I'm a junior and college and feel ashamed that I still don't have studying down... over the course of the last two years, I've been trying hard to experiment with studying and am still finding it hard to wrap my head around... For example, it's only week 3 and I'm already behind on reading. I know that professors always ask students to read before coming to class, but how do people find the time to do it? Don't get me wrong, I'm not looking for 2-5 hours of "play" time a day. I feel like even when I sit down and study the entire day, while taking short breaks here and there, every day, I still end up falling behind. I'm trying to take notes this semester as I read each chapter, but man is it taking a lot of time. It seems extremely excessive in my opinion. Since there are people out there who somehow find the time to join frats, hang out with friends, and do extracurricular activities, I have to stop and ask HOW? Is there something wrong with me? Am I too slow? How do people like this find the time for all this stuff? I barely take breaks and still find myself falling behind on the just reading chapters...
I tend to do decently well on assignments and exams, but I feel so bad for not being able to complete the readings and as if I missed huge learning opportunity... I mean, if someone is in engineering and they blow off a lot of their study and barely pass exams, how can we expect them to become competent engineers doing their jobs in the real world? Wouldn't they missing gaps of knowledge that would help them do their jobs properly, and this can apply to any major really.
Overall, I just want to know how people get 4.0 and seem to do so well when, from my perspective, it seems like there's never enough time. What am I doing wrong? After all this time, I've become so frustrated and feel like giving up. My friends always call me to do things, and I never seem to have the time.... Of course I love hanging out with friends and having fun, but I don't want to mess up in school...
Is reading a challenge for you or do you just not like to do it?
You might want to get evaluated to determine if you have some sort of undiagnosed learning disability. Most colleges and universities have an office that can help you regarding assessment and accommodations. The other possibility is that professors at your university assign more reading than is realistic, in hopes that students will do some or most of it. It’s been known to happen.
Good luck!
Your college will have some organization/Department that will help with study skills. Go to them and get assessed.
Also check out this book: http://calnewport.com/books/straight-a-student/
@Ivvcsf I don’t feel like it’s reading that’s a challenge, but more like taking notes while reading… Is taking notes while reading really worth all the time?
@paul6788 I really love being in college and learning so many new things… but I still don’t feel like I have learning as a skill down effectively. I want to learn everything for all my classes the “right” way for me, but it always seems like I never have enough time… Unless maybe I’m doing something wrong or don’t see something a lot of other college students do?
@mamaedefamilia Thanks for the input, though, I doubt it’s a learning disability. I’m the kind of person who loves learning new things, which is why this issue is so crippling to me… I pretty much did flawlessly in high school and tried to learn everything, not just skim by and barely pass classes. In college, I’ve noticed how they through tons of info at you from every class and expect you to do so many things… but with what little time, or at least it feels like that because of how much there is to do, what would be the most effective way to learn and remember the material long-term? : (
@bopper I’ll check it out, thanks. : )
How much do you sleep? I get 5-7 hours a night, which gives me significantly more “free” time–that’s where I get most of my studying done. That and I’ll study during meals if I’m not eating w/ friends.
Example, here was my schedule yesterday (Monday) and here’s it today (Tues):
Went to bed at 1:00am
8:00am wake, shave, shower, etc.
8:45am skim a chapter for Int Macro Theory
9:30am start walking to class
9:50am get to Int Macro Theory, finish reading the chapter
10:00am we discuss the chapter, I take notes
10:50am class ends, walk to Int Micro Theory
11:00am Micro Theory
11:50am lunch, read for Economic Statistics
1:00pm Mock Trial meeting
1:55pm walk over to Econ Stat
2:00pm Econ Stat
3:00pm walk to Dean’s Advisory Council meeting
3:15pm meeting
5:00pm quick bite to tide me over, work on Game Theory homework
6:00pm chill w/ people on floor’s lounge
6:30pm SUIT UP
6:45pm drive over to fraternity row
6:50pm fraternity bid dinner/scholarship banquet, socialize &c
9:00pm drive back
9:20pm chill in floor lounge, do some reading for Thursday’s seminar and help ppl with math hw
12:00am lounge dying down, go back in room to chill & sleep
1:00am sleep
7:00am wake up, hit snooze
7:30am wake up, ready for gym
8:00am gym
10:00am work on Game Theory homework at library
12:00pm grab a protein bar on way to office hours for this professor, added his class last week
12:30pm office hours weren’t too helpful, back to the library to finish the hw
1:00pm kill me now i’m procrastinating
(tentative)
1:15pm finish Game Theory hw (i seriously only have one problem left, i should just do it already)
1:50pm walk to class
2:00pm Game Theory
4:45pm get out of class (so long)
4:50pm chill in building’s study lounge, finish the reading for Thurs, read for Int Macro & Int Micro Weds
5:45pm meeting with Dean of my college & the rest of the advisory council–free pizza
8:00pm hope the meeting ends 30 mins early (8:30 set time) so I can make it to the fraternity I’m pledging for poker
9:15pm poker ends, walk back to campus
9:35ishpm floor lounge, work on tomorrow’s readings, socialize w/ ppl there, *write and memorize a mock trial direct (for presentation tomorrow, I really need to do this asap)
12:00am-1:00am, leave & bed whenever the lounge dies down
Do you feel like it’s worth the time? Does it help you? How do you use the notes? Have you ever tried to do the reading without taking notes? Some people find taking notes to help them remember the reading. Some people find it a waste of time. Some people reference their notes again while studying as a shortened version of the chapter, and some people never look at their notes again.
