NWR: How to Study

lindzi375 · May 2011

Recently I have heard a lot of people say "I wasn't a good student until I learned how to study" and I think to myself how DO you study?

I have a hard time actually just studying if no assignments are due or anything. So obviously I don't know how to study. So, what is some advice from some of y'all that know how to study?!

Random topic I know, but I am curious!

SteveandKris · May 2011

I never studied until medical school...

It really depends on what you need to study. I find it odd to do practice questions for something like history, but definately need to do them for biochem...

mmhepb · May 2011

You need to determine what type of learner you are. If you are an audio learner, visual, kinesthetic, etc...

There are many sites out there that can help with determining your style(s) if you don't know for sure. Here's just one: http://people.usd.edu/~bwjames/tut/learning-style/stylest.html

Then, based on your learning style, apply it.

If you're an auditory learner try taping your lectures and listening to them when you're not in class. (Like on the treadmill or elliptical, while you commute, while cooking dinner, etc...)

If you're a visual leaner take lots of notes and reread them at home. If the professor uses and makes them available, print all power-points out ahead of time and just focus on writing the discussion since the other parts are already printed for you. Many professors will repeat things of importance multiple times using different verbiage, so train yourself to listen for those types of clues.

I've also found that explaining what I'm learning to someone else helps me to remember it. It doesn't matter if it's your BF, friends, or even furbabies, just taking the time to say it aloud helps to ingrain it - moving from short term to long term memory.

Hope this helps and good luck!

Beads921 · May 2011

Practice questions and study notes. Lots of repetitious writing. Well, that's how I study.

peekaboo2011 · May 2011

Look up the VARQ questionnaire. It helped me a lot when I was trying to figure it out.

Good luck!

LauraT25 · May 2011

As others said, it depends on the type of studier you are. For me, I really benefit from writing (and re-writing) my notes. I've known this for practically forever, but until grad school taking notes in class was basically enough for most classes. For chem classes I did re-write some mechanisms and equations before exams.

For grad school, I realized that when I have a lot of material I need to cover, it's best if I re-write my notes soon after the lecture is given - I used to try to do it within a few days or catch up the following weekend. Then when an exam was close, I would already have a basic study guide written up, and I would read over my notes and re-write the key points, then study that. Often it alos involved post-its for the most important figures and points.

Classes have gotten easier/less important since the start of grad school, so I don't stay on top of things like that anymore. I still follow the same basic protocol, but cram it into a few days - go over all of my lectures and rewrite my notes, then take those new notes and read through them and write a short outline and some post-its to study.

FaithCaitlin · May 2011

Honestly, I think it just depends on the person.

For me, I study best when I can "teach" someone the material. That really means making some poor soul sit there and stare at me blankly while I explain the concepts to them off of my notes.

MMRoberts11 · May 2011

I study best when (pending the material), I either draw it out (think diagrams, figures, etc) at least 5 times or I can explain it to someone with at least 10 minutes of talking (or more pending the depth I am required to know). I am definitely a do-er kind of learner so that's what works best for me.