<p>This might seem like an extremely silly question, but how exactly do you guys learn and absorb the material during lecture? </p>
<p>For me it feels like although it makes sense while the professor says it, after class I tend to forget everything that's said or when I look at it later I don't remember how something works.</p>
<p>A friend I talked to said that during lecture he listens and then tries to put it into his own words, but when I tried that it seems while I was trying to do that I would miss the next things the professor said. </p>
<p>Any tips on what to do? </p>
<p>I've also read tips on how to study too....but it's more of just what conditions to study in and such. I want to be able to actually learn the material well enough so I can explain it to another person if I'm asked a question. It seems that if I read the book the material doesn't go in very well...even if I take notes. And if I do problems I tend to just memorize how to do it rather than why and such. I'm trying to ask why this happens and why that happens while I do a problem now, but I'm also looking for other tips on how I can achieve this (this being knowing the material well enough to explain to another person). </p>
<p>Another issue is time management. How do you guys manage your time well? I'm trying to do a hour by hour schedule in a planner I have, but I'm not sure if this is the only way. </p>
<p>I would really appreciate any advice from you guys. Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>Suppose you have a class that meets Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.</p>
<p>I'd suggest going over your notes as soon as possible after each class section, putting things in your own words and fleshing out the sections that aren't in full sentences. If you don't understand something at that point, try to figure it out from the reading materials. If that doesn't work, then make a plan to go for office hours. </p>
<p>If you don't have all that much reading, I'd do it on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Fridays. (If you have a lot, you may want to get started on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.) Take notes on that. If it's a class where there's a lot of overlap between the reading and the in-class work, try to figure out what the instructor is going to cover. If you have questions, write them out. Maybe the answers will be given in class, or maybe the instructor will ask for questions. If you still have those questions after class, make plans to go to office hours.</p>
<p>On Saturday, I'd suggest that you go over all the notes from the previous week.</p>
<p>If you're reviewing the material every day, it's going to be easier to remember it. And if you show up to class prepared you are more likely to be able to understand what's happening and to know what material isn't in the reading and needs to be mastered from the lecture notes. You'll also feel better about the class.</p>
<p>Depending on what other commitments you may have, an hour-by-hour schedule might be appropriate. But I generally keep track of how many hours I am working, including how many hours I'm working at times when it would be easy to goof off (like in the hour between 2 classes). If I'm not understanding the material and I'm either not working enough hours or not working at the right times (for me, fatigue is an issue at night), I know what I need to do. If I'm not understanding the material and I'm putting in substantially more time than I should need to, I know what I need to do then too.</p>
<p>Thanks for your response nontraditional. That helps a lot. A few questions though if I may?</p>
<p>For fleshing out the materials, what exactly do you mean by that? I think I have an idea...but I'm not quite sure.</p>
<p>Also, do you mean Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays? I've tried reading the book before lecture at first, but he seems to skip a lot of sections throughout it or does problems a different way than the book does. As a result I've ended up going to lecture, taking notes, and then using the book as a reference if I don't understand something. If that doesn't work I ask a friend, but after reading your post I think I'll continue going to office hours ( I just started recently ).</p>
<p>And I think I'll try keeping track of hours.... I considered doing that to see how much time I spent wasting catching up on sleep (due to various naps throughout the week) but I'll try adding in how many hours I've been working too. Should be fun to observe my habits...because I noticed I get really tired in the afternoons too and therefore cannot work very well.</p>
<p>Also, for "If I'm not understanding the material and I'm putting in substantially more time than I should need to, I know what I need to do then too," what exactly is it that you need to do? Is that reading the book/going to office hours or changing the studying style or?...</p>
<p>Thanks again for your post. Really appreciate it! :)</p>
<p>There is a book I highly recommend, called "What Smart Students Know". It is written by one of the co-founders of the Princeton Review Test Prep service, and he really understands what you need to do to master college material. the book explains how to study for different types of classes, how to take notes, etc.</p>
