Study Tips/Time Management

[Meowjin]

As I do not want to fuck up this time, I'm looking for any resources that I can read up upon for time management and studying.

Any personal Experiences? I've used ye olde faithful google and found a few good tips, but I'm curious on how to balance 4 courses, and how much study time I should put into each course?

[JKam]

Something I find really useful is my planner. helps me plan out my days and see what needs to be done. Nice checklist to make sure things get done too.

As for studying, it depends what you're taking and how you learn.

[Armind]

To manage time for five of my projects, i made a list. Estimate how long it will get something done, double that time and write it down. Try to finish that particular thing by that time. Helped me a lot.

[Jgresch]

I'm all about the lists as well. I also set up a little calender each month in my office for due dates so I can quickly check and it gives me a good idea of when to start projects. I even break down projects/study times into checklists and set time for each component so I can get a good diea of how long something will take.

[Euro7r]

Personally this works for me, but don't try this since it may/may not work for everyone. I only study a few days before an exam. The reason being so is that, I find it pointless to study, say 2 weeks before hand because by the time exam time draws near, I would have forgotten everything. I probably would have played games, hung out with friends, did a lot of other distractive things in between that time.

Studying a few days works for me because I have a short memory, so whatever I studied the few days before it sticks in my mind.

[tiger_handheld]

writing things down helps alot. i only wrote things down for a 2 week horizon- it was a rolling two weeks. worked great for me.

you should talk to the instructors and see how much time outside of class excluding projects you need to spend. take that and multiply by .75 and use that time.

make sure you get some fun in there too, and i take breaks after studying each chapter. they are 5 min breaks.

* this is what helped me - might not work for you.

[Ulic Qel-Droma]

planners don't work for people that can't keep to plans.

[JKam]

one tip for studying is to pay attention in class. Don't day dream. It helps when you're studying because then you can remember what the prof was talking about.

I'm an audio learner so that's what works for me.

[Gilgamesh]

At Langara, I had two professors who recommended 8 hours per course a week. Different methods work for different people. As I am not a good crammer, I like taking a whole week to study. I also do not like powerpoint slides and I create my own notes.
The best strategy, I found, is study groups.

[instantneedles]

Originally Posted by Gilgamesh

At Langara, I had two professors who recommended 8 hours per course a week. Different methods work for different people. As I am not a good crammer, I like taking a whole week to study. I also do not like powerpoint slides and I create my own notes.
The best strategy, I found, is study groups.

i second study groups, but when doing this, carefully pick who u think make good candidates as study partners. people that goof off easily or cant really focus on the topic that you need to study on do not make good study partners. qualities of a good study partner: is a patient person, is a person that can communicate well with u, does not like to go into different irrelevant topics, and is a person that learns the same way as u and is the same learning capabilities as u ( some of u may disagree but i think that a person that is smarter than u will not be as patient and will just think ur a dumbass that is wasting their time ) this sounds quite stupid, but it actually works, if u change the information and turn them into games that u can play, it helps u excercise ur brain in a different way to remember the info. Ex, after reading ur text thoroughly, ask ur friend to ask u questions, if u answer the question wrong, stay in the plank or hold a squat until u can give the right answer..... this sounds really dumb i know, but it really helps with the memory....

[cheapskate]

Repetition makes the master.

Go to every class, take notes in every class, read all the assigned material before class, take notes on said readings. By doing this, I've already reviewed the material several times even before studying for a test. This is how I managed to get my 80% average.

Also, I use a planner (ical for mac), but not a daily one. I use a monthly one and mark down all the important due dates i.e. tests/assignments. This way, I get a visual interpretation of my monthly priorities. I find this infinitely more useful than having carrying around those daily agendas because with those, you can't see everything @ a glance and you lose perspective.

[cheapskate]

Originally Posted by Euro7r

Personally this works for me, but don't try this since it may/may not work for everyone. I only study a few days before an exam. The reason being so is that, I find it pointless to study, say 2 weeks before hand because by the time exam time draws near, I would have forgotten everything. I probably would have played games, hung out with friends, did a lot of other distractive things in between that time.