There were some times when I took notes while reading, but there were many more times when I didn’t. I did sometimes when we were going to be tested directly on things that were in the reading that were not covered in lecture. But I often didn’t because it took more time. If it was a class where I wasn’t going to be tested directly on the reading, I never took notes on the reading (and often didn’t even do the reading).
Also, how are you taking notes? Do you find that you’re writing A LOT when you’re taking notes? That might be the problem. Notes are supposed to be relatively short and are theoretically something you can reference that has key points in the reading or key ideas that you want to make sure you remember. They should not be detailed transcriptions of the chapter. Sometimes, people write a lot while they’re taking notes, but if there’s something in your notes that you don’t remember, you can always reference that section in the chapter again and skim through that section to refresh your memory.
If you want to keep taking notes and feel that it is useful, if you are not already doing so, you could try typing (or perhaps even dictating) your notes.
I think the problem is that you just can’t learn everything, and you won’t remember everything forever. It’s just not possible in such a short period of time. I think part of the problem is that your working hard, but your not necessarily always working smart. I’m not saying do the bare minimum for every class, but sometimes, you have to prioritize and recognize what is important and what is a waste of time. Sometimes, you have to adjust your methods for each class. What is really helpful for one class might be a complete waste of time for another class or might be woefully inadequate for a different class. For reference, if it’s important to you, I had a near 4.0 in college (I don’t remember what it worked out to exactly–I got 2 A-'s and the rest were A’s/A+'s).
What is your major? I was a science major, so there may be much different advice if you are a different (like a humanities) major.
For many of my classes (biology, chemistry, physics, math, etc), I rarely (if ever) did the reading. I just didn’t have to. The lectures covered the material, and the textbook was more of a reference that I used if there was a section I didn’t understand or wanted to have more examples for or something. And these classes rarely (if ever) tested on something that was in the reading but not in lecture. So your absolutely right–if I did all of the reading for every class every week, I wouldn’t have had the time to do research or internships or work or do any of the other things I did in college besides school.
There were some classes (like psychology, some biology classes) where I did the reading because the test contained questions that were in the reading but not covered in lecture. Something else I did (which I don’t necessarily recommend but it worked well with how I learned) was that I often read the reading AFTER it was covered in class (unless it was a class that I had to participate in the discussion). It was just a lot easier for me to be focused in what was important and what is was less important in the reading once I had some frame of reference for what we were learning (which I got from the lecture). I found that I got a lot more out of the reading when I did it after we had discussed it in class.
In other classes that were more reading based (sociology, history, English, etc), I did all of the reading, but I found it to be pretty manageable. I didn’t take separate notes on the reading, but I did (sometimes) highlight or use tabs to keep track of things that I might want to go back to. For example, if I found something that I knew was important and I didn’t think I would remember later, I would stick a tab on it. Or I would highlight the main idea of a passage or highlight key words so that when I’m flipping back through, I would be able to find it easily. Or I would mark something that I thought I might want to use in an essay or paper I have to write. But for me, theses classes were all essay based (with some identifications of terms/people/places on exams), so it was more important to think about how big ideas work together, rather than remember all of the nitty gritty details.
For some classes, the lectures (and possibly the homework, depending on the class) are really the primary learning materials, and the reading is secondary. There are some classes where the reading doesn’t add a whole lot more in terms of doing well in the class or on the exams. I understand that you want to do everything and learn everything and that you feel like your wasting an opportunity if you skip some of the reading, but the point of going to class is so that the professor can teach you and help emphasize the most important pieces of information. It’s a valuable resource that can help you guide what reading is important or what parts of the reading you can skim and what parts you need to pay attention to. If there wasn’t a lot of value in lecture, then we could all just read the textbook on our own and never go to college at all. As you very much realize, you don’t have all the time in the world. Sometimes, you really do have to prioritize what you do because you can’t do it all and still do it well.
