Advice on an effective study routine - NEEDED!

[Guest RXK]

hello,

 

this question is slightly off topic from the board, but i would appreciate any tips!

 

i recently finished my first year of life sci at uoft (st. george campus), and i realized (much like everyone else in my class) that i have to adjust my study routine to the elevated university curriculum. but, i have no idea on how i could fully maximize my studying. thus, how should i study, on a daily basis, for second year courses such as biochemistry, human biology, biology (genetics), zoology, etc.? also, regarding note taking (from the required readings: lecture guides and texts), should i be making notes from one subheading to the next, or should i just make notes on main ideas and still re-read all the material from the text? i find that minuscule info is often tested on, and if i were to make notes, i would miss anything small.... anyway, if i could get a few tips on how you guys/gals actively studied during your undergrad, that would be greatly appreciated!

 

thanks for the much needed advice,

 

and, good luck to all those waiting for the may 28/31 replies,

 

RXK

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi there,

 

There can be a lot of memorization and minutiae in undergrad science lectures. I managed to absorb a lot more of it and do well on the tricky little test questions by taking a few approaches. These approaches ate up a considerable amount of time but they seemed to work for me (during grad school as well). You might wish to consider or try a few of them to see how they work for you:

 

1) If there are recommended readings for lectures, do them before the lecture. (You'll often pick up more of the lecture minutiae by doing so, as opposed to trying to figure out the professor's main message.)

2) If the professor will allow it, tape the lectures.

3) In addition to taping the lectures, take notes.

4) That night, or the next day, latest, transcribe your lectures using the audiotape and the notes from class.

5) For each lecture, make yourself a set of lecture trivia questions and answers that you can put in a binder after each set of lecture notes. Review these questions periodically during the term and highlight the tougher questions, or the ones that cause continual problems.

6) Try all the recommended questions in the textbook as you progress through your class. If queries arise due to the material, take these issues to the professor at that time.

 

Good luck next year.

 

Kirsteen

[Guest noncestvrai]

I also studied the professor, meaning try to see trends on what likely the questions will be...at least it worked for me.

 

noncestvrai

[Guest wassabi101]

All great advice, but one that I think helped me a lot was to practise writing your answers out! A lot of people take it for granted that if you can think of the answer in your head, you know it. But often, just writing it down and working out how you would answer it not only allows you to think things through but helps with the memorization. The best questions I found were ones where I could compare and contrast.

 

Remember that everyone has their own method!

 

Good luck,

wassabi

[Guest Teemster]

Hi,

 

Certainly, every method is idiosyncratic...However, one feature I've found to be common among my peers is to absorb material using more than one faculty. I am a ridiculous procrastinator. What works for me is engaging in lectures, following the lecturer's train of thought, and keeping up with readings (easier said than done). Then, the days before an exam, I read through each concept, then explain the concept aloud to myself, or draw it out on a piece of paper.

 

Good luck! (Remember, 2nd year is much better than 1st year.)

 

Teemster

[Guest codloghorn]

i recommend taking notes, and then re-writing them. i agree with kirsteen that tape-recording lectures can be helpful, but i don't think it is efficient. most of the time, it is difficult to hear the professor's voice on the tape. in addition, it is sooooooooo boring listening to a lecture over again! i just didn't have the motivation to perform such a task!

[Guest Koppertone]

If I could give on piece of advice, it would be to simply avoid procrastination tools like this message board, shut the computer off and do some solid studying.

[Guest sn0w0wl]

I have used a lot of the same tricks as mentioned above. As an example, I had to take a couple 200-level biochemistry courses this year to catch up with med school pre-reqs. We had a midterm and final for each, all knowledge-based (straight memorization). To be honest, I did no work on a day-to-day basis, just crammed for the exams like this:

 

What I did was I first gave myself enough time ahead of an exam to study one chapter/section per night, with the last night as a total review night. For each section, I would read the relevant pages in the text/assigned readings and "fill in" my notes with the extra details I found important (re-writing my notes if necessary to make them easier to read) and highlighting key ideas. At the same time, I would write up a list of review questions, at least one for each key point. Then, I use these questions as a basis to "quiz" myself when I go back to review, ie. try to come up with an answer in my own words (even drawing it out) before peeking at my notes. This helped me identify areas that I needed to work on. Then it was just a matter of drilling stuff into the brain with whatever tricks (mnemonics, etc) that I could think of.

 

This method won't work for all courses (and long-term retention probably isn't great), but planning ahead of an exam to give yourself time to go over one section/night avoids panic and helps motivation (for me anyway--I'm the kind of person who likes crossing things off lists). Whatever works for you. Hope this helps.

[Guest squeegy80]

My advice along with many of the points mentioned above (eg. start studying early, take as many notes as possible) is to find a study partner who has the same kinds of goals as you. I found an amazing study partner early in first year and it just works so well because it's way easier to push each other to study than it is to try to avoid procrastination yourself. It also works well since you may have missed some small detail in class that your partner didn't and vice versa.

 

What we do is take a few pages of notes at a time, study them for 5-10 minutes and then quiz each other. Although it takes a bit longer since you have to account for 2 people instead of 1 it just makes it so much more enjoyable. Watch out for chatters though, they can be counter-productive. Another thing is to create a concrete study schedule, like stay at school after class until you finish up to a certain section in your notes. Eventually you figure out how early you will have to start studying for an exam and it will relieve a ton of the cram-stress normally present.

 

squeegy

[Guest k8ee]

If I may add my 2 cents (as someone who has been on both sides of the fence - lecturer and student):

 

Try using your regular school days to actually LEARN and UNDERSTAND the material (all of the advice above is great!). Then, when it comes to exam time you aren't spending your time LEARNING, but rather REVIEWING what you already know. It's frustrating on the night of the exam when you get stuck on one concept that you spend precious time trying to "understand" when this should have already been accomplished weeks before.

 

Bottom-line: LEARN the material now so you only have to REVIEW and refresh your memory later (use the extra time to exercise/relax and get some sleep).

 

k8ee

[Guest hacker]

To add to the above, I would recommend downloading past final exams of your courses early on in the term. Do try to attempt questions covering topics that have been discussed in your class. This will help you find out your weaknesses early and give you enough time to adapt to the questions that may be tough or challenging to you. Ofcourse, you can always take those tough questions to your prof or TA and ask for their help to make sure you master those topics before your exams.

 

H