Studying a few days works for me because I have a short memory, so whatever I studied the few days before it sticks in my mind.

For me it's the opposite. I study to learn, not to get good marks. So I try to study throughout the semester. I study to "understand" and not merely to "remember". By doing this, I get a much richer university experience and ironically I get a lot better marks now because I actually understand the material, no need to cram anything. By learning this way, the material sticks with me for the rest of my life, and I know I'll be able to really apply what I've learned in the future.

[TRDood]

Don't really know what course you are taking, so can't really give out any detailed comments.

But to me in general, to get 90%-100%, study time is 1 hour lecture = 2-3 hours of studying. Do your math and act accordingly.

As for a list/plan, I don't really do that because I'd much rather spend that time to study instead.

For me, study hard (16-20 hours) 2 days prior to the exam. Review everything and make sure I know everything 24 hours before the exam. Sleep well... arrive at the exam site 3-4 hours early, crank out ALL the materials again just before you go into the test.

e.g. Exam is on December 31 at 9am

My approach:
December 29 - study 20 hours
December 30 - study 8 hours, stop at 8pm, sleep.
December 31 - wake up at 5am, get to the test site at 6am, make sure I know everything.

oh, and everytime, I will make a cheat sheet on what I must know.

If I have multiple exams, then I try to fit that approach as best I can...

[instantneedles]

i wonder how you guys would manage to remember everything for midterms or finals by cramming studying time

[jcxzero]

Originally Posted by instantneedles

i wonder how you guys would manage to remember everything for midterms or finals by cramming studying time

people who do that usually get at best average marks so they don't

[alpinestars]

balance your resources. after midway through the course, assuming you wrote a few quizes, midterms, or did some homework, you should have a basic idea of how comfortable you are within a course.

once you find out your good at a particular course, put less time into it. you're a natural at that course, leave it alone, the final will write itself. focus more effort on the courses you suck the most in. even if theyre uninteresting. the most efficient thing you can do is get a decent grade all-around, than to get a great mark in one course, but fail another course and have to re-take it to get a better mark

[Meowjin]

My goal in 6 years is to be a critical care rn/perfusionist.

Wish me luck

[cheapskate]

Originally Posted by MajinHurricane

My goal in 6 years is to be a critical care rn/perfusionist.

Wish me luck

Good luck!

And may S.N. Goenka's wise words work well for you as they have for me

"Work diligently. Diligently. Work patiently and persistently. Patiently and persistently. You're bound to be successful. Bound to be successful."

I repeat these words to myself many times when I am working or when I want to slack off and do useless stuff.

[cheapskate]

I just thought of another really effective strategy called "Single-Mindedly One Touching" by Brian Tracy. If you like it, I highly recommend you to pick up his book "Focal Point."

Here's a direct quote:

"Once you have thought through your work and decided on your most valuable task, you must discipline yourself to start it immediately and stay with it until it is complete. When you concentrate single-mindedly on a single task, without diversion or distraction, you get it done far faster than if you start and stop and then come back to the task and pick it up again. You can reduce the amount of time you spend on a major task by as much as 80 percent simply by refusing to do anything else until that task is complete."

This strategy is really hard to put into action (for most of us anyway) but super effective when implemented properly.

[The_AK]

What worked well for me is not just READING the material, but understanding it. People who cram are crazy, theres no way you will retain that information in the long run. What worked for me is writing down all my notes and actually making sense of what I was reading. Its one thing to read something, but try putting what you just read into a real-life situation - try to apply it. Doing so made preparing for my finals much easier since when I looked back at the chapters I was reviewing I didn't need to spend much time since it all made sense to me already.

[Jgresch]

^Bingo.

So much easier to talk/write about something that you actually understand instead of having partial similar words you can recognize or whatever.

I'd rather completely understand and make sense of 75% of the course, than just read through every chapter and slide hoping to memorize some stuff.

Also, actually understanding concepts can help you in next years courses, you can relate topics and pick new things up quicker.

[Meowjin]

you know if I wasn't so focused on going the nursing route I'd probably do fantastic at mechanical engineering.

