Avic7:
Man on man, i am so stressed out over exams at my university. Before I was an A and B student, now it in the grade range of >>>>>>>>>>>>
Any suggestions on how to study? I am a science major, celluar biology. Before, all I did was memorize, but that not enough anymore. They keep saying you can't memorize your way through university. You gotta understand the concepts. I am so confused. Any suggestions?
Well,
It's been about 900 years since I went to university (or so it seems) but I recognise your problem.
I'll tell you what helped me.
- buy a book (straight to the point) about time management and start working on planning blocks of time in your day, your week and so forth.
- Believe it or not studying takes time. Make a daily schedule for 10 hours a day study. I started with 12 but was able to reduce that to 8 as I got more experienced with how to manage my time.
- Believe it or not you need rest and relaxation. Make a plan to sleep at least 7 hours a day and spend at least 4 hours a day doing other things.
- Make time for sport. Your mind and your body are connected in ways that most people have no idea about. I did kungfu and scuba diving at university. Keep active to keep alert. Repeat this point 10 times.
- Eat right. This is a big one for many students. Make sure you keep your body stoked with the right foods or your concentration span will decrease and cause you to need more hours of study.
- Take a day off every week. I wasn't able to do that until I got my time management under control but once I did then I spent one day a week doing what ever I wanted. Often that was diving. The down time often delivered me clarity on hard to crack problems.
- Study smart. you know about the 80/20 principle, right? You'll get 80% of the work done in 20% of the time. Ask yourself at every step "is it worth spending time on this". Time is your most important "possession" right now and spend it wisely.
- Get help. If you get stuck on something get someone to explain it. Don't spend hours of your valuable time banging your head on the wall when someone who does understand it can explain it in 30 minutes. You need to get connected with other students in your classes and have their phone numbers close at hand when you're studying. Use them and they'll use you and everyone will benefit.
- Cut your losses. If you know for *sure* (and I mean really 100% sure) that you're not going to be ready for an exam then stop preparing, fail it and re-write it. I had several experiences at university when I didn't even bother writing the exams and got to it on the re-write. Spend time on things that you know will benefit you. And make darn sure when you get to the re-write that you nail it. "If you fail you need to nail".
- Repetition: It's a well known fact that if you repeatedly expose yourself to information one *day* one *week* and one *month* after your initial exposure to new information that your retention rate will average about 70%. That means you need to study the same things four times at various points in time as you prepare. It also means you need to be a month ahead of the game if you want to pass with flying colours. If you only read stuff once then your retention rate is only about 30%. If you want to study smart then you need to keep a rolling "study calendar" for a month ahead of time and write down what you need to do on a day to day basis as you go .... (did I tell you that I'm a professional project manager....
). Seriously, though, this little fact can save you all kinds of time. (and what is your most valuable possession?).
- Decide what is good enough for you. I shot for a B average at university. I sometimes got A's and sometimes got C's mostly depending on my interest in the material but for every exam I considered my position and decided on the grade I wanted before I started to prepare and studied to achieve that grade. When it comes right down to it, once you have your degree nobody gives a rat's patoot what your grade was in a particular course. They only care about your grade-point-average. Work on your average and don't micro-manage the course content. I'm sure I've forgotten 1/2 of what I learned at university but prospective employers are not interested. they want to know if you are "analytical", "creative", "assertive", "dogmatic", "diplomatic" etc etc and have a good idea of your work ethic, which they will assume based only your GPA, your smile, how fit you look, and things you say in a job interview. Let go of micro management and approach your study with a big-picture view.
- Postit notes and flash cards. I wrote stuff -- key concepts -- down on postit notes and put them all over my apartment. My whole house was one big reminder of stuff I didn't want to forget. It probably looked like some kind of psychotic nightmare to the uninitiated but it helps. You also need to move them around. A postit note that's in the same place for two days has either been memorized or it needs to be moved.
Well.....that's about 80% worth. If you want more detailed advise about something then feel free to reply.
R..
