Studying Habits

Yeah yeah, it’s the summer, why talk about this kind of stuff?

A few reasons actually. But the one that people probably care about is that I’m getting lazier by the day, out of paint to work on anything else, and haven’t progressed much in terms of anime and games to write about that. Searching up my past year’s memories, and this really is the only thing I can think of. That and I’ve been planning out my time table (and my god it’s hideous).

I know going through first year university really isn’t all too much of an exciting or uncommon thing. There’s three or more years down the road until one gets a piece of paper that only qualifies one to keep going to school. Anyway, I know most of my commenters are older than me, so please don’t get offended at me handing out advice.

I graduated around this time from high school a year ago. Didn’t really care much about anything to be honest. I paid attention in class, somewhat completed my assigned work, crammed for tests and exams 2 hours before I went to bed, typical stuff. Getting admitted into university in Canada is extremely easy if you do the bare minimums listed above, and if not you can spend a few hundred bucks at private school to get one or two credits with 90s. The point is, I didn’t apply to any exceptional programs, got offers from 5/6 of the schools I applied to, accepted one of them. I graduated with an average of 85, not bad, but nothing special for my school (half of the graduates had a higher average than me).

I guess what hit me right after I entered is the fact that I’m surrounded by folks with entry average of 90 or above. In highschool, we often hear rumours about high drop out rates and such. I didn’t want to be one of them, because statistically speaking at that point my position wasn’t too safe. Subconsciously I decided to do something about it.

My psychology prof told us that for every hour spent in class, the average “high achiever” spends two hours studying outside of class. So that pretty much became my guideline (he also mentioned making a table and scheduling your time, that bit I completely ignored because I know that if there’s a schedule I’m going to follow, it won’t be the one I make for myself, things never go the way they’re planned anyway, which is why plans A to Z, roman numerals and numbers exist).

Every day (Fridays excluded), I’d either go to my residence building’s study room or the library and start reviewing the day’s stuff. Once that’s done, I start reviewing stuff for the next day.

Also, reading for the sake of reading does not work. I do what I call “learning everything three times”. First time is before the lecture. I read over the stuff and teach myself as much as I can. Second time is during lecture, where I pick up anything I missed or I couldn’t figure out for myself. Third time is after lecture, to ensure what what went in stays in.

I hate people who constantly chat in the library and those whose phones go off every other second, just throwing it out there. I also do my best to not get found by anyone, which is the main reason why I don’t have a cellphone.

Time allocation to different subjects is important. I spent much more time on psychology than anything else (and even then it’s my lowest mark, gah). I spent the least time studying for physics. Ranked second for time spent is calculus. Biology took up slightly more time than chemistry on average, but it depended on which prof was teaching.

The main and only drawback to said method is time. Depending on who you are and what course you took, it will take a gigantic chunk of your time away. Therefore, it is important to take breaks. HOWEVER, you shouldn’t overdo on breaks. I hear all the time about people talking about balance, and then ranting about everything except themselves when they get their test marks back. Physics students should know that equilibrium depends on all forces acting on a mass. Situations differ for everyone. For me, my “balance” was Friday nights off for anime club, no exceptions (OK if I had an exam on Friday night then it can’t be done, and if there’s no club meeting…well…that’s also an exception). Come to think of it, I have no idea why and how my blog is still alive.

Then come exams, and…well…This really wasn’t my favourite part of the year. For midterms, especially, since on top of keeping up you need to shell out time to review material. I have no general advice to give here, I spent every waking hour either at class, labs or studying.

Finals were slightly different, but my habits were no less brutal. 8:30-22:30 were spent studying, with around 2 hours for lunch and another 2 hours spent at the gym, every day, because classes stopped. How well this will work out depends on the individual. For me it lasted 10 days, and it got to the point where every time I looked at my notes, I could regurgitate every bit of small information off the page, and felt like throwing up. Yeah, happens every time. Not a good sign. On top of that, fatigue usually gets to you by that point, because at that point the body’s energy reserves have been used up (which is why I lose 10 pounds every time it’s exam season). Even so, I still don’t get 100s on my exams >.<

I guess the general thing is study study study. Getting burnt out isn’t as bad as you think. I’ll throw down a few additional pointers that may or may not help.

1. Study at a place where you are most focused, motivated, and least distracted. I prefer the library on normal days, because for some reason it’s usually deserted. During weekends I usually go to empty classrooms because libraries don’t open when I head out. During exam times, it’s either the library or my floor’s study room (but sometimes people pop in and out and talks, which is really annoying).
2. Get up and stretch from time to time. I approve of that.
3. Look through the materials and pick out possible test questions. This is big, and it’s how I earned most of my marks in psychology and biology (for the rest I ended up memorizing everything because it’s more convenient).
4. Look through old tests, because freebie questions are often reused.
5. Make anime references and analogies to concepts that you’re studying. I’m serious about this one, it works.
6. Write down stray thoughts when you’re studying about the material. This is especially true when learning genetics, because some of the connections are unbelievably rediculous.
7. I carried Nendoroid Miku with me everywhere I went during my March midterms. Helps somewhat, for emotional support.
8. Sleep regularly, don’t cram on the day of the exam. The only time I did that it dropped my psychology average by 3%. I had to work extra hard to redeem myself on the final exam.

That’s about all that I could think of for now. I’m not the brightest guy around but my average did increase by 8 compared to my highschool graduation average. I hope it will help some of you who are still going to school. I’ll whip up another article on test taking strategies next time when I have nothing else to write about.

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