[The_AK]

Originally Posted by Jgresch

^Bingo.

So much easier to talk/write about something that you actually understand instead of having partial similar words you can recognize or whatever.

I'd rather completely understand and make sense of 75% of the course, than just read through every chapter and slide hoping to memorize some stuff.

Also, actually understanding concepts can help you in next years courses, you can relate topics and pick new things up quicker.

Absolutely true in majority of courses that have prerequisites.

[polvoronn]

Originally Posted by cheapskate

For me it's the opposite. I study to learn, not to get good marks. So I try to study throughout the semester. I study to "understand" and not merely to "remember". By doing this, I get a much richer university experience and ironically I get a lot better marks now because I actually understand the material, no need to cram anything. By learning this way, the material sticks with me for the rest of my life, and I know I'll be able to really apply what I've learned in the future.

^THIS! I found that the more I understand the easier it is to get better grades. It also better prepares you for exams where concepts will be presented in ways that you may not be familiar when doing homework. While they may seem basic and elementary, here are some things that I do that help me;

• Pre-read all material. Even if I'm in a rush, I'll read the first and last few sentences of each paragraph as those typically contain the most basic and useful information.
• Highlight all concepts which sound like they may be important
• Flag pages with concepts you don't understand so you're quicker to reference them when asking the prof
• Ask the prof to clarify all concepts you don't understand. Don't be afraid to ask dumb questions or sound repetitive.
• Study with people in your same class and offer assistance with concepts that you may think already understand inside and out. This offers two advantages; (1) if they ask you a question that you can't answer, then it exposes an area that you need to concentrate on that you may not have identified previously; (2) if you can answer it, it helps tremendously to solidify your knowledge. This has been the BIGGEST source of help for me and really helped me to understand.
• Study to redundance. When you think you understand concepts and problems, do them over again. And again. And again. If you've got X number of hours to study, use all of them. Don't think that just because you think it has clicked that it has. Use every bit of time you've allocated.
• Write all your notes. It sticks with you a lot easier when you write them out.
• Be well organized. I've ditched binders in favor of these. One for each subject, material separated by week/chapter/class or whatever works for you. I find it easier to whip papers in and out using this system.
• For multiple choice, use flashcards. If you have an iPhone or iPod touch, download the Flashcards Deluxe app (http://OrangeOrApple.com). You gotta pay for it, but it's well worth the $3.99. Don't just look at the question and think about the answer. WRITE the answers down. You'll get immediate feedback about how well you did. If you separate it by chapter then you'll know which chapters to concentrate on.
• Don't burn yourself out. Give yourself time to energize and relax. It's just as important to maximize your relaxation time as it is to maximize your study time.
• Sleep. Properly.
• Keep yourself motivated and constantly remind yourself why you don't want to fuck up. Get motivation anywhere you can whenever you need it.
• Aim 50 percentage points higher than you think you need to aim. That will account for all the unknowns.
• Use EVERY MINUTE of the exam that you're given. Check each and every answer over and over and over again. Check them properly and take your time when checking over again. It's amazing how many people see mistakes that would've been painfully obvious if only a little more care was taken to actually think about the questions.
• Constantly review material. Never let a week go by that testable material is not reviewed. Do proper review, not just skimming.

That's all I've got. Stick to that and everything else people are saying here, and you'll walk out of the exams like;

[cheapskate]

Originally Posted by MajinHurricane

you know if I wasn't so focused on going the nursing route I'd probably do fantastic at mechanical engineering.

If mechanical engineering is what you really want, then YOU MUST GO FOR IT! One cannot truly succeed/be happy in something unless she has her whole heart in it. Understand that the only thing that is standing in your way is FEAR; not the world or other people, your fear. Are you going to let an emotion stand in the way of your dreams?

As renowned management consultant Robert Fritz so eloquently said, "If you limit your choices only to what seems possible or reasonable... you disconnect yourself from what you truly want, and all you have left is a compromise... THE HUMAN SPIRIT WILL NOT INVEST ITSELF IN A COMPROMISE."