Hi everyone, I’ll be taking three AP classes at my high school next year and was curious as to how other members of the CC community define “studying”. Is studying the same thing as memorizing? Can reading be considered studying? In other words, would reading the chapter in biology about genetics multiple times a day in the days leading up to the test give me a better chance of getting an A than say, simply memorizing the vocabulary and key concepts. And when I say memorize, I mean like literally memorize word for word. Last school year, I passed honors US history with a 100% average by memorizing large portions of each chapter, word for word. The problem with this is that it was way too time consuming, and I don’t think this would work as well in AP US history, which is what I’ll be taking this school year. Can anyone give me some alternative studying methods, particularly for AP BIO and APUSH?
In my opinion, “studying” is any activity that reinforces information into your mind so you better remember the content. I don’t necessarily believe that memorization is the same thing as studying in areas other than something like SAT vocabulary, because I think the best way to learn something is to have an understanding of the topic well enough to talk a little bit about it. Different people have different study methods that work well for them. This in mind, reading can definitely be considered a form of studying. Not necessarily memorizing the content, though. The method you said worked for you worked, so I think you should stick to it, although figure out a way to make it more practical, taking into consideration the amount of reading and content involved in the classes you’re taking.
If I were you, I’d buy a pad of sticky notes. When you read the material for the first time, take a sticky note and summarize/restate some of the main points of the reading in one or two descriptive sentences in whatever increment you prefer (every one paragraph, or every four paragraphs. Whatever works.) When you’re done reading and you’re prepared to study, look over the sticky notes. If the bit confuses you, reread that section.
If you feel you absolutely need to memorize word-for-word from the textbook, I would suggest marking off smaller sections of the reading than what you were previously memorizing, be it with sticky notes, highlighter, or just re-writing on another sheet of paper. The most I would memorize would be a few sentences, definitely not paragraphs of information.
Good luck with your APs. I’m taking APUSH, AP Bio, and AP Lang this year. (:
My hands down favorite way to study is quizzing myself. You can easily find questions online on what ever AP class you are studying. I answer the questions and review the answers, finding out why I got any incorrect answers. If I get a significant amount of wrong answers in one section, I will go back and reread the material to refresh myslef.
Thanks, those are the same ap classes that I’m taking as well. Perhaps I’m over worrying anyways. I had an excellent freshmen and sophomore year; been top 3 in my small class of just 123 since the start. Part of the reason why I signed up for three this year is that I want to jump ahead in GPA so I can try and graduate 1st in the class. Best of luck to you as well! Have a swag day. (:
I might be late to the party but if I can add my opinion…
I personally do not believe reading the textbook over and over is a form of studying. You are not necessarily leaning anything new, just memorizing a passage from the textbook, which is much less efficient than other forms. Science especially. If you are taking biology, reading might not be helpful at all because there are a lot of concepts and applications you have to know, not just memorize. Like if I memorize the quadratic formula but don’t know what the pieces of a quadratic is, it won’t help) I use quizlet to memorize key concepts (there is a difference between memorization and reading, paraphrase when you make flashcards).
Actually, I disagree with @MPC6789; I usually study by reading (save for in math-based classes; for those, I do practice problems after reading the text). Reading is not just memorizing the material; it is comprehending it. However, I don’t believe I’ve ever memorized portions of text. That seems like a waste of time.
Thanks for the feedback everyone. And to @tonystarkofwinterfell, depending on what you mean by “waste of time”, I agree and disagree with you. For me, memorizing portions of the text was very time consuming, so time consuming in fact that I only used it for honors history. I passed honors history with a 100% average, my history teacher told me at the end of the year that I was the first in any of her classes ever to pass without making a mistake. In honors biology, I just studied the vocabulary and key concepts of each chapter. Sometimes I would study the diagrams, but there were not even that many to be honest. What bothered me about honors biology, is that some of the multiple choice questions focused, not on knowledge, not on application, but on irrelevant details that may been talked about for only a sentence. Even worse was that sometimes these multiple choice questions were 4 points a piece. So even if I went into a test understanding the major concepts, “supporting” details, vocab, etc, there would always be questions surrounding pointless factoids that I would have gotten correct if I took the time to memorize that portion of the text.
True, but a 100% isn’t necessary by any means.
I agree that there is a difference between memorizing and learning. Memorizing is an important skill to apply when learning the multiplication, remembering information such as the distance between cars for a driving test, and other bits of information such as dates in history. Memorizing passages from a book is time consuming as you point out as well as inefficient. By memorizing passages are you turning a multiple-choice exam into an open-book format without the book. Moreover, it seems that you have a scheme that works for you right now to get a grade, but it is so unlikely to help you learn down the road. College, especially your major, involves mastering content in earlier courses that will be expanded upon and applied in later classes.
Sounds like you are depending on rote memory to earn a grade. Do you have to recite a passage to yourself to retrieve an answer on a multiple choice test? Must you compare information in two passages to answer a compare and contrast multiple choice item? How do you integrate information from memorizing multiple passages in different chapters or even books into greater understanding of a topic? A difficult question about a factoid may really be more about your not memorizing the passage containing the factoid more than about the relevance to the factoid. I typically associate factoids in footnotes as sorry, but I skim them to make sure that the footnote doesn’t have some information that clarifies a passage for me. I think you have put yourself on a learning treadmill and as the depth and complexity of information increases you may start flying off the machine cognitively.
I agree reading passages over and over isn’t helpful because it is drawing on how well you recognize/memorize information in text and depends on how well you can sustain attention in another rote task. If there are questions in the back of the chapter, read them first. That way you start reading with a sense of the what’s important in that chapter in that book. You can then read text with an eye out for the answers of those questions, again in that book. I found it helpful to react to text whether it you found an answer, you found a relationship between what you are reading now with something you read earlier. Yes! quiz yourself as you go along to make sure you are understanding and learning the information. Also, periodically stop and think about what you are learning and how pieces are fitting together. By stopping to think about and review information you are more likely to learn and integrate it. Besides, you are less likely to find yourself several pages ahead without a clue to what you were reading.
Hope you have greater success and joy in learning.