<p>It's fairly easy to come out of lectures with notes that do a good job of telling you what was discussed and that would be absolutely sufficient if you knew the material, but that are not adequate when you come back later on, having forgotten the material (and let's face it: you're studying multiple subjects over an entire semester and you have other stuff going on in your life. You're going to forget at least some of what happened in lectures), to try to relearn it.</p>
<p>So you want to go back as soon as possible after the lecture while it's still pretty fresh and make sure you end up with notes that explain the major ideas that were covered. I don't know about other people, but I find that I need actual sentences for almost everything (other than math and logic).</p>
<p>I'll give you a real-life example: at one point I was assigned by an activist group (representing a community that many of the defendant's victims came from) to attend a murder trial and report on what happened. There was testimony on Monday and Tuesday, all day, a motion being heard on Wednesday, and then testimony for much of Thursday before the jury went off to deliberate. I spent all day in the courtroom taking notes as fast as I could, but some witnesses talked really quickly. I spent the evenings going over the notes and putting everything in sentences and paragraphs, and then I emailed the summary of the day to the group's listserv. That way people who weren't on site, people who were on site but were not in the courtroom, and people who were in the courtroom but not for the whole trial could keep up with what was happening. And the truth was, the next morning when I got up I could not remember what had happened the previous day and the more cryptic sections of the notes weren't enough to help me reconstruct it. But I went over the more fleshed-out reports later on for my job and I now know the basic shape of the trial and why the man was convicted. Moreover, I could go back to those notes, even today, and tell you exactly who the witnesses were, what they testified to, and the role of that testimony in the prosecution and defense cases. If I were studying for an exam that was going to cover this particular case, I'd want the reports, not the original notes, to review. That's how I see the role of fleshing out the original notes.</p>
<p>Yes, that helps a lot. Thanks for putting that example up. After you said that I realized that I need full sentences too. I have a much better idea of what to do now. Thanks again!</p>
<p>You don't need to write full sentences- just write phrases. Basically by "fleshing out" it means looking through your notes for important points. You need to reorganize your notes into an outline. You aren't going to be tested in every single thing in the book and the lectures but you want to be aware of the broad issues behind that key point that you will be able to explain on your exam/paper.</p>
<p>You <em>think</em> your professors is skipping over things in the book. He is only emphasizing what he thinks is important but it is NOT an excuse not to read the other sections- at least skim it. You'll be surprised how comprehensive exams are that will require you to draw from different readings in depth.</p>
<p>Time management is always tricky for everyone. It is good to keep track of your hours at the beginning just to see what you're wasting your time doing. Even I'm a senior and I still have to work at my time management (especially for my never-ending thesis). I use a PDA to keep track of appointments and classes. A good rule of thumb is 3 hours for each class you go to per week for studying/working. So in general, budget about 15-25 hours a week for studying to get the most out of your classes. Yes, it's scary how school is really a job!</p>
<p>If you're having a very hard time absorbing your material, you might have something else that's causing a memory block. Sometimes you might be too tired. Sometimes it could be the caffeine. Or you might be distracted by stress/worrying.</p>
<p>Hm...the thing he does with the sections is kind of weird. He makes his own way of doing a problem so if I read the section I get more confused. Although I try to use the sections to find out the reason why he does a problem because it kind of gets lost while I'm writing it down during lecture.</p>
<p>It is scary how school is a job...so many people procrastinate that it's really hard to motivate myself considering who I'm surrounded by. </p>
<p>And...I'm guilty of all three of those things you listed. Ahhh...I have a lot of work to do. Thanks for helping. :)</p>
<p>Though I'm in high school, I'm in one class (AP Euro) that is entirely lecture-based. Though the professor hands out notes, I have always found that it is better if I physically write down my own notes. For one thing, it's my mind that recording it, so I know what all my abbreviations and stuff means (and sometimes my prof's notes make no sense), and for another, the muscle memory helps me remember details when I can only remember something very vaguely. (Also, I write out full sentences. Choppy phrases bother me when studying and I find it counter-productive. If you can write quickly, this may work better.) When I review notes from September, I still remember what they mean because I wrote out full notes, whereas my friend only has the names of things, not what they mean.</p>