Guest driedcaribou Posted October 7, 2003 Report Share Posted October 7, 2003 How do you guys study? How long do you stay at a desk to study? I find that I've been quite restless lately and can't sit down for more than 15 minutes... it's been quite hard getting anything done. What do you find motivates you to keep pushing onwards? For me, I'm getting bored. I want to get out there and work again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ibraheem Posted October 7, 2003 Report Share Posted October 7, 2003 i have taken all lot of adv. courses and i am only in gr 11, and normally i have so much work, i start at 5:30 - 6 PM to arround 12 AM, so overall 6 hours after school, plus i have to go to sports and such.... its tough Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest shoopshoop Posted October 7, 2003 Report Share Posted October 7, 2003 each person has his way but for me this worked in all yrs of highschool and it still is in senior... i may not have the courseload u have caribou, but when i do sit down to study i can pull off about 2 straight hrs...BUT under one condition. it must be on BED. yep, lying on the matress and pillow on the wall seems to me the only way i am comfortable with. i too can't stand the desk as i feel it breaks my back...afterall u can't memorize feeling unrestful. i would definately give it a try...at least once if u feel like taking a break while studying go drink water, powder ur nose...etc., anything that'll keep ur mind off studying for a moment or two. oh ya...i also have a habit (not neccessarily a good one) of taking a 45min.- 1 hr nap every day after i get back from school (don't know if it can be managed at univ. level). this really freshens up my mind for studying if i want to, otherwise i can't stand reading for 2 minutes. :\ hope this helps:\ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest turtle Posted October 7, 2003 Report Share Posted October 7, 2003 I wouldn't recommend studying on your bed...or even in your bedroom. I don't know what level of education you're at, and that can make a difference. In highschool it's a lot easier to study less (or less efficiently anyway) and still do well, at least it was for me. Looking back now I can barely remember studying at all in highschool, though I'm sure I must have...it just doesn't compare to what's required of you in university. Having said that (and getting back to your question) I recommend studying at the library, or somewhere else where there are few distractions. It seems obvious, but if you are somewhere where there is nothing to do but study, you will spend all your time studying. However, if you are in your room (for some people, aka me, often just being in my house is bad enough) you can always find other things to do: sleep, tv, phone, internet, food, roomates, pets...and on the list goes. Now, that's not to say that I never study at home. To be quite honest, sometimes I am just too lazy to leave the house. Other times, I'm feeling very disciplined and have no problem spending hours at my desk working. The point is, you have to know yourself, what motivates you, what your weaknesses are when it comes to distraction. As for not being able to sit down for more than 15 minutes without getting resltess...being somewhere where there's nothing else to do will help, but really it's about self-discipline. After 15 minutes, when you want to get up and do something else, don't. Don't let yourself. Make a deal with yourself that you are going to work for at least an hour before you take any breaks, and then force yourself to do it. Then take a break if you still need it, but time yourself too (i.e. i am going to watch tv for half an hour) then get back to work. Often, once you force yourself to get going, you'll get on a roll and you won't even need the break anymore. Whew...hope that helps! turtle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tirisa Posted October 7, 2003 Report Share Posted October 7, 2003 After too many years of undergrad and a couple more of graduate studies, I've learned a lot about my own study habits... and unfortunately, some habits are hard to break, so I'm stuck with what I've got. :rolleyes Anyway, unless I'm studying something that I'm really super interested in (like right now, I'm learning ASL and I go home everynight and practice hand signs and fingerspelling... soooo fun), I am the type of person that gets motivated by pressure. If I have no pressure of "time is running out" or "too many chapters to get through", then sometimes I have a hard time sitting down for many hours. If I have a deadline or feel some other pressure, then I can sit until 5 in the morning without a problem. So, if I feel distracted and can't sit too long, then I've learned not to push myself, since I end up just sitting there and wasting time anyway. So I'll go out and run some errands, go for a run or a sail, make a yummy dinner... anything where I can feel like I've filled my day and been productive. Then, when I sit back down at my desk, if I go, "holy @#%$, I still have 100 pages to read", then I'll sit down for the next couple hours straight and read. You can also try creating deadlines for yourself, although it's easy to outsmart yourself. But Thanksgiving is coming up... so you could try setting a goal of what you need to have done before then. Be realistic. If you're doing a masters, then set a deadline with your supervisor to have x,y,or z done before a given date. You also may already know what time of day you study best... I'm a night studier... for my masters, my normal working hours were 9pm to 3am. Strange, but true. I didn't even bother trying to go in early, since I would just waste time anyway on the internet. Anyway, I've learned how I can study best. And as we can see here already, everyone has different methods... whether it's on a bed or in a cubicle, in the morning or at night. There's no right way or wrong way, but you do have to figure out what way is best for you. Good luck. Tirisa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 007 Posted October 7, 2003 Report Share Posted October 7, 2003 I totally agree with what Tirisa wrote..... However, I can also sympathize because I too am in a 15 minute maximum attention span mode right now because I'm just so