Best way to retain information

[raptors30]

I usually keep up with all my readings and study the stuff that was covered during the week, but I noticed that as I do this method, I start forgetting some of the stuff that I learned the previous week. What I'm trying to say is do you guys review everything from the beginning of the semester every weekend or do you guys just learn all the new information on a week to week basis and then review everything before the midterm/exam? What method works better.

[questforstarfish]

I make notes in class and try to read over them within a couple of days of having the class, then start studying in small amounts with plenty of time before my exam- for example, for final exams in a difficult or memory-heavy course, I start studying one chapter a night for the two weeks before the exam, and make sure I have two or three days right before the test to review all of it. For easier classes, I still do the one-or-two-chapters-a-day method but I need less time for it.

 

In my classes, we normally have a quiz every two weeks so I do review what we've done recently every two weeks, but I find I haven't needed more than that.

 

If you're having trouble retaining, though, do what works for you! It never hurts to review your notes within a few days of making them, then a week or two later, or even more if you feel the need!

[apache]

generate novel conclussions from the information, find exceptions, generate new possible diseases from errant pathophysiologies of your choosing, me and my psychiatrist were messing around with this, and she popped out how ssri's totally cause pituatary adenoma's... yeah, theoretically possible... but how (one leap might be a bit advanced... but skip to dopamine and prolactin... hmmm what else is going on? thinking like that builds a web where things become hard to forge.

 

didatic retrieval can be poor, depending on if the array is temporal or spatial.. there's interference... the reflection helps, but yeah, like a girl in first year said today, she was reading t notes, and that's plus b equals c, and the notes are dumbed down version... like behavioral criteria for all but the most extreme mental disorders, emergent behaviour is either too complex, or futile with regards to treatment efficacy, after accounting for inter rater, bipolar is the worst... inositol, immune modulated, dag, calcium... lol, unless the person is at the extreme end there's the famous alternative diagnoses dsm... i.e stimulant abuse and concomitant atypical depression... and hyper-somnolence

 

I would highly recommend the Cornell note taking method. Basically you take notes and then make cues at the sides and then summarize/reflect at the end of the day or week at the bottom. It's really good for reviewing key points every week to keep everything fresh. I would highly recommend it. Hope that helps

 

Here's a 1 page summary of how it work: http://lsc.cornell.edu/Sidebars/Study_Skills_Resources/cornellsystem.pdf