bandcampgirl

I remember someone posting a while back about some amazing, amazing book that apparently talked a lot about the best way to study in college - I know that there are a ton of these books out there, but I remember reading that this one was like, the be-all and end-all of amazing college study skills books. What was it? I'm about to head off for the amazing salvation called winter break, and after a 1st semester of rough adjustments to a college level workload, I was thinking it would be a good idea to use the extra time to give this book a read. Anyone know what I'm talking about?

deathtoOWL

Google study skills book and go the link for Amazon there are some really good books listed it might be listed there or you can do a posts search on CC. Happy hunting and thanks for the idea.

bandcampgirl

Thanks death! That actually helped remind me of what it was. If anyone wants to know, it's "What Smart Students Know" by Adam Robinson.

mikemac

I'm one of the people that recommended it, and it really CAN help make an amazing difference. But while the book can tell you things other people only discovered thru a lot of effort, in the end the book isn't going to do the work. If you follow the suggestions I think you will be very pleased at the results and will be making the best use of your time, but as you probably suspect there are no secret methods that let you do fantastic work in just 30 minutes a day ...

bandcampgirl

Of course...I think my trouble has more to do with the fact that I spent 5 hours a day for a week studying for an important midterm and I still wound up with a C on it...when I know I'm capable of doing much better, and should have been able to with all of the time I spent studying. I'm just not very good at knowing HOW to study well...hence the reason I think the book's a good idea.

adconard

Some good study tips that I have collected over the years...

1. Commitments. This is before you even start studying. They need to be made. "I will do whatever it takes to get over a <insert semester goal here> and I mean it." Without some kind of goal to reach, you are performing academic actions without some kind of driving force which can easily lead to laziness and carelessness. Commitments should be made at the beginning of the semester and they have to be seriously made.

2. Time Management. Got 3 exams and a bunch of projects due in one week? First, suck it up. Every college student goes through this at least once or twice during a given semester. So first of all, acknowledge that you are not alone when it comes to that. This semester I must've had 4 weeks or so like that. This is what I would do during those weeks. I would basically devote my whole week to school (well I pretty much do that anyway but for these I really was devoted) and acted like the next two or three weeks afterwards would be complete cake. Ever been in a really bad situation in your life that lasted so long that once things returned to normal, the normal felt like extraordinary? In other words, you will adore your free time you have afterwards and you will feel like a champ after you do all of the work.

Work in iterations. What I mean by this is that if the project or exam study session gets extremely boring after an hour or two, feel free to stop. Just stop for 30 minutes or so. But then remember that discipline comes from within and try again. Eventually, after lots of little iterations of work, you have before you a much more complete project then if you tried to get it done all at once and ended up doing hardly any of it. Perhaps it's suffering for a lot of people, but try to really examine what professors give you and try to learn a lot from it and make it fun if it isn't fun. I suppose this is impossible for some projects or exams but perhaps if there is a will to have fun, there will be a way to have fun...

3. Pictures, Diagrams, Colors, Mneumonic Devices, Metaphors, Experiences. People remember these kind of things much better than notes in a notebook. If a concept can be represented as a picture or a diagram, draw that picture or diagram. I am serious. This works wonders for me. Lots of things in a textbook can be morphed into a picture or diagram. Develop a color scheme to use throughout the notes. For example, if you're studying history and trying to study a few time periods at once, color-code by the time periods for easier organization and memorization. Finally, most lists can be translated into a mneumonic device of some kind. For example, if you see four items of a list that are labeled "Functionality, Usability, Reliability, Performance, and Supportability", put "FURPS" beside it to remember the items in the list that way. FURPS provides a set of "keys" to access the words remembered rather than finding the keys yourself in a sense. Use metaphors when you can. Finally, gather from your experiences and see if there is something to add to the notes that relate to your experiences in life and go from there.

Sorry for the long post. Thought I would share what has worked for me in the past.

mikemac

Since you don't have a problem putting in enough time, I think the book will help you use your time more effectively. Write a post in a couple of months or send me a message about how it works out for you.