<p>Title of the thread says it all. Post your best advice for current or entering college students on how to study successfully (ace classes & understand the material) without spending hours (50+/week) studying. Looking for effective strategies to study so one can have a decent social life.</p>
<p>adderall .</p>
<p>Do stuff in the afternoons and between classes, because usually your friends will be doing something else. If you get your work done in the afternoon, you’re social time gets free.</p>
<p>Oh yeah, and adderall.</p>
<p>This is a good question! Last semester I would spend about 2 hours after classes writing my notes in the Cornell Method format so I had something to go back to in an easy to study arrangement when preparing for an exam. I would usually spend 4 or 5 hours for days on end quizzing myself over and over and over again before the exam. And I still had to dedicate countless hours to writing papers and reading books… It actually was not that bad, but I had to commute and I was not a member of any clubs or groups, so I had next to no social life. </p>
<p>But next semester I want to… no, I NEED to have a social life especially now that I will be living on campus. I do not want to spend all day in the library while everybody else is partying, hooking up, and all that good stuff. Living on my own (away from family) will be new to me, so I need some ideas of how to manage study time while living up the college experience and freedom as a young adult male in his early 20s. </p>
<p>How does everybody else do it?</p>
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<p>I agree. I always did most of my work early in the morning, partly because I’m a morning person and partly because there aren’t any distractions that early.</p>
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<p>in a word, adderall</p>
<p>in all honesty, if you aren’t studying with it, you’re wasting your time</p>
<p>As fun as adderall sounds it’s addictive and dangerous.</p>
<p>I would be the last person to condone the use of adderall.</p>
<p>Last year I worked for 14 hours a week while studying and maintaining a social life. It wasn’t easy, you just have to know how to say no to certain things every once in a while.</p>
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<p>worked for me in the past, and will continue in the future.</p>
<p>i’ll take my chances.</p>
<p>What about taking a speed reading class?
I regret not having had one.</p>
<p>For all of the ‘optional’ and ‘recommended’ books that courses list, how important is it to read all of them? Waste of time or would I fail?</p>
<p>going to depend on the professor</p>
<p>These are my recommendations:</p>
<ol>
<li>Don’t wait to do everything at the last minute. Prioritize and break sections and classes over several days. You will be less insane. Ditto for writing papers.</li>
<li>If you have a part-time (office) job, do some homework and reading during it too. Multi-tasking is becoming more of the norm.</li>
<li>Try to finish your homework during the day if possible. You can do some homework on Friday afternoons too to make the weekend more sociable and less hectic.</li>
<li>Exercise, eat healthy and eat a good breakfast. Get 7-9 hours of sleep a day. I can’t stress this enough. It’s better than getting addicted to coffee and being brain-dead during assignments and lectures.</li>
</ol>
<p>How to ace classes & understand the material? Go to class and take notes. Do the recommended readings even if the professor doesn’t check. If you’re behind, go to any extra study sessions or office hours as needed. Do all the practice problems.</p>
<p>The best thing to do is not get behind. If you don’t understand something right after learning it; learn it ASAP. You shouldn’t need to study much besides a little for tests if you go over and make sure you understand the material in the first place. The best way to avoid burnout is to stay on top of things.</p>
<p>If you end up in a hard class where that’s not enough, suck it up and study as much as you need to. If you didn’t suck it up and are now stuck with too much work for you to realistically finish before, say, tomorrow, just do as much as you can. It’s better to read 30 out of 200 pages than it is to freak out and not read anything because there’s no way you can read 200 pages in three hours.</p>
<p>^ Very good advice and great example towards the end. </p>
<p>I’ve been considering all the advice I got racked up in my brain from CC (and among other sources). Most of it is all about time management. So I’m wondering if this is something you can realistically learn from others instead of screwing up and learning it yourself. It would be smarter to heed to others advice, but would it stick as long as something you learned yourself trough trial and error?</p>
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I’ve taken one and it wasn’t worth it. It was pricey and was not very helpful. They aren’t a magic wand that make you read fast. You have to practice the techniques that are taught A LOT.</p>
<p>It seems that the general consensus among the psychological community is that association is the best way to code things into your memory. So make sure you find something that is already a part of your life to relate to the new information so that retrieval is easier.</p>
<p>First semester of college, I worked myself to the bone. I would get 3-4 hours of sleep 3-4 days out of 5, overcompensate and sleep from 6PM-10AM on weekends, and it really messed me up. The next semester, I had a large block of free time in the morning on T/Th and some time before class on MWF, so I would make myself get at least 5 hours of sleep (meaning, going to sleep early and waking early) and whatever I didn’t finish during the night, I worked on during the morning. I felt better by the time I went to class because I had time to eat and review materials. It also meant I got the good shower first thing in the morning, haha. </p>
<p>Oh yeah, and energy drinks…good in moderation. Low calorie ones, though (because some have ten gazillion grams of sugar). I use them very sparingly,though, at night, like when I need to push to finish a paper, because they tend to make me feel like someone hit me with a rock when I wake up in the morning. </p>
<p>Steer clear of all-nighters. I’m not the best with time-management, but all-nighters are horrible, horrible, horrible. You might get your work done, but they mess you up for the rest of the week. No one really likes to be dead asleep by the time Friday night rolls around, do they?</p>
<p>To me, 50+ hours of studying in a week is ridiculous, even for finals week. My classes are hard, but Ive learned to focus in on the ones that really need my attention. For geneds, there was one that I wouldnt have bothered going to if there hadnt been an attendance policy, but I went and just took a book or HW from another class and did it during that easy class. This helped A LOT first semester. Learn how to take advantage of time. Have a half an hour before your next class? Do something for one of your classes while you wait, even if you cant finish it. Trust me, I know how procrastination can ruin your day. No matter how much you dont want to, start those papers early!! If you dont like one night stands with people, then dont have them with your papers either. Most of my friends and I use Sundays to catch up on any work we didnt do Friday/Saturday due to other plans. I partied every weekend just about, was involved with a sport ad another club, and still got a 3.8 something with some pretty intense classes. You just gotta make yourself do the work, after that, its all easy. Maybe reward ourself for staying on track somehow?</p>