<p>If the class is 100% comprehensive, then going back to what you learned in the beginning and reviewing a little at a time works well for midterms and finals. That also works well because a prof will like to see that you reviewed stuff form the start of classes on down.</p>
<p>The tips I had given were from the book "What Smart Students Know" lol</p>
<p>herecomesthesun-You should be right because when midterms comes around it will just be a review for you</p>
<p>I mindmap the material,
which leads me to not studying at all,
just before the exam I just look at my mindmap, where all the material are on one page, and just recreate it couple of times. and thats it. Further info read books on mindmapping.</p>
<p>For problem solving classes like calculus, I just to the HW, ALL OF IT</p>
<p>For those who highlight:</p>
<p>Do you do it in just one color or several different colors? If the latter, what is your color scheme? Also, what if the key words are already highlighted, what else would you highlight?</p>
<p>Finally? Do you sell the book afterwards? If so where, and how much do you sell it for relative to the original price (since it has been highlighted since then)</p>
<p>IF YOU GUYS REALLY WANT TO BE GOOD! Read "The Expert Mind" in Scientific America (google it). Scientist have used Chess as a scientific way to benchmark the mechanism of how we learn. Key ideas are: If you put in 'effortful study' into anything, you can master anything. We catagorize things in clumps. These clumps can contain a small amount of information or a large amount of information. We are able to increase the amount of information in each clump so we can do more. Basicly mechanism for word association or position association in the Chess experiments (random vs. played positions).</p>
<p>Good question OP. Like I said, I use 4 different colors going on 5: Yellow, Orange, Pink, Blue, now Green. (Note: key words are never hi-lited, where did you get that idea?) At first I was using just Yellow, but I ran into the problem of not being able to distinguish really important ideas from just facts about stuff. It took me a good semester to work out the kinks and develop a set style. Here's my style.</p>
<p>Yellow: General things to know. Facts.
Orange: Extremely important statements. Important concepts I must know.
Pink: Definitions. Either pink hi-lite the word and use yellow for its definition or yellow/orange the word and pink the definition.
Blue: Things that I absolutely must know. There are statements that strike very true and important. Thus this color doesn't get used much, but when it is used, its a must know.
"Green:" will be using this for mathmatical calculations/concepts in my books. PV=nRT, rate of change, rate of reaction, etc.</p>
<p>The biggest thing I find is I have to become a good weigher of words. I have to read it several times and determine its importance to get the right color. It helps because I get to re-read it several times and make the information sink in while preparing for the future when I need to review the material.</p>
<p>I STRONGLY object to taking notes from the book. When it comes down to finals you need to be organized, you need to know where things are. If you have a mass of notes 12 inches high, how are you going to find that key thing that the teacher told you was going to be on the test and you wrote down and practiced? </p>
<p>The book is already organized for you. If you write important notes/concepts (in easier to understand form) and hi-lite in the book, you can have the things the teacher taught you PLUS the material from the book to refresh your memory, in-case you forgot right there infront of you. You will be able to see your thought process when everything is on the book.</p>
<p>However, I do know that people learn differently. Some learn from their eyes, from their ears, or from their hands - heck even a mixture of them. All you can do is integrate what people tell you into your own style of learning.</p>
<p>Never sold my books back. Different statements strike different people, so someone elses hi-liteing would be worthless to me. Additionally I keep my books so I can look back and review something I may need for future classes. Just hi-liting doesn't determine the price, you also have to look at the condition of the book, mint or dog-earred.</p>
<p>Loganr: Interesting mindmapping. It's a quick way to say the person has a mastery of the subject. The person can see the ins-and-outs of the material.</p>
<p>flgirl04: People can study with or without music. Depends on how easily distractable the person is. I personally like using music to give me a rythem in studying. Breaks the monotony of silence or some jerks talking up a storm. With something pleasant to listen to, its easier to block out other sounds. Might take some time to get use to. </p>
<p>Definitely breaks are a must when you are super tired. Not tired as in, "Oh yeh, I'm tired." I mean, get this, I study to the point at 8pm, "For the past 5 minutes I've been staring at this page and I don't understand a word of it anymore. How the heck was I doing so well 5 minutes ago?" That's just me, most people won't follow that. And remember, don't take drugs to keep you awake, you'll feel like crud in the morning. If you have to crash - crash. Just don't burn.</p>
<p>Herecomesthesun: Used books will vary. Will just depend if you choose to look though the book before you buy it. Textbooks generally aren't written in or hi-lighted because the good students keep their books ;). Things like workbooks/lab manuals probably will be marked in.</p>
<p>As to your study question. To me it depends how confident I am in the material. But the extra study doesn't hurt now does it? Why not do that extra 1 hr of study to make that difference between an A and B? Studying is just a reflection on the persons confidence level on the material. However, if your intense like me, it doesn't really matter haha.</p>
