/sci/ - Science & Math

[Anonymous No.6325547]

Studying thread.

Tips and tricks are appreciated.

Start by planning a schedule. Set in your goals. A good schedule makes the difference between Bs & As. Be creative and critical.
Wake up early in the mornings. Eat your breakfast. It's your first important energy.
Sit down, open your fucking books, read and highlight, depending on your planning of the day. Just start!
Buy a middle size notebook and start taking notes about everything you study; review your notes and use flash cards.
Minimize Distractions. You may listen to some chilly music but only when doing exercises.
Rest 15 min between assignments. Relax, walk, go out or eat. No web navigation.
Sleep well, sleep for 15-20 min after lunch and do some trainings for at least once a week.
Try understanding what you're studying; get addicted to it; passion comes as result.
Repetition, motherfuckers.

[Anonymous No.6325605]

>eating breakfast

Do you live in a ranch or work the land? do you wake up at 4:00am?

[Anonymous No.6325620]

I'm kinda worried about these hourly breaks that are recommended, or once every 45 mins.

Say you have an 8 hour day, and take a 15 min break every 45 mins, thats 8x15=120mins. So you're losing 2 hours a day, and an 8 hour day suddenly becomes a 6 hour day. There has to be a better way.

[Anonymous No.6326759]

Most important thing to after studying is to sleep. It's critical for memory consolidation. Avoid doing anything that's cognitively demanding (internet, video games) right after you study.

As for just going about studying? I re-write the notes I typed in class, and make flash cards of the most important points. Works every time.

[Anonymous No.6326775]

>Buy a middle size notebook and start taking notes about everything you study

this is a life changer.

[Anonymous No.6326790]

>>6325547
Is listening to music a good thing while studying? I've always thought that it's distracting. What is some good music to listen to while memorizing stuff?

[Anonymous No.6326797]

>>6322796

Theres already good thread about this!

[Anonymous No.6326800]

Don't have a browser with 4chan open in the background.
I noticed that if I study for 6 hours, it's about 30 minutes studying, 30 minutes eating, and 5 hours of browsing.

[Anonymous No.6326811]

>>6325547
Plan each day the day before. So when you get up you are ready to roll.

[Anonymous No.6326819]

>>6326790
I listen to white noise.
Helps me a lot.

[Anonymous No.6326840]

>>6326790
This radio channel's decent, I tend to have the volume as low as I can so I can just about hear it.
http://edenofthewest.com/

[Anonymous No.6326841]

>Highlighting

[Anonymous No.6326843]

Coffee
/thread

[Anonymous No.6326847]

Meth
/thread

(Smells like autism in here.)

[Anonymous No.6326889]

I'm a fan of the pomodoro technique. It's done wonders for me. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique

Also, be organized. I find it very easy to study when everything is easy to access and right in front of you. Everything needed to study should always be at your fingertips.

[Anonymous No.6326907]

Ask yourself questions about the topic before starting to study it. Visualize it in your mind. Find examples and analogies, and if you don't understand how it works, make something up, even if it's wrong, if it's original, you will remember it very well. Know yourself so you can use weak associations that came up during studying, i.e. "The answer to this question that is most intuitive to me is XY" - that way you only have to remember whether it felt right or odd, which functions kind of like a checksum. When learning list items (I have to do that a lot) remember the number of items, also kind of like a checksum, and try to find structure in the items, i.e. which items are similar to each other for what reasons.

Combine different cheap memorization techniques (i.e. construct acronyms, use the loci method, use Anki) to get stuff into your short-term memory fast, and then think about it for consolidation. Try some diversity in techniques (i.e. sometimes use mindmaps, sometimes dictate a book or chapter and listen to it on the bus) so things don't get boring and also so you occupy more than just your thoughts with it. Read aloud, write, create something, and stuff will stick with you much better.

Only learn when you're mentally fit, but try to have a lifestyle that makes you mentally fit most of the time (i.e. sleep, drugs, diet, ...). After studying, take a nap or a walk or do something else that allows you to think about it. Ask yourself whether your questions were answered. This phase after studying is the most important for long-term memory.

Explain things to others and let others explain them to you. Think in vivid images, think in processes instead of entities. Try to explain the matter to someone, even someone imaginary, and you'll see how much you have understood. Try to see similarities between principles, and similarities between similarities. Try to find structure.

Keep up your desire to know, stay curious.

Source: 100% my experience. you're welcome

[Anonymous No.6326911]

>>6325547
When reading from eBooks or books you can't highlight, are notes sufficient? Running into this a lot this semester

[Anonymous No.6326915]

>>6326907
That sounds good if you want to learn everything properly, but do you have a method for getting away with the absolute minimum effort?
I don't want to dedicate my fucking life for studying. I'm fine with barely passing every exam, it's the paper I get at the end of uni that counts.

[Anonymous No.6326925]

>>6326915

Be smart, read it once, be a good guesser in written and a good conversationalist in oral exams.

Oh, and most of all, stay pleb

[Anonymous No.6326923]

>>6325547
>Im dumb
>cant remember names or long numbers when I read something
>my visual memory is much much better than my text memory
>I seem to understand the concepts and system rather than details
>shitty example: I remember which GPU is better and why but cant remember specs.
>how can I improve my text/detail memory?

[Anonymous No.6327103]

Try studying with music. I do this and I find it helps a lot.

[Anonymous No.6327130]

The thing that has helped my the most by far is finding a study partner. I always thought I didn't need anyone to study and I was better alone because I needed to do things my way to learn.

Then one day a girl asked me to study with her and I tried it. At first it's traumatic, but holy shit, believe me when I say it's the best choice I ever made in my student life. I always got decent grades, but nothing spectacular either. Now I am one of the people with the highest grades in my class.