I don’t consider not doing all of the reading or not taking notes on the reading to be “blowing off” their schoolwork, and it doesn’t necessarily mean they barely pass exams (it didn’t for me). I think my point is to try to figure out what is really important for you to do in order to learn the material and do well in the class. For you, it might be to do all of the reading, but it also might not. Maybe there’s a way you can do the reading more effectively or efficiently, or a way you can take notes for efficiently (or perhaps, not at all).
Also, not doing all the reading doesn’t necessarily mean that someone is missing huge gaps in their knowledge or is not fit to be in the workforce. You can’t remember everything, and in the real world, there’s google. It’s much more important that you understand how to use information, rather than to remember all of it. You can always look something up, but having a background in the subject means that you can look it up quickly because you know enough to know what your looking for and you can use that information once you look it up. For example, it’s not that important (in my opinion) to know every equation in the world that helps you solve a problem, but it is important that if you look at a problem you know what equation you need to look up, and once you get it, you know how to use it.
Also, school and classes are not the only thing that prepares you for the workforce. People learn a lot by actually applying what they learn in classes to the real world in the form of jobs and internships. There are several people in my field who said they learned way more during their first year on the job than they did in all of their schooling. College is supposed to give you base that you can build on. It gives you a lot of different tools and information that you can apply to your job, but that doesn’t mean the learning stops once you get a job.
They have a disability office on each campus. You can get evaluated and find out if it is an organizational issue. There are other students in your classes who have disabilities sitting, maybe, next to you. They have note-takers and you can get the notes through the Disabled students office.
Go to the tutors. My dd is now a senior. She has attended all of the office hours available and she also spent a lot of time at the Writing Center, just to get feedback on her reading and writing. The tutoring centers are usually free.
@baktrax Just realized I actually typed “through”, instead of throw… facepalm I must of been out of it when that was posted… But thank you and everyone so much for the input! I’m currently in Technology Management and have considered switching into Computer Science, but I think I waited a bit too late, and now it seems I’m stuck in this degree program unfortunately. : / I honestly just wanted to be in something that’s technology related. : ) I love tinkering and learning about random hardware and software.
Actually, I do feel like I’m taking notes that are too detailed. I understand writing notes that capture the most important stuff in the book is good, but what about classes that are super picky about details (biology, history, etc.)? Is taking notes for those kind of classes just way too much?
One of the biggest things that gets me worried is going on Youtube and watching videos on people giving studying advice for college and they do SO MUCH for every class. I find it so admirable that they can do it, but why can’t I? I like how you there are several styles that fit different people when it comes to learning and memorizing, but I’m starting to think it could be time management issues. Don’t you ever have those moments where you feel like you’ve started doing something fun and end up spending wayyyy too much time on it without even realizing it? I feel like that could be what’s possibly getting to me since I feel like I don’t have near enough time every day… They could be soaking up study time.
Another thing that caught my attention was how there are those people who seem to never spend much time on studying, yet always do so well and get everything so easily. Obviously, I have no idea how they do it, and I have a close friend who apparently doesn’t spend a great deal of time on studying, yet does so well. It’s just crazy to me because he’s an engineer! I thought they had such a huge workload?
“Work smarter not harder” It’s about how you study, not how much you study. Practice tests are great.
Have you tried studying while listening to music?
It’s been said that listening to Classical music – Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Vivaldi, Brahms, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, etc. – is good for reading and studying.
Well, I mean, I’m a horrible person and I didn’t do the reading for most of my biology classes (and I was a biology major), but I don’t know if you should go that route exactly. If you feel like you need to take notes, I would say write down the key ideas and the key terms and perhaps a definition. You don’t need to write down every detail because you have the book for that. If you need to review an idea/term, then you can go read that section again. It’s a waste of time to write it all down. When you take notes, you’re creating a study aid, not transcribing a copy of the chapter. If your notes from the reading are a list of key concepts/terms with their definitions or a short summary (or in history, perhaps a list of key people/places/events), then it’s a good tool to quiz yourself with when your studying. And if you think “Man, I really don’t understand/remember anything about synapses (or whatever),” then you can go back to that section in the book and skim to remember it.
The advice people give is sometimes very different than what people actually do. I’ve given advice to do the reading before class because for some people that’s really helpful, but I don’t do it myself because it’s not helpful. I tell people to space out work and assignments so that your not rushed at the end, but I’m a huge procrastinator and never do that. That doesn’t mean it isn’t good advice though.
Not all advice works for all people. All you can do is try it, and if it’s not working, then stop doing it. I probably didn’t do any of the typical advice that is given, and I did just fine. None of it worked for me, so I didn’t do it (most of the time it was because it took way too much time). Figure out what you need to do. Clearly taking notes in the way that you are on the reading is not working for you, so try something else.