<p>If you get a chance, check out the books at the college during your summertime orientation. You should be able to get a feel for the quality you'll be getting with a used book.</p>
<p>Some colleges have really good use books that they sell back...almost new. Since some people plan on marking them up I suggest buying used books.</p>
<p>Okay, so I have definitely been convinced by this thread to write in/highlight my textbooks! I get disorganized, and then discouraged, easily so its a good point to keep written notes something for your classes, so when you study you can know what was the professor's emphasis and what was your own. </p>
<p>However, I personally think using five different colors and complex methods is overdoing it. I admit I am not a hardcore studier - I prefer to just <em>learn</em>! Once I have learned something (which usually just takes some focus and dedication when reading or doing homework) I'm usually set...though we will see how this carries over to an university atmosphere.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>What do other people think about taking book notes?</p></li>
<li><p>When doing questions from the book, is it best to write down both the questions and the answers, just the answers, or not write anything down and orally answer the questions?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>...anyone?</p>
<p>good students read everything they're assigned. great students read everything thats necessary to get an A in the class.</p>
<p>thats the best tip i know...unfortunately i don't know how to figure out whats important and what isnt...</p>
<ol>
<li>What do other people think about taking book notes?</li>
</ol>
<p>I personally believe that taking book notes are key when trying to get an A. I would take book notes by writing everything out in my own words that way I know if I actually do understand. </p>
<ol>
<li>When doing questions from the book, is it best to write down both the questions and the answers, just the answers, or not write anything down and orally answer the questions?</li>
</ol>
<p>Please, I beg you write down the answers. Its the best practice anyone can get for the tests. Writing down an answers helps a person memorize the answer then simply saying the answer. I personally write down the questions as well but for 4/5 classes it becomes very time consuming. I believe that as long as you write the date, title and page number from text you should be fine. :)</p>
<p>I agree with tmacgirl. Writing something down forces you to concentrate on it, and if you kinda skimmed over the answer when you're saying it to yourself it becomes very apparent.</p>
<p>To digress a bit, I think this (not writing out answers) is why a lot of kids struggle in math/science classes. In those classes you HAVE to write down the answers to see if you can really solve the problems independently; it's one thing to read over the example in the book and go "yeah, yeah, yeah, ok I got it" and another to be able to repeat the steps without the worked example in front of you. Most of the kids reading this forum are bright, so they can write their way around their weakness of knowledge in a lot of classes such as history, poli-sci, etc. and they're smart enough to be able to guess well on multiple-choice tests. So they don't have the habit of writing out answers to test themselves, then they struggle in math/science classes.</p>
<p>So an average person should spend more time on math/sciences?</p>
<p>mikemac, I loved your post. I have always been a little slower than most with math, as are a fair mount of my fellow Literature/Theology majors (we do not, historically speaking, exactly take way upper division math). It used to get me upset when folks in math classes would just write down the answer or barely write down anything. I do not possibly understand how one can fully reach a comprehensive level of understanding in math if they do not work out all of the steps and then try to slowly wean themselves off some of the steps. </p>
<p>Science is kind of the same way. Even the more humble level sciences. The profs love it when you try your best to reach a comprehensive level of understanding. Most especially with regards to paper writing and finals. They like it when you try to show how much you have learned.</p>
<p>Writing things out is really important and over rated sometimes because it takes time. But, earning a A is always worth it.</p>
<p>
[quote]
In your opinion whats the most effective way to study?
[/quote]
Discipline yourself to convert your notes into an outline of the class every day. It makes cramming unnecessary.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Also how to you read a book? Do you annotate to the side, Highlight key terms, outline, or all the the above?
[/quote]
Highlight key sections and incorporate them into a running outline.</p>
<p>^I like the outline idea.
The most effective way to study is finding out what works best for you. For me I have to be to study a small bit everyday or I will blank out come test time. Some people can cram really well (though I highly DO NOT SUGGEST THIS) and still get an A. </p>
<p>I think you should make a schedule once you have all your tests dates and actually stick to it. :)</p>
<p>Do you all recommend putting your book notes and your class notes together, or keeping them seperate?</p>
<p>Also, do you usually take notes in lab/discussion sections?</p>
<p>I think you should keep them seperate but then I suggest making a summary sheet. So basically my binder will be book note,class note, assigned questions and summary sheet.</p>
<p>Do you study on Friday nights? Or weekend nights?</p>