[Anonymous No.6327143]

>>6327130
I agree, it's hard to study with full balls. You'll be able to concentrate more if you empty them daily.

[Anonymous No.6327156]

>>6327143
We're not fuckng m8, just studying.
A study partner can do wonders if you have problems focusing during study. I am always spacing out, but she forces me to keep studying. Of course, you need to find the right person, if he/she keeps getting distracted even mre than you it's not gonna work.

[Anonymous No.6327191]

>>6326759
Just don't take a power nap immediately after a study session; wait around 30-45 minutes.

[Anonymous No.6327554]

>>6327156
It works for you two.

[Anonymous No.6327649]

>>6325547
>Start by planning a schedule
Don't be one of those wankers who spends hours on a schedule and sticks to it like glue though.
>Be creative
No. "Alternative methods" are bollocks.
>open your fucking books, read and highlight
highlight in my books and I will eat your limbs.
>Buy a middle size notebook
Why does the size matter? Why can't you write on paper?
>review your notes and use flash cards.
Unless you're studying stuff with very little content, you're either gonna have a TON of flashcards or be wasting your time just reading the same shit over and over. Copying out (in your own words of course) from memory is better.
> You may listen to some chilly music
No. Never. Don't pussy foot. You're distracting yourself. Also you use the music to trigger the memories, which makes it more difficult when it's not there.
>sleep for 15-20 min after lunch
Nope. You'll never get started again.
>get addicted to it; passion comes as result.
I think that should be the other way around.

Result: 2/10. Would not study.

[Anonymous No.6327710]

>>6326790
Lyrical music is distracting in general; try listen to some calm music: classical, chillout, ambient or post-rock(my fav for studying)
Nature sounds are good too; visit rainymood com for example.

[Anonymous No.6327729]

>>6326911
You can highlight using a pencil by underlining key words; this, if you don't wanna use colors and prefer to keep your material clean; especially with rented textbooks.
Decent Pdf readers support highlighting; use Foxit reader or this recommended reader: Nitro PDF.
http://support.bfwpub.com/index.php?View=entry&EntryID=528

[Anonymous No.6327830]

>>6327649

>No. "Alternative methods" are bollocks.
Alternative methods means a planning that suits YOUR needs depending on how You study well, when and where. Not a kind of a "template" planning.

>highlight in my books and I will eat your limbs.
fuck your textbooks or keep fapping. Work is action.

>Why does the size matter? Why can't you write on paper?

The size matters because you'll need to take it with you everywhere. And it should be freely employed everywhere. You wanna studying in a coffee shop, at the station bus, etc. Not only in your home.
You can't use papers because they're not attached and get lost, mixed easly.


>Unless you're studying stuff with very little content, you're either gonna have a TON of flashcards or be wasting your time just reading the same shit over and over. Copying out (in your own words of course) from memory is better.
Use Anki as suggested by some anon. And repetiton is an effective way to learn diffuclt notions. That's a fact.

>No. Never. Don't pussy foot. You're distracting yourself. Also you use the music to trigger the memories, which makes it more difficult when it's not there.
Chilly music can put you in a enjoyable mood to focus on what you're studying: https://www.examtime.com/blog/music-for-studying/; but again, only when doing exercices, not when you're trying to understand Multiple Integration; that means avoid music and theorical sessions.

>Nope. You'll never get started again.
It's the best trick to rest your brain; or use a fucking alarm then.

>I think that should be the other way around.
False. what if you get results that you didn't expected? What if your passion was only a bad impression? a mirage? Emotions are necessary but not suffisant. You need to be realiste with studies, always.
see http://calnewport.com/blog/2013/12/29/37-signals-formula-for-a-satisfying-career-hint-its-not-passion/

[Anonymous No.6327876]

>>6327830
>Use Anki as suggested by some anon.
I used Anki with great success, but it's really not applicable for some subjects. Not every topic can be divided easily for small flash cards.

[Anonymous No.6327895]

>>6327830
what the fuck are you even studying?

[Anonymous No.6328944]

>my ex gf is a master at taking notes

Take a note, guys. This is how its done.

[Anonymous No.6328982]

>>6328944
Sucks she's an ex now. How did you fuck that up?

[Anonymous No.6328992]

>>6328944
no lecture worth taking is slow enough for you to have enough time to write all this shit

[Anonymous No.6329046]

>>6328944
thats the worst notes ive ever seen

[Anonymous No.6329099]

>>6328982
She started liking another douche.

>>6329046
Ah well. To each his own.

[Anonymous No.6329179]

>>6325547
>highlight
>Buy a middle size notebook and start taking notes about everything you study; review your notes and use flash cards.

Kill yourself

[Anonymous No.6329190]

>>6329179
Stay mad, stay pleb

[Anonymous No.6329201]

Just read

[Anonymous No.6329237]

http://www.edutopia.org/multiple-intelligences-learning-styles-quiz

this very short test will help you understand what type of learner you are and will give you some protips after you finish the test

i found it helpful. i was never sure if it's nice to listen to music or not and couldn't really decide it myself, i found out that im mostly intrapersonal learner, so now i study in quiet

[Anonymous No.6330817]

>>6325620

Don't think of it as losing two hours a day. I've done the whole "I'm not gonna stop no matter what" and inevitably my energy drops and I'm not able to maintain the pace of work I was going to. Now, it doesn't need to be 15 minutes, you could do 5 or 10 if you really wanted to(I usually do 5 when I'm alone and 10 in a pair/group setting)

The 15 minute break can be good because it allows you to fully disconnect each assignment and focus fully, while also encouraging to move your workload away from one big session(i.e. do a session before and after lunch). That said, I do find it to be a pain to follow through, generally it's just easier to say small discrete sessions are better than big long ones, and I'm going to try to manage my workload efficiently.