<p>Hey guys/gals, its been a while since I posted and I wanted to pick a few of you're (very smart) brains! </p>
<p>I am having a problem with studying. I am a 3rd year Electrical Engineer, and it seems like each quarter that goes by, my GPA is creeping further and further down! If this has happened, or is happening to you, then maybe this thread will help. If it hasn't happened, or it did and you managed to over come the problem, then PLEASE share your wisdom with the rest of us :)</p>
<p>I started college at a community college, and I did really well (transferred to a UC with close to a 4.0). I quickly found out , however, that the homework and study habits that got me here were no longer working for me. </p>
<p>In a nutshell, here is my problem. I study for a LONG time every week. by long, I mean easily 30 hours. But no matter how much I study, I am still always behind, and I'm constantly in "catch up" mode. I do fine on homework, but as most of you already know, HW is generally a very small percent of your grade, and the majority of the grade comes from the midterms and finals. Well.. I suck at those, and I can't figure it out. </p>
<p>I can't seem to figure out what is going to be on the exams, I know.. it sounds stupid. Yet each time I take a midterm, or a final, I am always surprised by what is on it. It frustrates the crap out of me, because I spend a $#! ton of time studying the damn material. Well, to be more accurate, I spend a ton of time studying the book. </p>
<p>I read every page, I take great notes, I re-write the notes. and so on. I do all of the examples in the book, and take notes on the examples. Homework is generally pulled right out of the text in most cases with a professor here and there throwing curve balls.. but over all its manageable. </p>
<p>I don't usually do the problem sets at the end of the chapter, mostly due to time. Since you are all engineering majors, you know that time is very limited, and we need to make the most of it, and that is where I think my problem is. </p>
<p>I can't seem to figure out how to best get through the material. Reading every page, taking notes, and all that really help with conceptual understanding, but does very little in the way of solving equations come test time. Most of the time, on a midterm, I will read the question and think "oh ya, I know how to do this inside and out!" and then it hits me "crap.. since i really never DID a problem like this, I cant quite think of the right way to start it". Now, I could explain this crud out of the theory, but that doesn't get me an answer.. then, throw in the twists and turns that professor love to put on stuff.. and the result is a **** poor grade on the largest contributor to your GPA. </p>
<p>Realizing that this is a problem, I tried the reverse. Do all the problems, over and over. But... then test time comes and the questions are a lot more complex than the problem sets in the book, and since I didn't spend that much time reading, and more time doing the semi-irrelevant problem sets.. I am in the same boat. </p>
<p>It is so frustrating getting a bad grade on a test knowing that you know the material just fine, but just didn't know THAT particular thing at THAT particular time.. It's not like the answer to the question was lost on me, when the prof sends out the solutions to the test, I see it and I'm like "crap.. that's how he set that up.. dang it, if I would have known to study that particular subset of this particular concept or theory, I would have aced that problem.."</p>
<p>So.. how the heck can you prepare for all the contingencies on each exam? Like I said, the material is not the problem, the theories are not the problem.. its trying to predict the RIGHT stuff to study in depth, because we cant possibly study every single possible aspect of every detail that these classes cover. It seems that, while I study my ass off, I am always studying the "wrong" (read, not the particular detail that ends up being on the test) material. </p>
<p>How are you guys doing it? What things have you found that have helped, and what things have you done to overcome these problem if you have had it before? Is there something I am missing? some core "super study tactic" I am missing?</p>
<p>The last thing I want is to end up with a sub-par GPA because I couldn't figure out the game. Case in point.. I failed my (well got a D+) in my assembly programming class. I was the guy helping all the other students, leading study groups, helping people with their code. I wrote up some help documents covering what I saw were the most asked questions by other students on the chat rooms... I coded up some projects in ASM for a design class I was in and even optimized some code for a professor. But on the midterm and the final (only 2 things that were used for overall grade) I did TERRIBLE. Mostly because, despite the fact that I could program circles around most everyone else in the class, I didn't exactly know how to answer some of these crazy questions that were almost not related to actual ASM programming at all. I mean, one of the questions, I literally did not even know what it was asking me to do lol. </p>
<p>You would think that a test should reflect the material that was presented, not ask you to interpret the material , make some assumptions, and try to apply it to abstract questions. How many times have you looked at a test question and thought "what the heck IS this? This was not in the book.. ever.. at all.. not a single time.. "</p>
<p>Anyway, thanks for reading, sorry its long. I hope this thread ends up helping some others out who might be in the same boat I am in. Thank you in advance for your advice! (note:I did not proof read this..)</p>
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