<p>How do you manage the studying, the comprehension, while still having spare time in your life and have a good social life.</p>
<p>I mean, don't get me wrong, I get out often in the school year, not too often, but maybe that's my mistake. I'm the type of guy who struggles hard to get that A in the class, or tries hard to understand a concept, because I'm personally not the brightest. I'm not CC material like most of you who can pull off a handful of 5's like it's a stroll in the park. </p>
<p>So enough melodrama, how do YOU do the studying? Do you repress your social urges? Do you take smart notes? Give me ALL your tips, Junior year isn't looking too easy for me...</p>
<p>While most of us slackers think we have a full schedule, 50% of our time is spent procrastinating. Take that time you are doing nothing to put off school work, and you’ll be like all the kids on this board whose scores make them look like super geniuses. There’s no secret, just hard work and studying even when you want to lay around and do nothing.</p>
<p>I agree with all of the above (including the self-loathing, unfortunately). Another good strategy is to make smart use of all your time. ALL your time. If I’m at a play rehearsal, a board meeting, or even a doctor’s appointment, I make sure to have with me something I need to read, work on, or study. Nothing is more frustrating than being forced to do nothing when you have hours of work ahead of you.</p>
<p>Yep, I agree with everything above. I this the most important thing is what Daisie said. MAKE USE OF YOUR TIME. You may think your schedule is “full” but there are always little holes where you can get your hw and other work done. I’m not even saying do your homework during lunchtime. getting some done during class, bus/car rides to school, doctors appointments, etc. will go a long way. Believe it or not, most straight A’s “CC” people do this.</p>
<p>A thing about making use of your time: I usually didn’t have enough room in my bag for a 200 page biology review book. So I:
-taped a page of largely written notes (I’m pretty blind without glasses) on my shower wall. Kept it there for about a week and then switched it out. I’m sure my parents loved learning about the progesterone and estrogen cycles in the female reproductive cycle
-Quizlet. Enough said. Actually, no. I did a little quizlet set for like 2 mins a day, longer when I had more time. Listening to music and mindlessly doing flashcard sets is my “productive break.”
-After APril, I lost the desire to go on facebook. It’s boring, slow, and redundant. Back in October, I had to force myself to stay off. I turn off my computer when I study now. Sometimes when I need to look up confusing material on my fast computer, I make sure there are no bookmarks for the social networking sites. I’m always way too lazy to type in the web address haha, so I avoid getting on it.
-If you have the persistent urge to get on CC, get on CC, visit the AP forum/ SAT/ SATII forum, then leave, turn off the monitor. DO NOT GET ON HSL DURING WEEK DAYS. or ever, if you wanna get any studying done. HSL and the cafe are extremely distracting. College life isn’t that bad because it actually teaches you something i.e. college life, which you will be needing shortly.</p>
<p>A good portion of getting good scores on the AP is just having really good teachers. If you have a teacher that doesn’t really care about your grade or doesn’t put much of an effort in their lectures or teaching methods, then it can really hurt your grade. On the other hand, if you have a great teacher, all you have to do is stay focused during class, so no texting, no goofing off with your friends, just listen and take notes. And if you have questions, ALWAYS ask. And do your homework. All of it. And make sure it’s right. When it comes down to studying on your own, just pace yourself. All you need to really improve your score is just maybe reading through a review book for 20 minutes every night for a month. And in the weeks before the exam, do lots and lots of practice exams/questions.
And like people said before me, if you don’t have anything but school work to do, then just do your schoolwork. It’s all about time management. If you spend an hour on facebook or just watching Youtube videos, that’s an hour you could have spent doing homework or studying, and trust me, that can really make a difference. You don’t need to go overboard with it, though haha</p>
<p>The teacher is the biggest factor imo. If he/she sucks, you are so screwed. I had two really good AP teachers this year (USH and Bio) and I ended up getting 5s in both. I barely studied for both. If the teacher teaches the course really well, you just tend to remember the information way better.</p>
<p>Just be happy and ready to go with little to no sleep (seriously 4-5 hours a night) and catch up on sleep on the weekends. Do all of your homework as soon as possible (sometimes even during lunch or while you have free time in a class). And don’t procrastinate… that’s what kills me the most.</p>
<p>Care less. Pay attention in class and do as much homework as possible in school. It doesn’t really matter. Get at least 8hrs of sleep every night. I don’t know what standard your looking for OP, but don’t try for CC stats if you want to keep your self-esteem.</p>
<p>Sleep is most important. Unless you have a borderline grade and need this final project to bump yourself up, screw the homework and get the extra 15 minutes of sleep. It’s not worth staying up until 3 AM to finish all your homework and proceed to sleep in class and bomb tests the next day.</p>
<p>This past school year I only got about 5 hours of sleep a night, and maybe 8-9 hours on weekends, due to piano competitions, recitals, and auditions, and then doing a lot of homework during the week.</p>
<p>Relax. Yes, there are times when you’ll have to pull all-nighters to put the finishing touch on that project or finish cramming for that test. However, depriving yourself of sleep on a regular basis is dangerous. If you manage your time wisely, you’ll have plenty of time to hang out with friends and go on Facebook/CC without sacrificing sleep.</p>
<p>In my opinion, the key to doing well in a class or exam is to genuinely like the material. The teacher often influences your enjoyment of the content. However, even if you end up with a crappy teacher, you should take the initiative and use other resources (peers, videos, PowerPoints, books) to enhance your learning experience. </p>
<p>Identify the study technique that works for you. You could try flashcards, reading notes out loud, outlining, rereading notes, etc. If you pay close attention in class, you’ll find that you won’t have to study as much as you would otherwise. Thoughtfully completing your homework will also decrease study time.</p>
<p>There’s a lot of good advice in this thread. Just remember not to take any of it to extremes. Good luck!</p>
<p>Ditto at the self loathing comment. That’s a really big one for me. I pretty much told myself anything but a 5 was a failure, anything but an A is a failure.</p>
<p>IMO, you should practice concentration and memorization. </p>
<p>Whenever you read a chapter from one of your textbooks, you have to focus intently on what you need to learn from it. If you concentrate while learning new material, you’ll find that it will take you less time to understand it.</p>
<p>Secondly, you should probably practice your memorization. You can do well in Math, Science, and (obviously) History AP’s if you know how to memorize large amounts of information in short periods of time.</p>
<p>I don’t agree with the sleep deprivation and self loathing.</p>
<p>You can easily finish your homework and studying with plenty of time to spare for activities and 8 hours of sleep/day. Just don’t overload yourself with extracurriculars.</p>
<p>Self loathing may initially be regarded as pep talk, but it is eventually self defeating. You feel a bit of joy every time you get an A, but what about when you (as you finally will) get a B? Even if it is university, or later, you will fail at something eventually, and you might descend into the depths of depravity and depression.</p>
