Tips for studying

HOS 1997

I started studying tonight for an exam that I have coming up. It's my first time to do so in the years since I left school.

I found it as struggle to stay interested and motivated to keep at it. Everything was distracting me.

Can anyone share tips with me on how to effectively study?

AnonoBoy

Tip 1: Get off boards and read the books.

Kylo Ren

1. Read the book
2. Memorise shit
3. ??????
4. Profit

The King of Moo

Make your notes as visually appealing as possible. Draw diagrams, flow charts, spider charts etc.

It makes the information much easier to remember than just rows of sentences.

Handwriting notes instead of typing them also seems to make the information stick more.

Also, take regular breaks and divide the things you have to study into small chunks so it doesn't feel like you've too much to study.

Praetorian Saighdiuir

Step 1: Figure out how to cheat

or

Seduce the tester!

Red Hand

The King of Moo wrote: »

Make your notes as visually appealing as possible. Draw diagrams, flow charts, spider charts etc.

It makes the information much easier to remember than just rows of sentences.

Handwriting notes instead of typing them also seems to make the information stick more.

Also, take regular breaks and divide the things you have to study into small chunks so it doesn't feel like you've too much to study.

Adding to this:

Make it interesting, make your notes into a story or even better, into something you can easily visualise. Google memory palace, where you link the things you want to remember to routes or streets that you see every day.

--LOS--

HOS 1997 wrote: »

I started studying tonight for an exam that I have coming up. It's my first time to do so in the years since I left school.

I found it as struggle to stay interested and motivated to keep at it. Everything was distracting me.

Can anyone share tips with me on how to effectively study?

Kinda depends what sort of subject it is. But anyway firstly put away the laptop if you can, studying while online is just a distraction. Give yourself some realistic expectations of what you can get done in the timeframe you have, identify key areas to study. Just get the head down and start, take notes, take short breaks every hour or so. Most importantly I would say 'just do it', close down the internal dialogue, the panic, the worrying, the procrastination, coming up with excuses to do something else, just get the head down and get working, time is your biggest strength.

HOS 1997

How long would you recommend studying each night?

--LOS--

HOS 1997 wrote: »

How long would you recommend studying each night?

how long have you got, are you working during the day or something? How far away is the exam. I would just pretty much put whatever time you have into it, taking breaks for food and still sleeping at a normal hour.

MJ23

Turn off the telly
Put away the phone

BOHtox

Ah yes studying. I remember studying for the leaving.
It comprised of

Going to my bedroom.
Getting a book.
****
Falling asleep
Wake up
study done

biko

Go sit in a library or cafe.

shopaholic01

Try mnemonics e.g. Richard of York gave battle in vain.

Use diagrams where possible, it can be easier to remember a visual than pages of texts.

holystungun9

biko wrote: »

Go sit in a library or cafe.

Bring a book, too.

Esoteric_

The only thing that I found helpful was doodling on my books next to the stuff I had to read up on. In my exams, I tended to remember what I'd doodled next to.

Aside from that, writing down everything by hand, rather than typing or just reading, helped a lot.

pragmatic1

Make notes and put them into bullet points. Study for half an hour, take a break and they see what you remember. Repeat until you've got a sore head.

entropi

Most of it has already been said, but definitely go somewhere you can focus on your study material. I would go to the library, and put in my noise cancelling headphones (but play no music) so the focus would be on what's in front of me.

Do it in small chunks, areas of a subject that tie into each other if possible. Highlight sections you feel are important, and use more than one colour highlighter so you wont get bored of seeing the same thing over and over again.

Most importantly, get away from the internet, unless vital to your study. TV, music and radio are also major attention killers.

HOS 1997

--LOS-- wrote: »

how long have you got, are you working during the day or something? How far away is the exam. I would just pretty much put whatever time you have into it, taking breaks for food and still sleeping at a normal hour.

Yes working full time.

The exam is not until September but there is a mountain of information I need to learn for it.

Aiming to study most nights from now until then to ensure I pass first time as it has a high failure rate.

Pedant

Find some way to stop your hands from going below your waste. I wore a chastity belt in the months leading up my Leaving Cert. Also, get off the internet.

pragmatic1

OP don't forget to take loads of breaks, there's only so much you can absorb at one time. LOS gave you some solid advice.

FizzleSticks

This post has been deleted.

Naomi00

Write things on post-it notes and stick them on the wall near your desk or on a door or something, look at them a few times a day. That's a good way to remember short points or definitions.

If you're drawing out diagrams and charts and need to learn them off stick them on your walls too instead of putting them in a book and never looking at them.

I did my leaving cert this year and I thought these helped a lot for learning off info. Making up stories based on what you're studying is good too but doesn't work for everything.