Welsh!

    * SAT Preparation Center - Free SAT Practice Tests - SAT Test Preparation - SAT Preparation direct from the experts at College Board

    * Hundreds of free practice questions for standardized tests at majortests.com - GRE/SAT Prep.



    MISCELLANEOUS

    * Pearson Prentice Hall - Hot Links and Self Tests for every Prentice Hall Text Book.

    * Glencoe.com - Glencoe Text Books

    * Wikipedia - Free Encyclopedia

    * MSN Encarta : Online Encyclopedia, Dictionary, Atlas, and Homework - Free Encyclopedia

    * Welcome to About.com - Vaious Subjects

    * The Student Room - Forums for Various Subjects centered around UK curriculum.

    * Refdesk.com ... Reference, Facts, News ... Free and Family-friendly Resources - Search various sources, read beaking news, find a word and quote of the day, and more.

    * http://www.geocities.com/holdemking06/hwhelp.html - Various Subjects

    * ReligiousTolerance.org by the Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance - Information on Many Religions and Religious Issues

    * Online Conversion - Convert just about anything to anything else - Converts almost anything!

    * Less Than Enlightened - Various Subjects



    * http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook

    - Concise yet useful information on every country.

  2. #2
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    Default Re: Study tips

    people study in differently - some people like to record their voice and then play it to themselves, some people use mindmaps or even pieces of paper stuck on the wall.

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    Default Re: Study tips

    Quote Originally Posted by Mr.Monkey
    or even pieces of paper stuck on the wall.


    laugh!! well thats another tip to go with my thread you never even read ha?

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    Default Re: Study tips

    Hello guys,here for very usefull tips im putting,





    Take good notes in class.Try not to miss class.Find a study buddy and each of your classes and get their number, so just in case you miss class you can call them to find out what you missed or notes.



    More specifically on studying:



    Number 1- Start studying early, AT LEAST a week in advance for each test.. it takes a lot of unnecessary stress off of you; a professor of mine said theres no such thing as studying too much, and i believe him.



    Number 2- Study in blocks of an hour or so with 5 or 10 minute breaks in between; i find this useful because i can look forward to breaks and it gives your brain time to rest; i set my alarm on my cellphone to go off to remind me



    Number 3- Make a plan of what you want to study; write note of it in your planner; example: Math--> study one hour English--> study 2 hours etc. etc.; I have this giant calender spread across my desk and mark down on it what tests are coming up so i know which ones i need to study more for.



    Number 4- Don't be afraid to ask the teacher or a tutor for help; you teacher especially should be more than happy to help you in your studies if your having trouble understanding a concept



    Number 5- Make stuff like note cards, outlines, Cornell notes, study guides. You don't have to make all of them for one test of course; whatever works best for you really.. everyone has different studying methods that work best for them



    Random tip- when your reading a book or text book.. keep a highlighter or pen in your hand. Make notes in the sides of the pages or high light important information(if your allowed to; i know i wasn't allowed to when i was in middle and high school; in that case just keep an extra paper by your side and take notes on that). Also i heard you brain remembers more information when your reading and holding a pencil because your making it think it's in "study mode"; works for some people i know, including me.



    You must utilize this one.

 

 

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