If you feel like your “wasting” time doing other things, have you tried looking at your day and figuring out how much time goes to each thing you do? You said that you study the entire day with only short breaks, so I’m not sure what your actually doing during the day. If you find that you start doing something else and end up spending too much time on it, just set an alarm when you start. If you only have time for an hour or thirty minutes or whatever you want, then set an alarm. That way you can’t do it longer without realizing it.
Stop comparing yourself to other people! Don’t worry about how much or how little other people are spending on studying. It doesn’t matter! Not even a little bit. It’s a waste of time and energy.
Some people legitimately spend a lot of time studying, and some people spend very little time studying. But most of the people who seem like they never study and still do really well, probably do study quite a bit–you just don’t know about it. They may not spend their entire lives studying, but there are very few people who don’t study at all and still do really well. But regardless, it doesn’t matter how much anyone else studies. What matters is that you study however much you need to in order to understand the material and do well in the class. If that’s one hour or one hundred, it still doesn’t matter how much other people studied. There is no magic trick for all people. You just have to try things to see if they work for you. At some point, you really do just need to spend more time studying. If you find that you can’t keep up, it might be worth it to consider taking a lighter load of classes.
This won’t help you during the current semester, but one way to get ahead on reading is to buy your books ahead of time and start before the term starts. If you got to your first classes of a term and have already read the first chapter or two, you are apt to understand what the professor is teaching better, and you will likely have better success staying ahead in your reading.
For most people, doing well in college DOES take steady, seemingly never ending, effort, especially if you want to do well and not just get by. There may be academic support services on your campus to help you analyze your current study habits and teach you strategies for being more efficient.
YES, go to the Academic Support Services asap!
Yes, do go to the Learning Center or Academic Support Services to seek assistance. You may find tutoring assistance through these offices or study groups or study partner you could join or some relief from study woes. Maybe you would get some good strategies for learning or pick up some tip sheets.
The idea about buying textbooks early is a good plan for someone who reads slowly and IF you are able to find out from the teacher what text is planned for the next semester. Even if the text will be a new edition, the previous one will be helpful. Be aware that the textbook choice is also driven by the ordering deadline. Like students, faculty find the next semester a distant place in comparison to current realities. You may be able to find an earlier edition to buy or check out from the library.
Also, remember textbooks are tools. Visit the library and search through the books that parallel your course topic. For example, if the class you are taking is in child development, then go to the library and look at child development books. Seek one that works for you as a reader and learner. The I wish they had adopted this book feeling. Check it out for the term, renewing as needed.
Now practically in child development again, you may find a book that is organized by age/development while your text is organized by cognitive, social, physical development. That is not a huge problem, just slightly pesty. Read your text as a beginning and then read the chapter in the library book that matches content of the text. Information that is missing in the library copy can be found by looking in its index. Don’t skim over information that is not an exact match. What’s in the library book can extend/explain what’s in your text.
I don’t understand about taking notes when you read. You need to at least read the text before taking notes because otherwise you are studying the textbook in fits and starts and are likely missing the flow of information.
I always advise getting the cleanest copy of the textbook as possible because then you are not drawn off by markings of one or two previous readers. I found it helpful to underline in colored marker key information in a paragraph, a sentence maybe, and circle key vocabulary in marker. That way when you are studying you will have the equivalent of notes (your own specialized version of the chapter). Looking at the marked areas in a paragraph, ask yourself a question about something in the paragraph. If you don’t know the answer, skim the paragraph for the information. Make sure you know and can apply and spell circled vocabulary. Especially learn how to spell capitalized words like names of theories and theorists. This is a good way to study quickly. Look at the pictures and graphs. Do they make sense. Look at the graphs and illustrations as soon as they are mentioned because they are designed to help you learn.
How many times do you read a chapter? Jerking through while taking notes isn’t reading or thinking about notetaking. That’s a whole separate process. It isn’t so intrusive to studying to highlight. You will need to read each chapter more than once to really learn it. You are rolling when something makes sense because xxx. You might want to note that insight in the margin.
If you are bored reading or get sleepy, stand in the middle of the room and read to book aloud to yourself. This helps you concentrate and not fall asleep. When your roommate laughs, go somewhere quiet and read aloud standing.
I just tutored a student with a pristine textbook. Why no markings or page markers for critical content such as Piaget’s developmental stages? Why was the CD still unopened in the cardboard holder? Why had the pages of very specific information such as formulas not been unfolded and looked at? The student had not noticed either. Seemed like a remarkable lack of curiosity. The student planned to resell the book to the bookstore, but will not likely get more money back for what seems to be an unused copy. The student’s plan seems to me to very passive as a learner and a guarantee that she will need the book again the next term.
I would never take a textbook to class (too pricey and personal), but you could take classnotes, handouts or assigned readings and look at them when you have some down time between classes. Good luck. I hope you can move beyond your current frustrations. Otherwise learning and studying won’t be as interesting and productive.