Hey I never get good fukin marks, But i wanna excel in my life. I have tried different ways of studying but none seem to work. This semester Im trying to change the way I study again to see if it works or not?

But, I was wondering if I can get an insight on how do you study and get good marks. I've asked people personally and mostly nobody likes to disclose their study manners. I guess nobody want to distribute the wealth. Please don't post bs like I study HARD, Or I don't study @ all, and this or that. Please GENUINE answers only HELP A BROTHA OUT!

Thank you,

I would also like to know....... :(

Experiment, it depends on the person. Experiment when marks are not at stake, or early in the term.

For most people in university, the most effective way of studying is not the act of studying itself; rather the constant process of review and learning and assimilating new material. I know it sounds like you've heard it a thousand times before but if you are constantly re-reading notes, doing practice problems and for example reciting things without looking at your notes as often (to yourself, for memorization-type classes) in your own words, and pre-reading the next week or day's material, it'll sink in better.

IMO too much effort is put into HOW to "study" rather than the desire to learn, and pushing yourself to do so...

/lamebutsincere

also in some cases it truly does come down to the type of approach and the person's type of intelligence so..

in other news, I study for biology by pacing around my room and talking as if I'm lecturing on the subject

for physics I have a whiteboard that I abuse

for chemistry I don't do anything because chemistry hates me and I hate it.

What I do is I open out my textbook, do the readings again and write chapter summaries, then I do the same thing with my lecture notes. If you can also find people to quiz each other, that works as well, except when I do that I get really sidetracked and we start talking about mundane things.

Glad to know I'm not alone. I'm also trying to change it as much as possible this term, because so far, my study skills are not exactly working for me. Through asking other people in science (in addition to what Kendoon said), it depends on the class. But generally, you need to stay on top of everything, do it every day. I'm plannning to do the readings everyday for all my classes that day, and write chapter summaries. Also, before class, read the lecture outline, and corresponding chapters before going to lecture, so that way, the material is being reinforced into your head, especially with things like biology. Similarly, after lecture, go through the lecture really quickly look for questions and such that you don't understand so you can ask the prof next class. Consistency with practice/reading on a daily basis is key according to others' feedback. It might seem impossible or even tedious to go over the material so many times, but I would imagine it makes life much easier as midterms/ exams approach as well as when you have a week full of a billion and one things to do.

Thanks for the thread by the way!

One person's methods may not work for you, just keep that in mind.

You really have no idea on how you prefer learning? For me, if it's a class that requires a lot of "memorization" then all I have to do is read the content once and I'll remember it well enough to get around a 70-80% on it. However, highlighting important parts as I read it through the first timeand then re-reading those parts helps, as does making notes and re-reading.

Stats, Finance, Econ, Accounting, etc, require me to do the problems. But I never do, hence my generally really low marks in those classes. D:

What james said, but it really depends on the type of course that you're studying for. Also depends sometimes on the instructor. Lastly, I would urge you to prioritize your time. Don't spend 20 hours on a 1% assignment when you have a 20% midterm coming up.

Originally Posted by macsci

Don't spend 20 hours on a 1% assignment when you have a 20% midterm coming up.

So true. I definitely find myself doing this over and over with labs. It doesn't help being a perfectionist either. That's why I recommend starting these small assignments and finishing them as early as possible, simply to get them out of the way.

Originally Posted by ~*Sara*~

So true. I definitely find myself doing this over and over with labs. It doesn't help being a perfectionist either. That's why I recommend starting these small assignments and finishing them as early as possible, simply to get them out of the way.

What I hate the most are labs that take an entire weekend to do but are only worth 2%... Like WTF.

Review your notes right after class.
Make a summary of the lecture so when midterm/exam time comes, you have a neat copy of your notes and you don’t have to decipher your writing from weeks ago.
Use your time wisely. Spend more time on the lecture notes than the textbook.
When you’re reading the lecture slides, don’t read them passively.
Make questions on cue cards from the slides.
That way when studying for tests, you can efficiently test yourself by asking yourself the cue card questions.
Make tree diagrams to see how all the concepts connect with each other.
Even if you don’t have any questions, go to office hours so you can at least listen in on other people’s questions.
Get into study groups and test each other on a regular basis.

This semester I kept up with everything lol. I literally knew everything but I still bombed many of my classes. I don't know may be i get a brain freeze during the exams.
For a while now, I have a poor mentality that no matter how great I study, what I do, I just can't get a good mark! I am like using a passive approach by blaming my fate. I know it's wrong but I also study my arse off you know. It's not like that I am not studying and hoping for good marks.
I literally know my stuff and all but still do bad. Maybe I need to learn concentration techniques as well for the tests and exams.

Originally Posted by jhan523

What I hate the most are labs that take an entire weekend to do but are only worth 2%... Like WTF.

Exactly.. That's what I'm most scared about with Bio 2A03 labs and Bio 2C03 assignments next term. As far as I see it, I don't find anyway around it really =/

Originally Posted by BlueWave

Review your notes right after class.
Make a summary of the lecture so when midterm/exam time comes, you have a neat copy of your notes and you don’t have to decipher your writing from weeks ago.
Use your time wisely. Spend more time on the lecture notes than the textbook.
When you’re reading the lecture slides, don’t read them passively.
Make questions on cue cards from the slides.
That way when studying for tests, you can efficiently test yourself by asking yourself the cue card questions.
Make tree diagrams to see how all the concepts connect with each other.
Even if you don’t have any questions, go to office hours so you can at least listen in on other people’s questions.
Get into study groups and test each other on a regular basis.

I like it, Imma try it!

I have read a lot about "Study smart, not hard" I think the way they have named it is wrong. the way it is named is just for the sake of rhyming. Because All of the resources pretty much ask you to review your stuff everyday, schedule it, do your readings before and stuff. It should be named 'study smarter, not sillier' If you look at it, there is more work to do if you use the stated above techniques. People (and me) find it time consuming and get lazy and find it harder. I think 'study smarter, not harder' is kinda misleading