study habits..........yeh i know

[Dmo18]

dont know if this will get too many replies, but i was wonderin if anyone had any study tips for me, first year of college and for some reason i have trouble remeberin what we learned in class unless i go over it over and over again and it sucks

Dmo18 Reviewed by Dmo18 on 10-03-2006. study habits..........yeh i know dont know if this will get too many replies, but i was wonderin if anyone had any study tips for me, first year of college and for some reason i have trouble remeberin what we learned in class unless i go over it over and over again and it sucks Rating: 5

[benagain]

That's the only way I've ever been able to do it. Actually I can only really understand it if I can picture it in my head somehow. I can memorize shit, but I don't learn anything unless I know how it works.

[napolitana869]

i like flash cards, because writing it down and quizing myself helps. i like using different colored highlighters too because i can visualize it in my mind better. these may sound silly but they help if its a class with a lot of things to remeber.

[Dmo18]

no doesnt sound silly at all man i like these ideas keep em comin

[graph]

In college you learn a lot of crazy study tips. I don't know if all of these really work, but they work for me.

If you're not a coffee drinker then smell coffee beans when you study. Take the beans with you on the day of your quiz and smell them before the quiz. Smell is directly tied to the limbic system, which deals with memory. It makes a pattern. If you drink coffee, you're probably gonna need some other smell, but make sure it's something you can bring in a classroom.

Take notes in class, and later say them out loud in a recorder. When you study, read your notes and listen to the recording. There's some science behind this one, but I don't know what it is.

Don't overstress, or you won't remember anything. Just relax and remember that your brain is one helluva tool.

Don't always try to do everything in one night. Take things one step at a time. I also found that when I study right before I go to sleep, I remember more in the morning.

Read the chapter before the lecture. You'll take better notes and remember information more easily.

Use weed as a reward.


Well, that just about sums up all I ever learned on campus. Sad, really.

[birdgirl73]

Those were wonderful, Graph. I'm going to try several of those, including the coffee beans. I can definitely use that tip, especially as a non coffee drinker. You gave me some good new tips there!

I find that mnemoinc (memory) devices like memorable abbreviations (every good boy does fine for muscial notes, for instance) help me a lot. I have lots of memorization this year.

I get real uptight before exams or lab practicals and always have to work hard at relaxing by meditating or controlling my breathing. I totally choke if I don't help myself relax. It seems to help if I have some relaxing romantic time with my husband the night before tests.

I'm finding that broken up periods of studying, interspersed with breaks, help a lot. I study for an hour and a half. Then break. Do something fun. Go back to the books. Break again. Then study again. Then break for sleep. That downtime and overnight time help the unconscious part of my mind sort and categorize and reinforce things. A quick review before class or before a test seems to help put a nice sealing touch on the info.

Good luck with school, Dmo18! I think you'll find the more you practice study techniques and go over things repeatedly, the easier it'll get. You're not only training your brain to learn the information you're studying, you're also training it to learn to learn. The more you reinforce the learn-to-learn, the easier the info itself will stick in there.

[kknight]

dont know if this will get too many replies, but i was wonderin if anyone had any study tips for me, first year of college and for some reason i have trouble remeberin what we learned in class unless i go over it over and over again and it sucks

From what I remember lol:

Read everything three times. Most stuff you can. Need to read a chapter? Read it once, then go back and read it a day later. Then read it again. One teacher I had passed study tips out with a study that backed up that after reading material 3 times the amount that gets stuck in your long term (or not so short) term starts staying there.

Don't get behind and keep up at all costs. N-brainer.

Don't cram. If you have a test on 4 chapters coming up in a week. Space it out and read portions each night and leave a night or two to review. Again cramming sticks it to your short term and good luck with that. :thumbsup:

[napolitana869]

yeah craming is just a bad idea, but you'll see lots of people doing it.
i always get behind and then i spend the rest of the smester trying to catch up. its a really bad habit to get into.