How do you study for exams?

motivez · 05-01-2008, 11:17 AM

What's your process?

I've never really had to sit down and 'study' to do well on exams, I have pretty good retention, so usually the most I'd do is glance through my notes.. and as a result I never really developed very good study habits..

Since I started doing higher level math, I have had to kinda sit down and go through things, but I always feel like I'm somehow wasting my time going through problems I've already worked (and I work pretty much every problem), so I'm never sure how to spend my time before a final..

Any suggestions?

Linzyhop · 05-01-2008, 11:18 AM

as long as you keep up a pretty good method for studying the material throughout the semester and review it, you should be good on the basics. usually the text books have questions to review at the end of every chapter and if you do those and go over your notes and the types of questions your teacher gave you, you should be fine.

Phantom · 05-01-2008, 12:48 PM

practice problems are key - reviewing notes is probably the least effective method for studying. If you don't remember the basics, of course a review is necessary, but you will retain much much more by application than simple review.

Even if you've done all the problems before, do them again. You might find something that you didn't notice the first time or you might realize that you forgot a method or step since you last did the work.

WickedLou9 · 05-02-2008, 12:37 PM

Originally Posted by motivez

What's your process?

I've never really had to sit down and 'study' to do well on exams, I have pretty good retention, so usually the most I'd do is glance through my notes.. and as a result I never really developed very good study habits..

Since I started doing higher level math, I have had to kinda sit down and go through things, but I always feel like I'm somehow wasting my time going through problems I've already worked (and I work pretty much every problem), so I'm never sure how to spend my time before a final..

Any suggestions?

Yeah I'm with you. As long as I went to class and paid attention and understood the concepts, I generally do pretty well. Wrought memorization has always been a problem for me though, and if studying means memorizing facts that I don't see an application for, I have a very hard time retaining them. So I would always glance through my notes, making sure I had all of the concepts and ideas down and that's usually enough. With stuff like math, the only way I learned it was by doing problems. lots of them. Only when I began applying the stuff did it really get put into long term memory.

ArrestMeRedZ28 · 05-05-2008, 07:25 PM

Good luck man.

Kytro · 05-06-2008, 01:11 AM

In terms of remembering, SuperMemo (Software) is good, but it requires planning.

tao · 05-09-2008, 11:12 PM

Most students rely on a collection of unrelated study tips to get through exams, and also study in a way that has absolutely nothing to do with being good at exams.

For example... I've never sat an exam where the question says... "using your yellow highlighter, please emphasize the important points in this text". Or in a different learning situation... would you train to be a professional basketball player by hitting a tennis ball for 2 hours?

My point is... you need a system for processing large amounts of information that is directly related to maximizing your performance in exams, not a bunch of superficial study tips.

Rob
Studying For Exams Made Simple

Linzyhop · 05-12-2008, 01:54 PM

Originally Posted by tao

Most students rely on a collection of unrelated study tips to get through exams, and also study in a way that has absolutely nothing to do with being good at exams.

For example... I've never sat an exam where the question says... "using your yellow highlighter, please emphasize the important points in this text". Or in a different learning situation... would you train to be a professional basketball player by hitting a tennis ball for 2 hours?

My point is... you need a system for processing large amounts of information that is directly related to maximizing your performance in exams, not a bunch of superficial study tips.

Rob
Studying For Exams Made Simple

are you a spammer? cause if you're just gonna talk about your "business" and not contribute to anything else, go away please.