excited about getting to go home for Thanksgiving. What I find helps in such situations is if you notice you're not paying attention to what you're studying, or are getting restless, get up and do something minor....like get a glass of water, take out your garbage, brush your teeth or something similar that requires a bit of physical movement. But be sure to come back to your desk as soon as you're done the task so you avoid getting distracted by anything on the way. I know some people set time limits on their studying and take a break every 50 minutes for example, but I find that that can just ruin a good momentum. I take them as I need them. As for what motivates me, I agree with Tirisa - FEAR! Luckily for me, that pressure tends to hit about a week before I actually need to have something done. I think the idea of setting false deadlines is a really good one. Also, if you can sit down and finish everything early, you may have extra time to fill with something other than studying and this may prevent your boredom or fulfill your need to be out in the real world. Maybe that could be your motivation...."I need to finish these readings by 7pm so I can go play hockey at 7:30." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest turtle Posted October 7, 2003 Report Share Posted October 7, 2003 haha...i don't know why i didn't think about that, but you're absolutely right. I totally need the pressure too!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ibraheem Posted October 7, 2003 Report Share Posted October 7, 2003 i cant study in bed, i just get sleepy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest drews97 Posted October 7, 2003 Report Share Posted October 7, 2003 first year at Queen's med and we don't have any tests until december so I'm finding it really hard to get motivated to study....so I have no study tips for you!!:\ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 0T6 Posted October 7, 2003 Report Share Posted October 7, 2003 my motivation is work hard now, play hard later.. I use it in a variet of time scales for example, if I get an assignment that's due in a month or two, i get it done in the first couple of weeks. That way I get all that time to make it perfect, and if there's something I wanna do later, I can! Samething with taking notes from textbooks and stuff like that, If I can stay a week or two ahead of lecture, I know if anything DOES come up, I'm not gonna be falling behind. It also works with my life I guess.. work my ass of now and reep the rewards later Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ikaj Posted October 8, 2003 Report Share Posted October 8, 2003 I find that exercising in the mornings help me to concentrate on my studying throughout the day. I don't know if you're an active person or not, but maybe you could give it a try if you aren't. Also, I heard that protein helps you to concentrate and makes you less restless. Does anyone know about that? I would avoid drinking coffee and high sugar foods, which also might make your restless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest driedcaribou Posted October 8, 2003 Report Share Posted October 8, 2003 Thanks for the feedback guys. There's so much to respond to so I apologize if I didn't answer anything... The reason why I don't have good study skills is that I found High School to be a joke. (no offense to those of you in it right now). I played some sports and did the bare minimum in terms of studying and was still able to attain a scholarship to UBC. The only time I really studied was for provincial exams but that was more of a 'do-as-many-practice-tests-that-you-can' than actual reviewing of the material. What I found hard about University was the lack of structure and lack of motivation to study as well as a horrible schedule. Maybe I felt burnt-out after High School? I took some time off and I'm going to school again but I find that I've lost the ability to learn. lol My schedule isn't nearly as hard as it was the first time around but my brain doesn't absorb the material anymore and I'm very impatient now. That and I hate being financially burdened. I definitely agree that studying in your own room isn't as good as finding somewhere else to study. I don't drink coffee or eat candy... I find exercising does help me to focus but I find that I'd rather just spend the rest of the day exercising than work. : ) I totally need pressure before I really crack down and study but even then, sometimes I find I'm still going to cram... What has actually helped me the most is reading about your experiences so I don't feel like I'm the only one having trouble with studying. Funny... as I type this.. I'm avoiding work.. I do nap when I get home but I keep this nap to 20 minutes.. no more or I get groggy. Thanks again for your feedback everyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ibraheem Posted October 8, 2003 Report Share Posted October 8, 2003 did you take any Advanced courses? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Sarah371 Posted October 8, 2003 Report Share Posted October 8, 2003 Breaks.....I say that I will sit and study for 45 minutes and then take a 15 minute break.....get up...go for a walk etc. If you know you have a shorter period to time to sit there it doesn't seem as daunting as saying that you have 5 hours to study. Another hint is lists.....I keep a date book where I write down the topics I want to study....I always feel good about seeing a list all crossed off. SARAH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest driedcaribou Posted October 8, 2003 Report Share Posted October 8, 2003 I took English AP and Calculus AP... I did not take them with the intent of getting University credit though and really slacked off in them. It's a good thing Calculus AP wasn't used in the calculation of my University entrance mark or I never would've gotten in. What also made my Grade 12 easier for me was that I dropped a course so I had a spare block which I used to sleep in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest UofT Student Posted October 8, 2003 Report Share Posted October 8, 2003 Try to vary what you are studying at any time. For example, work on some readings, then do some math-related stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.