History??

nc0987

Hey, anyone have any really successful methods of studying history? there's so much to know and it just WONT STICK!!!!!! :mad:

regob

the way i did it was that i wrote out everything i was going to learn e.g. essays, and read them over and over again out loud

yurmothrintites

I wrote out essays that came up in the past and on sample papers learned them briefly and then bullet pointed them on record cards. It worked for me anyway!:)

nc0987

Super! i had my history xmas test today and i think it went ok...i hope... but i just dont feel i have a good method of learning it! so ill try that!

Mars Bar

Yeah it's so hard to keep in the air sac(a.k.a brain)...

nc0987

mars bar wrote: »

air sac(a.k.a brain)...

I like it!!

Fuascailt

i write out my essays and give the different sections headings

eg in Mussolini's Rise to Power- Intro, Economic, Treaty Of Versailles etc

I do mind maps as well, i find it helps:o

nc0987

good advice people. if only time wasnt such a problem!!

themont85

I just seem to absurb history and be able to write good essays, im quite lucky in that way in comparision to other subjects. The way to do imo is for instance in the Irish sections-break each period and just understand what is going on in the period rather than try to learn it fact by fact. Thefacts are important obviously but dont get bogged down in figures and dates ect to early. Then once you have got the general gist of whats going on use the past papers for essays(or indeed mindmaps) and while writing these essays, facts ect they'll be absurbed.

brianthebard

I can give you grinds... seriously though what do your notes look like? I think 90% of people who complain about not being able to remember info are making their notes waaay too detailed, or focusing them specifically for one essay question. Then if the wording is changed even slightly they become unglued and can't find a way to make it work. Does any of this sound like it could apply to you OP?

nc0987

brianthebard wrote: »

I can give you grinds... seriously though what do your notes look like? I think 90% of people who complain about not being able to remember info are making their notes waaay too detailed, or focusing them specifically for one essay question. Then if the wording is changed even slightly they become unglued and can't find a way to make it work. Does any of this sound like it could apply to you OP?

Ha! Yeah you've just described me there!! my notes are way to detailed but i dont know whats important to have and whats not. i tend to end up making notes ON my notes!!

lilmissprincess

My parent-teacher meeting went something like this:
"She needs to learn to stop loving history and start just learning what she needs to know".

I do history on my own during a free class time(I dropped all science), and the teacher told me I don't need to know some of the book...I only need to know bits...but he didn't specify which bits so I'm attempting to learn it all...needless to say, my Christmas exma was...vague at best. No dates, as for specifics I was screwed...
The only thing I knew properly was the economic situation in Germany from 1920-1929...

Any other way than essays?

Killaqueen!!!

I love history and I seem to do well in class essay tests but thats because I know what essay is coming up and I study over the weekend. Because I'm only in 5th year I have quite a bit of time to study but if I study history over the weekend thats all I do because it takes so long!

My notes are always too detailed, and so are my essays, but I just don't get how to shorten them. Every detail is important IMO! Can't think of any essays of the top of my head...em..maybe Nazi Foreign Policy. What can you leave out in that essay? Nothing, really, and it's a very long chapter. It's quite easy, but I can never leave anything out of it so I don't always finish my essays.

Grrrr

brianthebard

lilmissprincess wrote: »

My parent-teacher meeting went something like this:
"She needs to learn to stop loving history and start just learning what she needs to know".

I do history on my own during a free class time(I dropped all science), and the teacher told me I don't need to know some of the book...I only need to know bits...but he didn't specify which bits so I'm attempting to learn it all...needless to say, my Christmas exma was...vague at best. No dates, as for specifics I was screwed...
The only thing I knew properly was the economic situation in Germany from 1920-1929...

Any other way than essays?

Don't mean to be harping on but you need to look at how you do your revision notes and how you identify important facts. I know loads of people who will learn essay after essay trying to detail everything and by the end of it they are ready for a nervous breakdown. Try breaking a topic down to headings, like intro, economic issues, political breakdown, military intervention, conclusion (rough example) then identify the important points that go under each heading. Then put a word or two down for each point. Not a paragraph or a sentence, but a few words that tell you all you need to know- eg. 1929 depression economic downturn. thats all you need to write about taht event, then when you go to write an exam answer or paper you take that and develop the point out. eg 1929 depression had a severe impact on the weimar republic. Although there had been many dissendent voices in the new german state the ease with which the republic paid off the reparations and the economic growth were enough to prevent extremists gaining a strong platform. The depression was the beginning of the end for the weimar republic.
I guess people can be scared that if they don't learn something word for word they won't be able to expand a note into a sentence or paragraph, but you have to give yourself credit and try it.