Year 12s: what will be the first way you research your future options? >>

What are you studying methods?

Hi guys. I’m asking this because I’m struggling studying effectively. It just takes me a lot of time, even though the comprehension is good, meaning Ican summarize the concepts and make clear associations between key words andideas. For instance, to study 20 pages it takes me a whole hour. I can’t stand it anymore. I need to learn things at a faster peace. It’s driving me crazy.

I’m a literature student, so I read a novels and critics books. I read How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler and found it really interesting. I try to apply his method when I read/study a book now (as anybody who read thatbook knows, for me reading means reading for understanding, something that manypeople associate with the verb studying… never mind.) I’m reading Make it Stick by Peter C. Brown, Henry L. Roediger III andMark A. McDaniel at the moment, trying to figure out how to optimize review sessions.

What areyour studying methods? Have you read any books about studying and learning ingeneral? Do you guys have any tips?

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 1

Arrow123

Hello, to study more effectively you could use the Pomodoro technique. It requires 20-25 minutes of total concentration and then a 5 minute break. I find that working in short bursts helps a lot and increases the amount of work I do, if I'm sitting and revising for a long period of time I tend to lose concentration and do work slower.
Hope this helps. :smile:

Reply 2

beautifulbigmacs

Prioritise what needs to be recalled in an exam. Once you've read the book look at websites that list the key points in terms of what might be relevant to said exam in the context of the syllabus.

The above sounds awfully sterile and anti literature but in practice you're not being tested on your ability to recall a while book but on how to recall the key points and themes and how you use them in the context of your essay writing skills.

Narrow things down and keep focus on jumping through the hoops rather than getting bogged down with feeling you have to know everything on each page.